Mirador de los Cuatro Postes (Viewpoint of the Four Posts)

Viewing Point in Ávila

Humilladero De Los Cuatro Postes Avila — CC BY-SA 2.0 / M.Peinado

The Los Cuatro Postes shrine is a religious monument located in the city of Ávila . It is made up of four five-meter-high Doric columns on whose capitals rest as many architraves bearing the arms of the city ; In the center of the square formed by the columns, on a plinth, stands a granite cross .

According to tradition, in the year 1157 the people of Ávila organized a pilgrimage to the hermitage of San Leonardo (currently missing), near Narrillos , in prayer for the disappearance of the plague that plagued the region. Taking advantage of the absence of most of the population, the Muslims attacked the city, taking everything of value in it. To persecute them, the aldermen Nuño Rabia and Gómez Acedo organized a party, from which part of its members separated to return to the safety of the town. When, after defeating the Muslims, they returned to Ávila, they found that those who had separated from the group had closed the walls, and demanded part of the loot to accept the newcomers. Known King Sancho III of Castile, went to Ávila, expelled those from within and condemned them to live outside the walls, without titles of nobility or privileges; some of these expatriated and went to Ciudad Rodrigo , which King Ferdinand II of León was repopulating after reconquering it. The council of Ávila decided that the pilgrimage to San Leonardo should be repeated annually, and for the rest of the authorities, the Four Posts shrine was built along the way.

The current monument dates back to 1566, when the corregidor Rodrigo Dávila contracted with the master stonemason Francisco de Arellano to build the “humilladero de la Puente del Adaja”, which included a sculpture of Saint Sebastian and a small roof. The cross was replaced in 1995, after it was destroyed in an act of vandalism.

The Mirador de los Cuatro Postes (Viewpoint of the Four Posts) appears in our Complete Guide to Visiting Ávila!

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