The birthplace of the modern written and spoken Spanish language

In the region of La Rioja, Spain, stand the monasteries of San Millán de Suso and Yuso. Their names, Suso and Yuso, mean "upper" and "lower" in archaic Castilian, respectively. Suso is the older building and is believed to be built on the site of a hermitage where Saint Emilian (San Millán) lived, while Yuso was constructed in the 16th century.

San Millán is a UNESCO World Heritage Site recognized as the birthplace of the modern written and spoken Spanish language. It is where some of the oldest phrases written in Spanish, known as the Glosas Emilianenses, were recorded as glosses on a Latin text. While there is some debate as to whether these Spanish words are written in an early form of Castilian or in a similar early form of Navarro-Aragonese, the site remains a key location for the history of the language.

San Millán is also associated with Gonzalo de Berceo, the first Spanish poet known by name, whose name is linked to the nearby village of Berceo. Today, while Suso has been uninhabited since the 19th century, Yuso was reoccupied by an Augustinian community. The site continues to attract pilgrims on the Way of St James.

Sources: Wikipedia, OpenStreetMap, Wikidata, Wikimedia Commons