Abbey of Santo Domingo de Silos

[1] Dominic had been prior of the Monasteries of San Millán de la Cogolla before being driven out with two of his fellow monks by King García Sánchez III of Navarre, for opposing the king's intention to annex the monastery's lands.

[2] The abbot designed the church to have a central nave with two side aisles and five chapels attached to its apse and transept.

When Santo Domingo died in 1073, work on the church and the cloister was handed over to Abbot Fortunius, who saw the rest of the construction to its completion.

The lower storey's date derives from an epitaph of the eponymous Santo Domingo, who died in 1073, which is located on the abacus of a group of four capitals in the north gallery.

The organization of the cloister consists of four squared-off piers at each corner and paired columns running along each of the arcades.

The six-foot-tall piers have medium-relief sculptural biblical scenes of the Post-Passion which are the Three Marys Discovering Jesus Christ is Gone, the Pentecost, the Doubting Thomas, and the Road to Emmaus.

These pier carvings are dated to the middle of the twelfth century and are the work of the sculptor of the lower story capitals.

[9] Some manuscripts from the Silos scriptorium are preserved at the British Library in London and the Bibliothèque nationale de France in Paris.

In 1880 the abbey became a member of the Solesmes Congregation, which has a strong tradition of singing Gregorian chant.

The singing at Santo Domingo de Silos has been influenced by the scholarship and performance style of Solesmes Abbey.

Technically, the Silos monks are surpassed by other choirs, but they are undoubtedly authentic in the sense that they sing Gregorian chant as part of their daily worship.

"[12] Along with Ensemble Organum,[13] the monks of Silos are one of the few choirs to have recorded Mozarabic chant, for example on a 1970 album for German early music/baroque label Archiv Produktion.