Sanctuary of Loyola

The sanctuary stands along the river Urola at the neighbourhood of Loyola (Loiola, a place-name meaning 'foundry made of clay', or possibly 'hut made of clay'[citation needed]) in the municipality of Azpeitia, Basque Country, Spain.

[3] In the seventeenth century the house where he was born was given to the Society of Jesus.

The Order built there, near the birthplace of its founder, the Sanctuary of Loyola.

In 1900 the Society commissioned an altar for the sanctuary, employing metalwork artist Plácido Zuloaga, who had won international success creating intricate artworks by damascening, a technique which inlays gold and silver into iron.

Zuloaga's iron structure houses panels depicting the life of St. Ignatius, and supports a damascened crucifix and candlesticks from the workshop of José Felipe Artamendi.