The monastery of San Pedro de Tejada was originally founded in the ninth century. In the eleventh it became a dependency of the nearby monastery of Oña, and the current church was built in the first half of the twelfth. The projecting west portal is decorated with sculpture. The sculptors concentrated the figural subjects towards the top of the façade and utilized the architectural elements present to creatively present the content.

 

A sculpted row of the apostles is organized into a broken frieze above the door. The Christ in Majesty usually at the center of such an arrangement has been transposed higher, set within a circular mandorla in a metope above the apex of the portal. The evangelist symbols, eagle, ox, lion, and man are placed two to each side, on the surrounding corbels. Farther out, on the remaining corbels are the evangelists as winged men. Corbels are commonly sculpted with individual or even profane subjects, rarely are they incorporated into the larger program as is the case here. Below, in the spandrels, are two other inset panels: one showing an abbreviated image of the Last Supper and the other, a battle of beast versus man.