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Origin and history

The chapel Saint-Nicolas d'Harambels, located at the place called Harambeltz in Ostabat-Asme (Pyrénées-Atlantiques), was built in the late 12th or 13th century. It was supported by a medieval hospital founded in the 11th century, forming a priory-hospital independent of the religious brotherhoods. This complex, managed by four donats (Sala, Etxeberria, Borda, Etxeto) under the authority of a prior, welcomed pilgrims on the Roman way Bordeaux-Astorga and at the confluence of the paths of Compostela, especially the navarro camino.

The hospital was mentioned as early as 1059 in the Will of Loup-Eneco, Viscount of Baigorry, then in acts of 1106 and 1209. Unlike similar institutions, it depended directly on the donates, who chose their prior — a notable local supervisor of the neighboring parish priests. The last prior, Jacques de Borda (died 1760), managed the parishes of Uhart-Mixe and Arhansus. The institution declined in the 18th century: Louis XVI abolished the priories-hospitals in 1784, and the hospital section, already abandoned before 1756, disappeared after 1866.

The chapel, classified as Historic Monument in 2001, is a rectangular building (13x8 m) with a single vessel and flat bedside, with a Romanesque tympanum decorated with a chrism, a Maltese cross and a star. Its interior preserves a homogenous 17th century decor: a glazed vault painted by the Evangelists, a baluster stand, and a monumental altar dedicated to Saint Nicholas of Bari. The two-storey porch was used as a dwelling, while the Trinitarian bell tower, with two bays, dominated the whole. Restored between 2008 and 2010, it remains a major testimony of the reception of pilgrims in the Middle Ages.

The site, located on the GR65 (classified at UNESCO), also marked the departure of a secondary road to the Achurde Pass, avoiding tolls from the Ostabaret. The four surrounding houses (Sala, Etxeberria, Borda, Etxeto) belonged to the donats, whose descendants bought the chapel as a national good in 1795. Today, it is the co-ownership of their heirs. There is no trace of the priory or hospital, but the cemetery retains ancient graves.

The toponymy Harambeltz (or Harambels), meaning "black valley" in Basque, evokes the surrounding forest. The place has been mentioned in various forms since 1106 (Hospitale Sancti Nicolai de Arambels). The chapel, although after the hospital, perpetuates its memory as a spiritual and hospital stop on the jacquarian roads.

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