Sanctuary of the Virgen de Bendueños, Catholic sanctuary in Bendueños, Lena, Asturias, Spain

The Sanctuary of the Virgen de Bendueños sits at the entrance to Huerna Valley, roughly 2 kilometers from Campomanes, with views toward Peña Ubiña and Sierra del Aramo. The complex includes a church and adjoining buildings, notably the Casa de Novenas, a 15th-century pilgrim lodge.

The sanctuary was founded on 20 January 905, when King Alfonso III and Queen Jimena donated the monastery of Bendueños to the Church of Oviedo. The present Gothic sanctuary was built in the 16th century over the foundations of the earlier pre-Romanesque church, which had late-medieval elements. Later additions include the sacristy, side altars and a bell tower.

The sanctuary housed one of the first priestly brotherhoods, where parish priests from nearby and distant villages met for human, intellectual and moral improvement and confession, using an upper room in the east called the Casa de la cofradía. It was closely tied to Benedictine monasticism, with five monasteries nearby whose monks and abbots frequented it. Pilgrims sang of its fame on the Jacobean route through Oviedo.

Vehicle access is by a steep paved road that leaves the N-630 about 2 km past Campomanes toward Pajares, at a right-hand turn by La Barraca (La Frecha); this climb is traditionally called the "camino del milagro". Walkers reach it on the PR route, and a stone cross with a sign a few hundred metres below invites pilgrims to pray a Salve.

The Casa de Novenas, a few metres north of the sanctuary facing the main porch, housed a hermit who looked after the shrine and helped pilgrims; it was substantially enlarged in 1741. Pilgrims on the route from León through Oviedo to Santiago rested here, and a stone cross a few hundred metres before the sanctuary invites them to pray a Salve.