The temple history has been admirably gathered by CIRILO GARCIA– a villager of Sandoval – who thinks the original church was built with a single nave in an assumed Romanesque style. In the early XIII century probably due to the church had become too small for the increasing number of the inhabitants in the village, he says, they pulled down the south wall to build another aisle which is now the one with the High Altar doing up the first nave – the Rosary Altar nave. This extension took place between the XIII and XIV centuries. The present bell tower was finished in 1592, after the previous tower was taken down. According to the tower construction contract, the cost of the new building was 67'353 reales (an old Spanish coin). The dismantling cost is also documented. To realize how much it was, we must take into account that, at those days, a fanega of wheat was worth 6 to 7 reales, and a fanega – a measure of cereals – was equivalent to 55.5 litres.

    The altarpieces of the High Altar and the Rosary one have been changed at least three times. The present High Altar altarpiece was made by Francisco de Mallona in 1683 of walnut tree wood in Corinthian style and the  wreathed columns' decorations or adornments are grapevine leaves and bunches. In the first body, detached from the altar, is the tabernacle, a more delicate work, with the same adornments as the columns. It cost 10,000 reales and was gold-plated in 1734 for a price of 7'700 reales.

    Current Rosary Altar was ordered in 1748 and cost 5'200 reales, paid by some of the residents, as well as the pulpit that cost 600. Mr. Luciano Huidobro, an expert in the field of the art of the province of Burgos, said that it was unique and unusually beautiful. The Crucified Christ Altar was made in 1666 and cost 4'418 reales; it has, in the middle, a Crucified Christ sculpture, work of the XIV century. Saint Blaise Altar was carried out in 1673 and the price was 1'730 reales, while the image of Saint Blaise cost 150.

    The precise date of the placement of the Saint Michael Altar is not known and we don't know the sum it cost either; what we know is that the gold-plated of the altar reached the sum of 3'200 reales, plus some more reales for the permit to gold-plate.

    The sacristy began to be built in 1653, among the entries there are 3'500 reales for the master skilled labourer, a thousand roof-tiles at three maravedis each, plus 150 reales for the stones and 44 for the viands or food, a habit about that time given to the builders at the accomplishment of the works. (one maravedi is worth a third of a real).

    Some more building works we have heard from are the Portico (the porch), built in 1695 for 2'739 reales and the flooring of the church with flagstones for the great sum of 9'900 reales, plus 42 more paid to the town council of Olmos for the permit to get the stone from a quarry there and 22 for the refreshments and snack the workers were treated to.
    In 1794, 964 reales were paid for a Reliquary with a fragment of the Lignum Crucis (Cross Wood) and relics of the Saint Apostles. The reliquary was stolen from the church in 1876 along with a chalice, a paten, other reliquary, some glasses for chrism oil, a parish cross, two crowns of the Virgin, a censer, two ciborium and some altar cruets, everything in silver and gold. In 1826 the church was first-time  whitewashed because some people had fallen ill in the village and they were afraid that having those been buried in the temple, as it was used to do at the time, they might have infected the church.

    The temple got seriously damaged during the last decades of the XX century because of lack of care. Therefore, some very keen people from the village rehabilitated it and could reopen it to the cult at the beginning of 1996. The roof was completely refurbished; the pillars were strengthened; the plaster inside the building was removed (walls and ceilings) leaving at sight a beautiful light stone. Let's express our gratitude to Cirilo Garcia & Abilio Barrio who dealt with everything to make the project a fact, preventing the irreversible worsening and deterioration of this cherished architectural piece.
 We think it's enough to say the total amout was raised to several million pesetas got totally from voluntary donations (140 pesetas = 0.84 euros = $ 1) . Let's also put on record our recognition to all those who contributed to this achievement.

Version en Castellano