In the area surrounding this church wasto be found the Jewish quarter of Elgacena, and on the site where the church lies today, stood a synagogue.

The first mention of Jews in this spot appears in the Fuero de Estella, a royal charter, dating to between 1076 and 1090. They soon settled here, in the quarter of Elgacena. This community did, however, and for reasons unknown, move to the other side of the hill, which led the king García el Restaurador to donate the quarter to the city barons in 1135, and in 1145 he donated the synagogue to the bishopric of Pamplona so that they might erect a church dedicated to Saint Mary and All Saints. This is the church we know today as Santa María Jus del Castillo (‘below the castle’).

Between 1999 and 2003, a number of archeological excavations were carried out in this area, and the remains of dwellings from the 11^th and 12^th centuries were uncovered, quite possibly belonging to the old Jewish quarter.

Next to this church was Saint Mary’s gate, one of the gates along the city walls that defended the city. Below the church of Santa María Jus del Castillo appeared the remains of an earlier building, and a deposit for liquids that could well have belonged to the old synagogue of Elgacena.

The church as we know it today, with a single nave and Romanesque in style, was built between the end of the 12^th century and the beginning of the 13^th century. From the outside, of particular note are the apse and the richly-decorated corbels. The original doorway was replaced in the 18^th century by its current one, Baroque in style, to which style the brick tower also belongs. Until the 20^th century it boasted Renaissance and Baroque sacristies, neither of which remain.