The church of Santa María entered into history in the eleventh century subordinate to the church of San Pedro, both dependent on the Monastery of Montearagón, in Huesca. The Olite church was donated by the monarch of Pamplona and Aragón Sancho Ramírez in 1093 to Montearagón. This dependency was maintained, shared with the diocese of Pamplona, until 1851, the date of the Concordat between the State and the Vatican.
In the early fifteenth century, Santa María gradually took on its own entity and prominence, having its own vicar and acquiring the rank of parish. Both churches constituted a single chapter until 1851, when both became two separate parishes.
Lying adjacent to the Royal Palace, the church was used by the Navarrese monarchs for great festivities and solemn ceremonies. Courts of the Kingdom, baptisms, royal weddings and wakes were held here. The Navarrese monarchs of the Evreux dynasty Charles II and Charles III funded the church with donations, erected altars and founded chaplaincies and guilds, and Queen Blanche built the cloister in 1432.
Work on the present church commenced in the mid-thirteenth century on the chancel, in an incipient Gothic style still with Cistercian influences, progressing towards the façade, which was finished circa 1330 in High Gothic style. The influence of French Gothic is notable in the architecture and sculpture of the façade.
Between 1767-1773 the church was enlarged with the Chapel of Christ, now the sacristy.
For a description of the interior of the church press 3.