The San Miguel de Escalada church was consecration in 951 by Bishop Genadio of Astorga, around the time of the founding of the Kingdom of León. It was constructed on a site dedicated to Saint Michael, probably a Visigothic church.
In 1050, due to an increase in the number of monks, the foundation was renewed by the Abbot Sabarico. In 1155 King Alfonso VII of León gave the monastery to the congregation of St Rufo of Avignon.

After the disentailment of ecclesiastical properties and lands in 1836 the monastery was abandoned and the monastic offices disappeared. The only buildings extant are the church, the tower, and the San Fructuoso chapel. The tower and the chapel are of Romanesque style. Later in the nineteenth century the buildings were declared a national monument.

The monastery church's nave has three aisles separated by columns and large horseshoe arches, with their apses and a crossing, which is not covered by a central tower. The choir is separated from the principal nave by three horseshoe arches sometimes called an iconostasis).

Despite the floor plan, the building appears from the exterior as a rectangular block. All arches are supported by marble columns and Corinthian steeples proceeding from other Visigothic or Roman constructions