Santa María de Guadalupe Monastery

The Real Monasterio de Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe ( Royal Monastery of Our Lady of Guadalupe ) is a monastery in the province of Caceres autonomous community of Extremadura, Spain. It was the most important monastery in the country for more than four centuries and was declared in 1993 by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site.

History

The monastery has its origins in the late 13th century, when a shepherd named Gil Cordero on the banks of the Guadalupe found a statue of the Madonna, the 714 - had been hidden from the Moorish invaders - apparently by the inhabitants of the area. At the site then a chapel was built. King Alfonso XI. of Castile, who had visited the chapel several times, requested the help of Guadelupes before the Battle of Salado (1340 ). After he had been victorious there, he wrote this to their assistance, the church declared a royal sanctuary and prompted a large-scale reconstruction program.

1389 took over the Congregation of the Jerónimos Monastery and the made ​​it their headquarters. The construction work continued under the direction of the respective first Prior of the Order. 1474 there was buried on his mother's side, Henry IV.

The monastery has many connections to the New World, where Santa María de Guadalupe is held in high esteem and, among others, in the Basilica of Santa María de Guadalupe ( Basilica de Santa María de Guadalupe ) is worshiped. It was also here, in Extremadura, where Christopher Columbus made ​​his first pilgrimage to the discovery of America.

Even after the monks of Guadelupe had founded the nearer to Madrid famous monastery of El Escorial, it kept the royal protection. It remained the most important monastery of Spain until the secularization in 1835.

In the 20th century, the monastery was revived by the Franciscan order and was founded in 1955 by Pope Pius XII. for minor basilica raised.

Monuments

The monastery, whose architecture was built for several centuries, is still built by the, of Alfonso XI and his immediate successors in the 14th and 15th centuries dominated Templo Mayor ( main church). The rectangular chapel of Santa Catalina is also from the 15th century. She is known for a number of ornate tombs from the 17th century.

The church relics connects Santa Catalina with the baroque sacristy ( 1638-1647 ). It is richly decorated and hosts a number of paintings by Francisco de Zurbarán. Behind the basilica is the Camarin de la Virgen, an octagonal Baroque building (1687-1696) with the impressive stuccoed chamber of the Virgin and nine paintings by Luca Giordano. The showpiece of this richly decorated hall is a throne with the statue of the Madonna which gave its name to the monastery. Other notable Baute are the monastery in Mudéjar style (1389-1405) with his Plateresque portal, the late Gothic cloister (1531-1533) and the one given by a descendant of Columbus in order, New Church ( 1730).

Unfortunately, became the palace, built between 1487 and 1491 by Isabella I, demolished in 1856.