Monasteries in Spain

San Pedro de las Dueñas Monastery

Monastery of San Pedro de las Dueñas was built in the late 10th century and beginning of the 11th century. It is one of the most representative churches of Mudejar Romanesque in its Pre-classical period, began in stone and finished in brick (1087 and 1110) and Basilical ground plan. Over the presbytery of the chancel stands a brick tower, it is square with progressively decreasing sections.There is an interesting collec ...
Founded: 10th century | Location: San Pedro de las Dueñas, Spain

Monasterio de San Salvador de Cornellana

Monasterio de San Salvador in Cornellana is a monastery located in the municipality of Salas. Consisting of several Romanesque style buildings which started to be built in the 11th century, the monastery was founded by infanta Cristina Bermúdez, daughter of Bermudo II of León and his first wife Queen Velasquita Ramírez. She founded the monastery in 1024 after the death of her husband, infante Ordoño Ramírez  ...
Founded: 1024 | Location: Salas, Spain

Jerez de la Frontera Charterhouse

The Charterhouse of Jerez de la Frontera architecture is of a Late Gothic style, corresponding to the start of construction in the 15th century, with Baroque aspects dating from the 17th century. The building, completed in the 17th century, has been designated by the Spanish government as an Historic-Artistic Monument. The impulse behind the monastery dates back to Alvaro Obertos de Valeto, a knight of Genovese descen ...
Founded: 1475 | Location: Jerez de la Frontera, Spain

San Jerónimo de Valparaíso Monastery

On the hills above the amazing Medina Azahara, nestling in the mountains of Córdoba and surrounded by native Mediterranean vegetation, stands this impressive 15th century monastery. It was originally Gothic in style, although different reforms in Renaissance and Baroque style have added a wealth of interesting details to the building. The owners, the Marquises of El Mérito, have done a great job over several generation ...
Founded: 15th century | Location: Córdoba, Spain

San Isidoro del Campo Monastery

Located in Santiponce, the Monasterio de San Isidoro del Campo was founded somewhere near the Roman ruins of Itálica, by Alfonso Pérez de Guzmán and María Coronel Alonso in 1301, where according to tradition San Isidoro de Sevilla had been buried. His remains were discovered and moved to León in 1063. Since its foundation, the monastery has been under the spiritual and temporary administration of different reli ...
Founded: 1301 | Location: Santiponce, Spain

Monastery of Santa María de Meira

Monastery of Santa María de Meira was established probably in the 12th century. Today only the medieval church exists, it was consecrated in 1258.
Founded: 12th century | Location: Meira, Spain

Monastery of San Paio de Abeleda

The Monastery of San Paio de Abeleda is a medieval monastery built in the 12th century located 2 km from Abeleda village. Today found in a state of ruins, it was originally one of the most influential monastic centres in the province and was converted into an abbey surviving until the 19th century Ecclesiastical Confiscations of Mendizábal. It was acquired by the House of Alba in 1872. The church was built in the Roman ...
Founded: 12th century | Location: Castro Caldelas, Spain

San Miguel de Las Dueñas

Monastery of San Miguel de Las Dueñas founded in the 10th century and renovated in the late 12th century under the Cistercian rule. Its original name was San Miguel de Almázcara. A Romanesque portal gives way to the chapterhouse. The 17th century church houses a Baroque altarpiece and the renowned reliquary of the choir. There are two cloisters, the Claustro del Palacio (17th century) and a Neoclassical one.
Founded: 10th century | Location: San Miguel de las Dueñas, Spain

Monastery of St. Clare of Moguer

The Monastery of Santa Clara in Moguer is one of the most important examples of the mudejar architecture in occidental Andalusia. It was founded in 1337 by Sir Alonso Jofre Tenorio, an Admiral from Castile and his wife Lady Elvira Álvarez. It was a donation from Alfonso XI in 1333. It was for Franciscan- Clarisa Nuns. The monastery was built in a place next to the villa called “Santa Clara Country”, which was integr ...
Founded: 1337 | Location: Moguer, Spain

Santo Domingo de Guzman Convent

The town of Caleruega is the birthplace of Saint Dominic of Guzmán, one of Europe’s master evangelists. The monastery boasts an archive holding the records of various royal privileges, donations of the foundation, the ordination of several Masters of the Order and papal bulls, etc., dating back to the 13th century and whose excellent state of conservation is attributable to the painstaking care and attention provided b ...
Founded: 13th century | Location: Caleruega, Spain

Monastery of Santa María de Villanueva de Oscos

Monasterio de Santa María de Villanueva de Oscos was founded in the 12th century as a Benedictine house. The monastic community was closed by the ecclesiastical confiscations of Mendizábal. The church has remained in use as a parish church. The cartulary preserves 616 parchments about the Middle Ages: 32 from the 12th century, 261 from the 13th century, 224 from the 14th century and 99 from the 15th century.
Founded: 12th century | Location: Villanueva de Oscos, Spain

San Salvador de Lérez Monastery

The Monastery of San Salvador or San Benito de Lérez was founded in the 10th century by Benedictine monks. The present church is Neo-Classical with an 18th-century Baroque façade, where the image of St. Benedict can be seen in a niche. Adjoining the southern wall, one wing of the 16th-century cloister is still standing. Some of the blocks in this wall show tomb engravings and Roman inscriptions, dating from the original ...
Founded: 10th century AD | Location: Pontevedra, Spain

San Francisco Monastery

The convent of San Francisco was built during the 15th century to 18th century in Renaissance and Baroque style. Today it contains the Municipal Historical Archives and Iberoamerican Library.
Founded: 15th century | Location: Moguer, Spain

Santo Domingo Monastery

Santo Domingo Monastery in Archidona was founded in 1531 by the count of Ureña. The Renaissance style building is today used as a school.
Founded: 1531 | Location: Archidona, Spain

Convento de Santa Dorotea

The Convento de Santa Dorotea is an Augustinian nun"s convent in Burgos. It is a Gothic construction, and dates back to 1387, when Dorotea Rodriguez Valderrama, along with other devout women formed a nun"s community at the old church of Santa Maria la Blanca. The community adopted the rule of St. Augustine in 1429 with the support of Bishop Pablo de Santamaría. In 1457 they moved to the church of San Andrés, u ...
Founded: 1387 | Location: Burgos, Spain

Monastery of Santa María de Aciveiro

Monastery of Santa María de Aciveiro is a gem of Romanesque architecture, built in 1135 under the patronage of Galician King Alfonso VII and incorporated into the Cistercian Order around 1170. It was carefully restored with full respect to the original structure. Following the Cistercian layout, all rooms are organised around a cloister combining impeccable history, warmth and functionality: kitchen, refectory, scriptori ...
Founded: 1135 | Location: Forcarei, Spain

Santa María de Sandoval Monastery

Santa María de Sandoval Monastery was built on land donated in 1142 by Alfonso VII to Count Pedro Ponce de Minerva and his wife Estefanía Ramírez. After receiving numerous donations and possessing extensive territories, it entered decadence in the fifteenth century. In 1592 and 1615 it was grass of the flames, reason for which it had to be rebuilt. The permanence of the monks remained until 1835, date in which the exc ...
Founded: 1142 | Location: Mansilla Mayor, Spain

Santa Catalina Monastery

Santa Catalina Monastery construction started in in 1393, in a Romanesque style when Gothic standards were already taking hold. With Mendizábal"s disestablishment (1837) the Franciscans were obliged to abandon the monastery, and the building"s ownership and management passed to the army until the year 2000. The monastery has two cloisters, the best conserved of which is in Renaissance style. The church was mod ...
Founded: 1393 | Location: Ares, Spain

Monastery of Santa María de Toloño

Santa María de Toloño is a ruined Spanish monastery located in the Sierra de Toloño near Labastida. Constructed by the Hieronymites, the monastery was destroyed in the First Carlist War and only a few walls remain. The sanctuary is located in a meadow at 1,201 metres above sea level. It was built by the Hieronymites between the 14th and 15th centuries, and abandoned in 1422 due to harsh weather. Later, it was affiliat ...
Founded: 14th century | Location: Labastida, Spain

Santa María de la Caridad Monastery

The monastery of Santa María de la Caridad was founded by the Navarrese monarch García Ramírez, who asked the nuns of the French monastery of Favars to come to Navarra. They came to Tudela in 1147 to build the first female Cistercian monastery in Spain, but the bustling life of the river capital was not compatible with their spiritual way of life so soon, in 1157, they fled to the quiet and fertile lands of Tulebras.  ...
Founded: 1147 | Location: Tulebras, Spain

Featured Historic Landmarks, Sites & Buildings

Historic Site of the week

Krickenbeck Castle

Krickenbeck moated castle is one of the oldest on the lower Rhine. Its history dates back to the year 1104, when the castle was first mentioned. It is unclear why the old castle, which was certainly inhabited by Count Reginar, was abandoned or destroyed. In the mid-13th century the castle was moved to the current location. At the end of the 14th century the new castle belonged to the Counts of Kleve.

Johann Friedrich II of Schesaberg converted the castle into a Baroque mansion between 1708-1721. On September 7, 1902, a fire destroyed the entire mansion. From 1903 to 1904, a three-winged castle was built in the Neo-Renaissance style. Today Krickenbeck is a conference center.