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Founded by the Duke of Calabria, the San Miguel de los Reyes Monastery is one of the best examples of the Valencian Renaissance, and can be considered the prototype for El Escorial, as it was designed to be a Royal Pantheon, a Hieronymite monastery, a college and a church. However, various mishaps prevented the project from being completed in its entirety. The two architects who designed it in 1546 were Alonso de Covarrubias and Juan de Vidaña. Following the death of the Duke, the construction was interrupted for more than twenty years. Other criteria were then considered, but the first group of buildings fully assumes the Renaissance style.
Recently restored and inaugurated (in 1999) it serves as the Valencian Library.
References:Visby Cathedral (also known as St. Mary’s Church) is the only survived medieval church in Visby. It was originally built for German merchants and inaugurated in 1225. Around the year 1350 the church was enlarged and converted into a basilica. The two-storey magazine was also added then above the nave as a warehouse for merchants.
Following the Reformation, the church was transformed into a parish church for the town of Visby. All other churches were abandoned. Shortly after the Reformation, in 1572, Gotland was made into its own Diocese, and the church designated its cathedral.
There is not much left of the original interior. The font is made of local red marble in the 13th century. The pulpit was made in Lübeck in 1684. There are 400 graves under the church floor.