The Collegiate Basilica of Santa Maria of Gandia, also known as 'La Seu', is the principal church of the city of Gandia. The construction commenced in the 14th century.
The Collegiate Church of Santa María is a Valencian Gothic construction, located in the centre Gandia. Construction began in the 14th century and finalised two centuries later. Thanks to Pope Alexander VI, the temple was raised to the category of Collegiate.
The church consists of one central nave with lateral chapels adjacent to the walls. Its austere architectural style was once supplemented with rich interior decorations of altarpieces, paintings and sculptures, which disappeared during the Spanish Civil War.
The Seo of Gandia is in itself a small architectural jewel, where the Puerta Sur or the Puerta de Santa María and the Puerta de los Apóstoles are noteworthy, one of the first works of Damián Forment, precursor of the Spanish Renaissance.
References:Dryburgh Abbey on the banks of the River Tweed in the Scottish Borders was founded in 1150 in an agreement between Hugh de Morville, Constable of Scotland, and the Premonstratensian canons regular from Alnwick Abbey in Northumberland. The arrival of the canons along with their first abbot, Roger, took place in 1152.
It was burned by English troops in 1322, after which it was restored only to be again burned by Richard II in 1385, but it flourished in the fifteenth century. It was finally destroyed in 1544, briefly surviving until the Scottish Reformation, when it was given to the Earl of Mar by James VI of Scotland. It is now a designated scheduled monument and the surrounding landscape is included in the Inventory of Gardens and Designed Landscapes in Scotland.
David Erskine, 11th Earl of Buchan bought the land in 1786. Sir Walter Scott and Douglas Haig are buried in its grounds.