Founded in 1168, the building of the Santa María de Gradefes Church, according to an engraving on the northern lower wall, began on March 1st, 1177 under the patronage of the woman who became its Abbess -Teresa Pérez, widow of García Pérez, a knight of Alfonso VII. The first community was made up of Cistercian nuns who came from the monastery of Tulebras, Navarra. It became an important and privileged female monastery.
It is the only example in Spain of a female monastery having an ambulatory. In the church are the tombs with statues of the founding couple, a polychromatic work from the late 13th century. Kept in the monastery rooms are the polychromatic wooden carvings of a 12th century Virgin and a Gothic Christ, formerly part of a Calvary from the 14th century.
Valuable sculptures from the twelfth century. Fourteenth century tombs. Virgen de las Angustias (sixteenth century). Chalices, crucifixes and lignum crucis (largest section of the cross).
In monastic dependencies are kept polychrome carvings of a Virgin of the XII century and a Gothic Christ which was part of a Calvary of the XIV. Garments and shoes belonging to the founder are also kept.
References:Rosenborg Palace was built in the period 1606-34 as Christian IV’s summerhouse just outside the ramparts of Copenhagen. Christian IV was very fond of the palace and often stayed at the castle when he resided in Copenhagen, and it was here that he died in 1648. After his death, the palace passed to his son King Frederik III, who together with his queen, Sophie Amalie, carried out several types of modernisation.
The last king who used the place as a residence was Frederik IV, and around 1720, Rosenborg was abandoned in favor of Frederiksborg Palace.Through the 1700s, considerable art treasures were collected at Rosenborg Castle, among other things items from the estates of deceased royalty and from Christiansborg after the fire there in 1794.
Soon the idea of a museum arose, and that was realised in 1833, which is The Royal Danish Collection’s official year of establishment.