Santa Catalina Monastery, Ares, Spain

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 modified in the 18th century, when it changed from a cross-shaped ground plan to a single nave covered with a barrel vault on arches. Coloured wooden retable with Baroque ornamental designs. Some of its images are in churches in Ferrol. Inside the monastery, we can see the remains of capitals, statues, tombstones. Other sculptural remains from the 16th century can presently be seen in the San Antón Archaeology Museum (A Coruña).

References:

Galicia Tourism

User Reviews

Vanuska V (2 years ago)
Very beautiful monastery, although it says that it can be visited and that we went inside, we could not do anything else than to access the canteen inside. The rest closed with a padlock. A pity.

Rafael Sanchez Gamas (2 years ago)
Relax

Manuel Jesus Brigel (2 years ago)
A very beautiful and fascinating place.

R G (2 years ago)
Beautiful monastery very well restored and in an idyllic setting. It is a pity that the adjacent chapel has not been restored as well, which is in ruins and, apart from being quite spacious, it seems to have been very beautiful in its good days. Inside the monastery there is a bar where we did not stop because we were short of time, although it caught my attention that they had all the tables on the terrace closed except one.

Manuel Angel Couce Codesido (2 years ago)
I love how well cared for it is and because of its acoustics and that they have Catalina in the cafeteria on the terrace, who is a macaw that lets herself be loved and because of the attention that the person who runs it manages !!

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