Monasterio Santa María la Real de Valdeiglesias

Lovely place.

OK

The Monastery of Santa María la Real de Valdeiglesias was founded in the 12th century, when the frontier of the Christian kingdoms advanced towards the south and reached the Tagus basin. In 1150, Alfonso VII the Emperor, King of León, granted the Benedictine community of the Valley of the Churches a Royal Privilege by which they could found the Monastery of Valdeiglesias, which was incorporated into the Cistercian Order a few years later. Throughout the seven centuries that it remained active, the monastery became the engine of the region, with moments of splendor and others of decadence. From the monastic life of its inhabitants, the refectory can still be appreciated, where the monks met to make the repairs, with its stone benches and the holes in the floor to place the wooden tables, or the huge fireplace in the kitchen. The lace came to the monastery with the Mendizábal Confiscation Law, of 1836, through which the State could expropriate land and properties from the Church to put them on the market. The buildings and the land on which it sits will pass into private hands, beginning a period of decline that lasts until the end of the last century. "After the confiscation of Mendizábal, the monastery went into abandonment, looting and ruin," explains Antonio Sin, the mayor of Pelayos de la Presa. “In the 60s and 70s this was the town's quarry. Now we see it as nonsense, but at that time people came and took the stones to build their houses ”. The important works of art that the Monastery housed were also disappearing. Some of them are localized. The choir stalls, carved in walnut wood by Rafael de León in the 16th century and considered one of the most important sculptural works of the Spanish Renaissance, is located in the Murcia Cathedral. And some of the panels that Juan Correa de Vivar painted for the main altar of the church are on display in the Prado Museum. The fate that awaited the monastery was none other than ruin and disappearance, were it not for the providential appearance of the figure of Mariano García Benito, who in 1974 read an advertisement in the newspaper ABC, in which the ruins of the monastery were being sold. for 12 million pesetas (just over 72,000 euros).

Music concerts ... phenomenal

Spectacular monastery, it offers guided tours on Saturdays, although it is currently closed. I was at the summer concert and the views are incredible, I recommend going to visit it if you pass through the area