Real Monasterio de Santa Ana (Avila)

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Real Monasterio de Santa Ana

The Real Monasterio de Santa Ana (Royal Monastery of Saint Anne) in Ávila was a monastery of the Cistercian women under various names from the 14th century and the Trappist women from 1954 to 1978 . Since 1991, the building has housed various departments of the Government of the Autonomous Community of Castile and León . The building has been a listed building since 1982.

Predecessor institutions

A previous establishment of the monastery under the patronage of St. Clement, which was near Ávila on the Adaja River , is mentioned in a document from 1223. In a bull from Pope Gregory X from 1273, the Cistercian order was confirmed in possession of the monastery. In 1331, the then bishop of Ávila Sancho Blázquez Dávila made a donation to provide new accommodation for the nuns of the destroyed monastery of San Clemente. This led to the construction of the monastery under the patronage of Saint Benedict (San Benito) outside the city walls of Ávila. The work was finished in 1350.

Renewal in the 16th century

Real Monasterio de Santa Ana, cloister south wing

In 1502 the Cistercian monasteries of Santa Escolástica and San Millán were included in the monastery of San Benito. As a result, the monastery community now consisted of around 50 nuns. During the first half of the 16th century, the monastery, previously dedicated to Saint Benedict, was dedicated to Saint Anne .

At the beginning of the 16th century, not only did the population of Ávila increase, the number of nuns also increased. Because of this, and because the conventional Gothic architecture was viewed as unsuitable, conversions and extensions were intended to remedy the lack of space. The galleries of the cloister on the north and west sides were built before 1540. In the years that followed, the south and east sides were expanded to include three-story galleries. The new staircase was completed in 1549. The construction work continued from around 1564 with the replacement of the wooden ceiling of the church with a barrel vault. The choir was added at the beginning of the 17th century . The bell gable was added in the 17th century. Between 1712 and 1714 Manuel Escobedo created the main altar and the side altars of the monastery church. They were gilded a few decades later.

Decline

Since the middle of the 18th century, there have been signs of the decline of the Santa Ana Monastery. The monastery community consisted of only 25 nuns compared to more than 70 in the previous century. The dismortment in the 19th century did not lead to the dissolution of the monastery, but the expropriation of land deprived it of the funds that would have been necessary to maintain the large building. Structural damage led to more and more restrictions in use. At the beginning of the 20th century, various renovations could be carried out in the parts of the building that were still in use thanks to the income from the sale of the adjacent monastery garden as a building site.

In June 1976 the foundation stone for a new monastery building was laid in the south outside the city of Ávila. On October 2, 1978, the new building was ready to move into. In 1982 the Real Monasterio de Santa Ana was listed as a Bien de Interés Cultural and in 1985 it was bought and thoroughly renovated by the Autonomous Community of Castile and León. The church was transformed into a ballroom and the choir into an exhibition space. State administration offices are housed in most of the building.

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Institución - Monasterio de Santa Ana de Ávila (España). Ministerio de Educación, Cultura y Deporte, accessed November 25, 2017 (Spanish).
  2. ^ Raimundo Moreno Blanco: Francisco de Mora en el Monasterio de Santa Ana de Ávila . In: Academia: Boletín de la Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando . No. 117 , 2015, ISSN  0567-560X , p. 58 (Spanish, [1] [accessed November 24, 2017]).
  3. ↑ Francisco de Paula Cañas Gálvez: La Casa y Corte del obispo abulense Sancho Blázquez Dávila un modelo curial episcopal castellano a mediados del siglo XIV . In: Espacio, tiempo y forma. Series III, Historia medieval . No. 28 , 2015, ISSN  0214-9745 , p. 139 (Spanish, [2] [accessed November 25, 2017]).
  4. ^ Raimundo Moreno Blanco: Francisco de Mora en el Monasterio de Santa Ana de Ávila . In: Academia: Boletín de la Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando . No. 117 , 2015, ISSN  0567-560X , p. 62 ff . (Spanish, [3] [accessed November 24, 2017]).
  5. ^ Raimundo Moreno Blanco: Francisco de Mora en el Monasterio de Santa Ana de Ávila . In: Academia: Boletín de la Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando . No. 117 , 2015, ISSN  0567-560X , p. 68 ff . (Spanish, [4] [accessed November 24, 2017]).

literature

Raimundo Moreno Blanco: Francisco de Mora en el Monasterio de Santa Ana de Ávila . In: Academia: Boletín de la Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando . No. 117 , 2015, ISSN  0567-560X , p. 57-72 (Spanish, [5] [accessed November 24, 2017]).

Web links

Commons : Royal Monastery of Santa Ana, Ávila  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Coordinates: 40 ° 39 ′ 22.2 "  N , 4 ° 41 ′ 24.4"  W.