San Juan de los Reyes
San Juan de los Reyes is a 16th and 17th century Franciscan monastery in the Spanish city of Toledo . His church is dedicated to John the Evangelist .
history
The Catholic kings Isabella I of Castile and Ferdinand II of Aragón donated the monastery as thanks for the victory over the Portuguese in the Battle of Toro in 1476. The construction dragged on until the beginning of the 17th century and represents a mixture from late Gothic - Isabelline and Mudejar styles.
church
Exterior construction
The building, which was mainly made of precisely hewn granite stones , appears relatively strict and clear - despite the many pinnacles and the two stone balustrades that close both the eastern parts of the building and the octagonal lantern dome . The north portal , possibly designed by Alonso de Covarrubias around 1540, but not completed until 1606–1610, depicts John the Baptist surrounded by saints of the Franciscan Order. In the narrow blind arcades of the outer walls of the choir area, chains are attached, allegedly by Christian ones Slaves who were freed from Moorish captivity.
Interior
The single-nave church, rebuilt after a fire in 1808, has two short transept arms ; the crossing is spanned by a star vault, which rests on an octagonal and partially windowed drum . The interior decoration, especially in the eastern parts, was created by Juan Guas and consists of stone lacework ( crestería ) and in the transept with two galleries for the donors. The walls of the transept are decorated with a frieze of the royal coats of arms , which are carried by an eagle, the symbol of the evangelist John. Each coat of arms - still without the pomegranate added to the royal coat of arms after the conquest of Granada (1492) - is accompanied by a yoke ( yugo ) and a bundle of arrows ( flecha ), which stand for the first two letters of the royal names Ysabella and Fernando . A Plateresque retable from the 16th century with scenes of the Passion of Christ and figures of saints decorates the altar wall .
Crossing dome
Eagle with royal coat of arms
Altarpiece
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Cloister
The two-story cloister with late Gothic tracery arcades and a Plateresque first floor ends with a balustrade, which is crowned by numerous pinnacles. The gargoyles represent mythical creatures and, curiously, a bagpiper . The first floor has an artesonado ceiling in Mudejar style ; underneath there are a total of 8 candle arches , each dominated by 2 lying lions , on which the motto Ferdinand and Isabella's “tanto monta, monta tanto” is carved, which means something like “one is worth as much as the other ".
Upper floor of the cloister
Mudejar blanket
Mudejar ceiling (detail)
Moorish decor
Others
Diego de Landa , who later became Bishop of Yucatán , was a novice monastery in the 1540s .
literature
- All of Toledo. Ed. Escudo de Oro, Barcelona 1988, pp. 44-45.
- Rafael Martin Talaverano: Two Flat Ribbed Vaults in San Juan de los Reyes (Toledo, Spain) (PDF). In: Karl-Eugen Kurrer , Werner Lorenz , Volker Wetzk (eds.): Proceedings of the Third International Congress on Construction History. Neunplus, Berlin 2009, ISBN 978-3-936033-31-1 , pp. 1001-1009
Web links
- San Juan de los Reyes - Information
- San Juan de los Reyes, cloister - information (spanish)
- Monasterio de San Juan de los Reyes - Brief information (English)
Coordinates: 39 ° 51 '27 .7 " N , 4 ° 1' 53.7" W.