El Paular Monastery
The Royal Monastery of Santa María de El Paular ( Spanish Real Monasterio de Santa María de El Paular ) is a former Carthusian monastery founded in 1390 , which was converted into a Benedictine monastery in 1954 . It is located in the Spanish municipality of Rascafría at the foot of the Sierra de Guadarrama , a few kilometers northwest of Madrid .
history
The monastery was built on the site of an old chapel on royal orders in 1390 . Rodrigo Alonso had a small palace built in 1403. Several famous architects were involved in the construction of the monastery complex, including Juan Guas , Rodrigo Gil de Hontañón , Francisco Hurtado and Vicente Acero . In 1755 an earthquake destroyed the roof of the tower and the nave. After the dissolution in 1835, the monastery stood empty for a few decades. While Benedictine monks moved in again in 1954 , parts of the complex are now rented out as a luxury hotel by the Sheraton chain .
Interior
The simple, plain exterior facade of the monastery stands in stark contrast to the elaborate late Baroque decorations of the sacristy chapel and the banners ( tabernacle , mid-18th century) by Francisco Hurtado, which contains multicolored marble , Solomonic columns and gilded foliage. The silver decoration of the church included a guardian angel weighing 24 arroba (around 320 kg), which was looted by Napoleon's army along with other valuable church objects. A large, carved wooden altarpiece from the 15th century and an iron partition that separates the monastery choir from the nave are still in very good condition . Another special feature is the refectory designed in the Moorish style .
The monastery used to have a famous collection of books and maps , but it was closed. The so-called “Carthusian cycle”, 52 paintings by Vincenzo Carducci about the life of St. Bruno and the martyrdom of the English Carthusians , had long been forgotten and was scattered in several local museums. In 2011 it was returned to the monastery by the researcher Werner Beutler . It is the largest of all Carthusian cycles ever painted.
See also
literature
- Werner Beutler : Vicente Carducho: The great Carthusian cycle in El Paular (= The Mystical Tradition and the Carthusians. 12 = Analecta Cartusiana vol. 130, 12). Institute for English and American Studies - University of Salzburg, Salzburg 1997, ISBN 3-7052-0591-9 .
Web links
Coordinates: 40 ° 53 '19.5 " N , 3 ° 53' 14.7" W.