Cistercian Abbey of Les Franqueses
The Cistercian Abbey Les Franqueses was 1186-1474 a monastery of Cistercian nuns in Balaguer , province of Lleida in Catalonia .
history
Count Ermengol VIII von Urgell and his mother Dolça von Foix († 1210) founded the nunnery of Santa Maria de les Franqueses south of Balaguer on the Segre River in 1186 , which took over the Vallverd Abbey in 1452 , but was closed itself in 1474. The property passed to the Poblet Abbey , which established a priory of monks there. The sale to a private owner in 1700 marked the end of monastic life in the area. The part of the monastery church still standing today (owned by the city since 2014) is adorned with a remarkable oculus (round window).
literature
- Prim Bertran i Roigé: El monestir de Santa Maria de les Franqueses. Notes per a la seva història . Institut d'Estudis Ilerdencs, Lleida 1982.
- Joan Fuguet Sans and Carme Plaza Arqué: El Cister. El patrimoni dels monestirs catalans a la Corona d'Aragó. Rafael Dalmau, Barcelona 1998, pp. 113-114.
- Bernard Peugniez : Le Guide Routier de l'Europe Cistercienne . Editions du Signe, Strasbourg 2012, p. 787.
Web links
Commons : Santa Maria de les Franqueses - Collection of images, videos and audio files
- Localization
- Lexicon article on the monastery, Catalan
- Monument page, with history, Catalan
- Monument page, Catalan, with localization
- Another monument page, Catalan
- Page to the monastery, with abbess list and literature, Catalan
- Private page, nicely illustrated
- Medieval page, richly illustrated
- Informative site, Catalan, nicely illustrated
Coordinates: 41 ° 45 ′ 21.3 " N , 0 ° 47 ′ 26.9" E