Cistercian Monastery Of Veruela

A tree-lined avenue leads to the church and the monastery. The monastery is one of more than 350 that the Cistercian Order built in 12th-century Europe. Robert of Molesme had founded the order in France in 1098. 

The Cistercians built their monasteries in remote areas so the monks could lead pious lives in isolation and without luxuries. In the 19th century many monasteries were abolished. The new monastery became a hotel, where the poet Gustavo Adolfo Bécquer lived.  

This doorway is the western entrance to the church. It dates from the end of the 12th century and is Romanesque in style. Most of the decoration consists of sculptured vegetation, but there are also representations of humans and animals.

A wall protected the monastery and helped keep the monks isolated. Within the walled enclosure there had to be everything to ensure that the monks did not need to leave, including water, a vegetable garden and a mill.

The writer Gustavo Adolfo Bécquer was a representative of the Spanish Romantic movement. He lodged in the monastery cells together with his brother Valeriano, a painter. Here he found the inspiration to write short stories and legends, some of them fantastic in character.

The cloister is the hub of the monastery. It is square and consists of four galleries around which the main rooms of the monastery are distributed. It served to link the various spaces dedicated to different activities.

The monastery was designed to serve a function, but also with harmony and beauty in mind. It dates from the end of the 14th century. It is Gothic in style and replaced an earlier one that was damaged in a war (1357-1366).

Most Cistercian monasteries were very similar in their floor plan and spatial arrangement. Around the cloister the various monastic spaces were located. The most important ones, such as the chapter house and the hall of the monks, were on the eastern side.

It was through this door that the monks entered the church. There would have been another door at the other end through which converts entered. In addition, there was another large door on the western side through which people from outside the monastery entered.

The chapter house dates from the 13th century. It was one of the most important spaces for life in the monastery. It was the meeting place for the monks, where they discussed the day-to-day matters of importance. 

Here they would read a chapter of their rule book and receive the advice or punishment of the abbot.

The custom was to bury the major abbots of the monastery in the chapter house. In the floor, the tombstones can be seen. They are decorated with a staff, a symbol of the abbots as spiritual guides.

In the walls of the chapter house there are tombs of feudal lords. As such, two of the medieval social classes are buried in this hall: the clergy and the nobles. Above them was the king, and below them the commoners.

The monastery church was the first building to be built. It was particularly significant because monks dedicated their lives above all to prayer. It was built at the end of the 12th century and in the first half of the 13th century. 

The building is Romanesque in style, with some Gothic elements. Like most Cistercian buildings, it is characterized by sobriety and the absence of decoration. The walls had neither paintings nor sculptures in order not to distract the monks.

The ribbed vaults that cover the naves are typical of the Gothic style. The church consists of a main nave and two aisles, crossed by another, shorter nave. They form what is known as a “Latin cross plan”. 

This hall dates from the 13th century, and its stellar ceiling from the 16th century. The refectory is where the monks ate. They all ate together, sitting in absolute silence.

Silence reigned in the patio of the cloister, creating an atmosphere suitable for the monks’ spiritual life and meditation. 

The capitals at the top of the columns supporting the arches were adorned with plants and trees from the area, forming something like a stone garden. In the upper floor were the dormitories of the monks, which were large common rooms.

The monastery profited from the artistic and architectural styles of each age. The result is a mixture of styles. For example, the cloister exhibits the Gothic style on the ground floor and the Renaissance style on the upper floor.

In the cloister, the Gothic left its mark in the 14th century in the form of large windows with pointed arches, graceful columns and capitals adorned with vegetation. In addition, there are gargoyles that serve as stone drain spouts in the shape of imaginary figures.