The Royal Monastery of Saint Mary of Guadalupe (Spanish: Real Monasterio de Santa María de Guadalupe) is a Roman Catholic monastery built in the 1300s. It is located in Guadalupe, Extremadura, Spain, at the base of the eastern side of the Sierra de las Villuercas. For more than four centuries, it was one of the most important and well-known monasteries in the country. In 1993, UNESCO named it a World Heritage Site.

History

The monastery began in the late 13th century when a shepherd from Cáceres named Gil Cordero found a statue of the Blessed Virgin on the bank of the Guadalupe River. The statue had been hidden by local people from Moorish invaders in 714. A chapel was built at the discovery site and was named Our Lady of Guadalupe.

King Alfonso XI visited the chapel many times and prayed to Santa Maria de Guadalupe before the Battle of Rio Salado. After winning the battle, he believed the Madonna helped him and declared the church a royal sanctuary. He also started a major rebuilding project.

In 1389, the Hieronymite monks took control of the monastery and made it their main home. Construction continued under the guidance of the order’s first prior. In 1474, Henry IV of Castile was buried at Guadalupe next to his mother.

In 1486, King Ferdinand II of Aragon issued the Sentencia Arbitral de Guadalupe at the monastery. This decision ended unfair customs that allowed medieval nobles in Catalonia to mistreat remensa peasants and keep them tied to their lands.

The monastery has strong connections to the New World, including the Caribbean island of Guadeloupe. After discovering America in 1492, Christopher Columbus visited Guadalupe in Extremadura and thanked heaven for his discovery.

Even after the monks from Guadalupe founded the famous Escorial monastery, which was closer to Madrid, Santa Maria de Guadalupe kept royal support. It remained Spain’s most important monastery until the Confiscation of monasteries in 1835. In the 20th century, the Franciscan Order revived the monastery, and Pope Pius XII declared the shrine a "Minor Papal Basilica" in 1955.

Monuments

The monastery's architecture changed over many centuries. It is still mainly shaped by the templo mayor, or main church, built by Alfonso XI and his immediate successors in the 14th and 15th centuries. The square chapel of Santa Catalina is also from the 15th century. It is known for a group of ornate 17th-century tombs. The 16th-century reliquaries chapel connects Santa Catalina with the baroque sacristy (1638–1647), which is beautifully decorated and has a series of paintings by Zurbarán.

Behind the basilica is Camarin de la Virgen, an octagonal baroque structure (1687–1696) with the stuccoed Chamber of the Virgin and nine paintings by Luca Giordano. The most special part of this beautifully decorated hall is a throne containing the statue of the Madonna, which gave the monastery its name.

Other important structures include the Mudéjar cloister (1389–1405), with the magnificent Plateresque portal; the late Gothic cloister from 1531–1533; and the new church, commissioned by one of Columbus's descendants in 1730. Unfortunately, the palace of Isabella I of Castile (1487–1491) was destroyed in 1856.

The sanctuary is divided into:

• Stewardship or portería
• Basilica Temple (finished in the 15th century)
• Mudéjar cloister (finished in the 14th century)
• Gothic cloister and Welcomer (finished in the 14th century)
• Temple of the Holy Trinity (finished in the 18th century) (since 1978 dedicated to Auditorium)
• Embroidery Museum: liturgical vestments made in its embroidery workshop, including pieces from the 15th to 19th centuries
• Museum of Books and Cantonals: more than ninety examples are displayed, including large cantonals and two 15th-century passionaries
• Museum of sculpture and painting: includes paintings by Goya and El Greco, along with Anequín carvings by Egas Cueman or a crucified ivory Christ attributed to Michelangelo. The canvases of Zurbarán are in the old sacristy.

• Gothic cloister
• Coronation of the Virgin, by El Greco, 1591
• Confessions in Prison, Goya, 1808–1812
• Our Lady of Guadalupe in Extremadura