MONASTERIO DE PIEDRA

'Monasterio de Piedra' (Monastery of the Rock) is a monastery, hotel and park complex located in Spain, in the region of Aragon, Zaragoza province. The monastery was founded in 1194 by thirteen Cistercian monks from Poblet Monastery, in an old castle next to the Piedra river, and was dedicated to St. Mary the Fair (''Santa María la Blanca''). The entire complex has been declared a national monument.

Contents

History

Park

Access

External links

References

History

The monastery’s construction progressed in three architectural stages: Gothic (13th century), Renaissance Gothic (16C) and Classical-Baroque (18C).
Entrance through the walls was gained through the medieval keep; the church, destroyed in the early part of the 19th century, opened onto the cloister, noted for its great arches, and the various premises of the monastery. The beautiful chapter house (from the early 12th century) was the vital center of monastic life; the monks resided in the main building (17th century), which has today been converted into a quiet hotel. The Romanesque columns of the old abbatial residence support the current Neoclassical one, constructed in the 18th century.

Park

The Piedra river canyon in the vicinity of the monastery is a place of extreme natural beauty, a lush, garden-like environment of waterfalls, mosses and rivulets in the midst of an arid wilderness. A marked and fenced path winds its way through the course of the canyon, with overlooks of several waterfalls; the longest and most notable of these is the Horsetail (''Cola del Caballo''), at more than fifty meters in length. These waterfalls are formed by the precipitation of dissolved limestone that occurs when river level decreases;
the dissolved limestone is deposited in successive layers through which the water runs, forming
countless rivulets. Minor fluctuations in the river's own flow have resulted in the Karst topography of the region.

Access

Monasterio de Piedra is relatively isolated. It is located 118 km (70.8 mi) southwest of the city of Zaragoza; to reach it from there, one would take the A-2 in the direction of Madrid until Calatayud, and from there the A-202 to Nuévalos; the Monastery is located two kilometers beyond Nuévalos.

External links

★ http://www.monasteriopiedra.com/

References