Monastery of Santa Maria la Real de las Huelgas

ORIGINS

The monastery of Santa María la Real was founded in 1187 by Alfonso VIII and Queen Leonor in the Burgos area of Huelgas del Rey, a not-to-be-missed stop along the Camino de Santiago. This is the main female Cistercian monastery in Spain and head of all those that were installed in the Crown of Castile.

The first abbess of Las Huelgas was a clear example of the wealth and privileges granted to this monastery; she had ecclesiastical, civil and criminal jurisdiction over more than 50 nearby villages and only took orders from the Pope. Her high standing was evidenced by a special headdress resembling a mitre; this and the crozier made her resemble a female bishop.

 

A MIX OF STYLES

The founding kings built a monastery with a Mudejar church, partially preserved in the current chapel of the Assumption, in the Almohad style, and contrasting with the adjacent Romanesque cloister known as "las Claustrillas". It consists of 12 arches on each side supported by double columns, typical of this style, with capitals with plant and castle motifs.

It was in the first third of the 13th century that the construction of the definitive Gothic monastery took place, in the sober architectural style of the Cistercian order with a large church with reinforced walls, a cloister and rooms around it, amongst which the chapter hall stands out.

 

MUSEUM OF MEDIEVAL FABRICS

One of the great attractions of this monastery can be found in the monastic silo or barn. This is the Museum of Medieval Fabrics, which allows us to go back in time and relive epic moments with such valuable treasures as these wonderful medieval fabrics, exhumed and studied in the 20th century, and the authentic banner of Las Navas de Tolosa, the battle that in 1212 led to the decline of Muslim rule in the Iberian Peninsula, without doubt representing the most important victory of the Reconquista.

In fact, the silence of the courtyards is broken every year with the Curpillos festival, a smaller-scale version of the Corpus Christi celebration, the procession of which includes a copy of the banner the Christian troops carried in Navas de Tolosa.