Logbook · 4 places

Monastery of Santa María de Carrizo

Carrizo, Astorga, León

1 Villages · 1 Monuments · 1 Nature · 1 Historical milestones

Spain › Castile and León › León › Astorga › Carrizo › Monastery of Santa María de Carrizo

Monastery of Santa María de Carrizo

Monument · Carrizo, Astorga, León

The monastery of Santa María de Carrizo, in the León town of Carrizo de la Ribera, is a still-inhabited community of Cistercian nuns, listed as a monumento histórico-artístico (a former Spanish heritage designation, today Bien de Interés Cultural) in 1974; the listing covers the enclosing walls, the entrance arch, the cloister and the monastic church, around which the village itself grew up. It was founded in 1176 by Countess Estefanía Ramírez, widow of Count Ponce de Minerva, who retired there to lead the first community; on her death in 1183 she was succeeded by her own daughter as the first abbess. It stood empty only once in eight hundred years: between 1868 and 1871, when the government forced the nine nuns to leave the cloister. In 1955 the community adopted the Strict Observance, and today it is dependent on the Cistercian abbey of Santa María de Viaceli.

Photo: Zarateman (CC BY 3.0)

What to see and do in Carrizo