Village
Gradefes is a municipality of about 880 inhabitants located by the Esla river, in the province of León, which holds two heritage gems: the Cistercian nunnery of Santa María la Real, founded in 1168, the first convent of nuns with an ambulatory, declared a Monument in 1924; and the church of San Miguel de Escalada, built in the early 10th century by Cordoban monks fleeing the Islamic invasions, on an earlier Visigothic hermitage, and declared a National Monument in 1886. The municipality also preserves the remains of the monastery of San Pedro el Real de Eslonza, founded in 910 by García I, destroyed by Almanzor in 998 and rebuilt in 1099. Its main festivals are Saint Blaise, on 3 February, and the Town Council Festival, on the second Sunday of August.
Monument
The monastery of San Miguel de Escalada stands near the village of the same name, in the municipality of Gradefes, 27 kilometres from León and on the route of the Way of St James. Of its former monastic complex only the church survives today, a Mozarabic monastery built in the early 10th century by a community of monks who had come from Córdoba fleeing the Islamic invasions, and who raised it over an earlier hermitage, reusing Visigothic- and Roman-era materials from the nearby city of Lancia. Restored in the year 913 by Abbot Alfonso, it is considered one of the most representative works of pre-Romanesque Mozarabic art in León, together with Santiago de Peñalba and San Cebrián de Mazote. It was declared a Monumento Nacional (National Monument, an earlier Spanish heritage designation) on 28 February 1886.
Monument
A women's Cistercian monastery founded in 1168 by Teresa Petri, with a Romanesque-style church, chapter house, round-arched cloister and orchard. Its church is the first nuns' monastery in the world with an ambulatory and, despite the Cistercian order's explicit ban, displays capitals carved with animal and fantastical figures. It was declared a Monumento Histórico-Artístico (the former Spanish heritage designation, precursor to today's Bien de Interés Cultural) by royal decree of 2 September 1924, and a Bien de Interés Cultural (Spain's highest level of heritage protection) in 1985, rated as one of the Spanish buildings where the order and essential character of Cistercian architecture are best appreciated.
Monument
A twelfth-century church transitional from Mozarabic to Romanesque, with an apse flat-ended on the outside and semicircular within. Several corbels of the eaves preserve badly deteriorated obscene carvings; it has been a monument since 24 September 1982.
Monument
The monastery of San Pedro de Eslonza, today reduced to ruins, stands beside the río de Eslonza, opposite Santa Olaja de Eslonza, in the municipality of Gradefes. It was founded in the year 912 by King García I of León under the patronage of Saint Eulalia and Saints Peter and Paul, and became the second most important monastery in the province, after that of San Benito de Sahagún. Destroyed by Almanzor in 988, it was rebuilt in 1099 by the infanta Urraca of Zamora, daughter of Ferdinand I. From 1547 the building was remodelled, fitted with three Renaissance doorways and a spacious cloister, and in the 18th century the grand Baroque façade was completed. The Mendizábal disentailment, in 1836, sold it at auction and hastened its ruin, which did not prevent its declaration as a Monumento Histórico-Artístico Nacional (National Historic-Artistic Monument, an earlier Spanish heritage designation) in 1931.
Monument
The work of the engineer Bienvenido Oliver, carried out in 1920, one of the first examples in Spain of a structure of reinforced concrete pontoons with hinges in the arches, an uncommon technical experiment in a rural setting.
Curiosity
Despite having been a Monumento Nacional (Spain's heritage designation in force until 1931) since 1931, in 1947 the main façades of the monastery, one of them the work of Juan de Badajoz the Younger, and several carved arches were dismantled and moved to a church under construction in León.
Activity
3 February is the most notable date in the municipality along with the comarca fair of Rueda, held on the second Sunday of August, in a municipal district that brings together numerous villages of the Esla riverbank.
Historical milestone
García I, first king of León, founded the Benedictine monastery of San Pedro de Eslonza in 912, near Santa Olaja de Eslonza, in the municipality of Gradefes, under the patronage of Santa Eulalia and the saints Peter and Paul; it became the second most important monastery in the province, after that of San Benito de Sahagún. Almanzor destroyed it in 988; it was rebuilt in 1099 by the infanta Urraca de Zamora, daughter of Fernando I, and over time, through Sancha Raimúndez, it adopted the Rule of Cluny. Renovated from 1547 with three Renaissance portals and a large Baroque façade, it fell into ruin after Mendizábal's disentailment of 1836, which sold it off and stripped it piece by piece; its scant remains are still considered a Bien de Interés Cultural (Spain's highest level of heritage protection).
Historical milestone
In 1168 Teresa Petri, wife of the knight García Pérez, founded the Cistercian nunnery of Santa María la Real, whose austere and very large church would become the first nunnery in the world to have an ambulatory.