Logbook · 8 places

Monastery of Santa María de Matallana

Villalba de los Alcores, Montes Torozos, Valladolid

1 Villages · 3 Monuments · 1 Nature · 1 Curiosities · 1 Historical milestones · 1 Food and drink

Spain › Castile and León › Valladolid › Montes Torozos › Villalba de los Alcores › Monastery of Santa María de Matallana

Monastery of Santa María de Matallana

Monument · Villalba de los Alcores, Montes Torozos, Valladolid

The monastery, founded around 1185 by Tello Pérez de Meneses and his wife Gontrodo García thanks to a donation from Alfonso VIII of Castile, stands north of Villalba de los Alcores, where the Tierra de Campos meets the Montes Torozos. The church, from the 14th century, was built following the model of the Monastery of las Huelgas in Burgos, of which the perimeter wall and the bases of its pillars, still standing, are a good example. The ruins of the monastery were declared a National Monument in 1931. After the monks were expelled in the 19th century, the complex was used as a hospital for workers of the Canal de Castilla, then as a quarry, and ended up converted into a farming estate. In 1975 the land passed to the Diputación de Valladolid, which between 1995 and 2005 restored the guesthouse and the wine cellar and renovated a circular dovecote. Today it functions as a Nature Interpretation Centre.

Photo: Rowanwindwhistler (CC BY-SA 3.0)

What to see and do in Villalba de los Alcores