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Founding of the Charterhouse of Santa María de El Paular

Rascafría, Sierra Norte, Madrid

1 Villages · 2 Monuments · 1 Nature · 1 Activities · 1 Historical milestones

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Founding of the Charterhouse of Santa María de El Paular

Historical milestone · Rascafría, Sierra Norte, Madrid

The charterhouse of Santa María de El Paular stands in the Lozoya valley, in the municipality of Rascafría, within what is today the Sierra de Guadarrama national park. John I of Castile ordered its founding in 1390 in a spot where he used to hunt, and it was the first charterhouse of the kingdom: it gathered the monks of Saint Bruno for four and a half centuries, until 1835. The monumental complex has been declared a Bien de Interés Cultural (Spain's highest level of heritage protection) with monument status since 1876 and is state-owned, attached to the Ministerio de Cultura. Since 1954 it has operated as a Benedictine priory. Its name appears to derive from the abundance of white poplars or pobos on the banks of the Lozoya, which would have given rise to a pobeda or pobolar in the spot.

1390

Photo: Carlos Delgado (CC BY-SA 4.0)

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