Logbook · 6 places

Monastery 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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Monastery of Santa María de El Paular

Monument · Rascafría, Sierra Norte, Madrid

A monastery located in the municipality of Rascafría, on the Madrid side of the sierra de Guadarrama, in the Lozoya valley, within the Sierra de Guadarrama national park. Founded in 1390 by order of Henry II as the first Carthusian monastery in the kingdom of Castile, it was a Carthusian house until the secularisation of 1835; since 1954 it has been home to a Benedictine community. It preserves a Gothic church, a polychrome alabaster altarpiece from the 15th century and a baroque tabernacle begun in 1718. Declared a Monumento Nacional (formerly the highest level of state heritage protection in Spain) in 1876, it is state-owned and attached to the Ministerio de Educación, Cultura y Deporte. Its name may derive from the white poplars, or pobos, that once grew along the banks of the Lozoya in this spot.

Photo: Carlos Delgado (CC BY-SA 4.0)

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