Santes Creus Monastery
The Royal Monastery of Santa Maria de Santes Creus (in Catalan Reial Monestir de Santa Maria de Santes Creus) is a Cistercian abbey built from the < span style="font-variant:small-caps;text-transform:lowercase">XII, which is located in the municipality of Aiguamurcia, in the town of Santes Creus, in the province of Tarragona (Spain). It was in the XIII century when, under the patronage of Pedro III of Aragon, he expressed his desire to be buried in the monastery, the royal pantheon was built, in which his son King Jaime II was buried. Part of the nobility followed this medieval custom and chose this place for their eternal rest, the monastery achieving the time of maximum splendor and grandeur thanks to the numerous donations received, until the decision of Pedro IV of Aragon in 1340 to install the pantheon of the monarchy in the monastery of Poblet.
In 1835 and as a consequence of Mendizábal's confiscation, the community abandoned the building. It was declared a national monument by royal order of July 13, 1921. It is the only monastery included in the Cistercian Route in which there is no monastic life.
Historical note
The Cistercian Order had established itself in the Iberian Peninsula, from the first quarter of the XII century, with foundations in the monasteries of Oseira, Fitero and Moreruela, all under royal patronage due to the great need at that time to achieve a rapid repopulation of the space reconquered from the Muslims. Becoming the monks in:
...active pawns of feudal colonization.
Under the mandate of the Count of Barcelona Ramón Berenguer IV and with the same purpose, the monasteries of Poblet, Santes Creus were created and on land ceded by this same count the female monastery of Vallbona de las Monjas, all of them located in the called New Catalonia. As was the usual norm, adopted and extended by the Cistercian order, its monasteries were dedicated to Santa María.
Foundation
The foundation of the monastery dates back to 1150 thanks to the powerful lineage of the House of Moncada, when Guillén Ramón de Moncada, seneschal of Barcelona, and his sons made a donation on that date to the Cistercian monks of the Grand Selva Abbey, from Toulouse (Languedoc), of some land in the place called Valldaura, near the current Barcelona municipality of Sardañola del Vallés. Along with the land, they were granted a permit to use the Rocabruna mills, as well as an aid of 100 gold morabatines per year and sufficient grain, while the construction of the new monastery lasted. Whichever was chosen for the location of the monastery building a lower part and not the top of the mountain, it must have been due to the existence in that place of some type of construction, since shortly after the donation, twelve monks, three converts and Abbot Guillem were already in Santa María de Valldaura from the Grand Selva Monastery. The lack of water supplies, as well as the proximity of the great monastery of San Cugat del Vallés and the proximity of the city of Barcelona that prevented its expansion, immediately made it advisable to think about changing the location of the monastery.
Communicating his wishes to Moncada, the seneschal obtained help from the Bishop of Barcelona, Guillem de Torroja, and the Count of Barcelona Ramón Berenguer IV. The count agreed and granted in 1155 some land in Ancosa near La Llacuna in the region of Noya. The place was also not suitable due to the lack of water to dedicate itself to agriculture, a fundamental fact within the Cistercian order. Therefore, a monastery was never built, although a farm was built where a part of the community moved.
Once again, the influence of the Moncada family, whose desire was to achieve the foundation of the monastery so that it would be a family pantheon —hence its primary intention was the proximity to the city of Barcelona, place of residence of said family— led him to request he helps his friend Guerau Alamany de Cervelló, lord of several castles in the lands of Gayá, who welcomed the establishment of a monastery on his land. Together with the cooperation of the nobles Gerard de Jorba and Guillem de Montagut, they made a donation in 1160 of the area of Santas Creus, on the banks of the Gayá river, with abundant water and enough quality land to guarantee the good economy of the monastery. Its location away from populations and located in the middle of nature must have pleased the monks to be able to lead a peaceful spiritual life. However, due to a jurisdictional dispute between the dioceses of Barcelona and Tarragona, in which both considered they had the right to the territory of Santes Creus, the settlement was delayed until Pope Alexander III decreed the independence of the monastery in 1168/1169, being exempt from the ordinary obedience of both the archbishopric of Tarragona and the bishopric of Barcelona. The monastery of Valldaura gave way to that of Santes Creus, Abbot Pere signed documents as abbot of Valldaura on July 17, 1169 and as abbot of Santes Creus on January 9, 1170.
Expansion
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Finally, in 1174 the construction works of the monastic complex could begin: first, the church and the chapter house; then, the primitive Romanesque cloister, now disappeared; later, the monks' room, the refectory and the dormitory. Around 1225 the main dependencies were finished.
In its territorial expansion, despite the setbacks suffered during the search for the ideal space to finally build the monastery, at the end of the century XII they had already managed to establish different Cistercian farms, through which they had had the donation of territories and abandoned them because they did not believe it was appropriate to install the monastery, this happened in Valldaura, that of Ancosa in Llacuna and later next to Santes Creus, the Fontscaldetes farm in Cabra del Campo, the Valldossera farm in Querol, the Codony farm in Morell or the Montornés farm in Puebla de Montornés. There is also news of the numerous pastures that they had for their cattle on both sides of the Pyrenees. In addition, privileges granted by various counties allowed them to graze all of their land. Donations and bequests between the XII and XIII were increasing in domains that extended far beyond the environs of the monastery; Thus, at the end of the XIII century, nineteen castles were counted among its assets.
In the middle of the XIII century, the Aragonese monarchy interfered with the rhythm of the abbey, showing an interest in it, which at the same time, it disturbed the simplicity of Cistercian monastic life and enlarged the monastic complex with new and valuable constructions. It is the time of Abbot Bernardo Calbó, adviser to King James I the Conqueror (1213-1276), whom he accompanied in the conquests of Majorca and Valencia. His successor to the crown, Peter III the Great (1276-1285), dispensed royal patronage from him to the abbey and wanted to be entombed there. At the same time, his son Jaime II (1291-1327) and his wife, Blanche of Anjou, would be later. At the request of this last monarch, the abbey rooms were converted into a royal palace and the demolition of the Romanesque cloister is due to his will to be replaced by the current Gothic one, the work of the English master Reinard de Fonoll and Guillem de Seguer, as well as the construction of the dome over the transept of the church. Pedro IV the Ceremonious (1336-1387) must be attributed the walling of the monastic enclosure and that, due to his predilection for the Poblet Monastery, the Santes Creus Monastery ceased to be a palace and pantheon real in favor of that one; for this reason, the palatial dependencies returned to be used as abbey rooms.
Pope Benedict XIII of Avignon visited the monastery in 1410. When the female Cistercian monastery of Bonrepòs in the town of La Morera de Montsant (The Priory) became extinct, its assets were incorporated into Santes Creus together with the transfer of the remains of Queen Margarita de Prades, second wife of Martin I the Human, which are preserved in a stone urn on the wall of the nave on the Gospel side of the monastery church. At the end of the century XV the monastery underwent a change in the exploitation of its properties. The practical disappearance of the converted monk, due to the economic changes produced in the Late Middle Ages, motivated the monks of Santes Creus to be forced to establish the regime of emphyteutic contracts in their cultivated fields. During the 17th and 18th centuries" expansion and reform works continued, adding new external dependencies. This continuous activity was abruptly cut short in 1835 with the confiscation of Mendizábal, at which time the monastery was abandoned by the Cistercian community and was doomed to ruin. Declared a National Monument in 1921, it has been the object of successive restoration and conditioning works, and is today the place of cultural manifestations of various kinds under the management of the Generalitat of Catalonia since 1981.
Affiliates
The first subsidiary of Santes Creus was carried out in 1298 thanks to King James II of Aragon, when after his campaigns of conquest through lands in Murcia and Alicante, passing through the Alfandec valley (Valencia), impressed by Her beauty addressed her chaplain and abbot of Santes Creus, Bonnanat de Vila-seca, telling him: «Vall worthy for a monastery of your religion». Thus, a new monastery of the Cistercian order was founded with the name of Santa María de la Valldigna, whose monastic life ended with the confiscation of Mendizábal in 1835. In 1307, Federico II of Sicily, son of Pedro III the Great, donated the Altofonte territory in Sicily, near Palermo, where the monastery of Santa Maria de Altofonte was founded. Likewise, the defunct Cistercian female abbey of Santa María d'Eula in Perpignan from the year 1360 is considered a subsidiary of Santes Creus, which when it became extinct in 1567 became dependent on Santes Creus, where it served as a stay for monks who They were sent to study in that city. It belonged to Santes Creus until Roussillon passed into the hands of France in 1659.
Privileges
There are documents that indicate a series of privileges that the abbots of Santes Creus had, such as the decree of 1210 signed by Pedro II that gave them the powers of notary public; Alfonso III authorized them to use the royal seal for their documents; Jaime II allowed them to make statements where the word of the abbot or even a monk had credibility without the need for an oath; immunity in many payments as in the exemption of real taxes; being able to extract metals from the mountains, cut wood and graze through the royal forests; to be able to establish markets in towns; just as the abbot of the Poblet monastery was given the title of Royal Almoner, to that of Santes Creus, at the beginning of the XIV century, he was appointed royal major chaplain. They were priors of the military Order of Montesa that they held until the year 1660, when, due to their fidelity to the Generalitat of Catalonia during the Guerra dels Segadors, they lost it in retaliation. Abbot Pedro de Mendoza, a distant relative of Fernando the Catholic, managed to be the only abbot of Santes Creus who presided, during the three-year period from 1497 to 1500, the "ecclesiastical arm" of the Diputación del General de Catalunya. In 1616 the Cistercian Congregation of the Monasteries of the Crown of Aragon established, among other rules, that the abbots went from being for life to a temporary mandate of four years, thereby achieving a lower political projection of the abbot.
Monastic complex
According to the organizational scheme of the Cistercian Order, the main nucleus is made up of the three basic pieces of monastic life: the church, the cloister attached to it and the chapter house; The enclosure is completed with the refectory, the visiting room, the monks' room or scriptorium and, on the second floor, the common dormitory.
Attached to the previous group of dependencies are others of uneven use such as the infirmary, the rooms of the retired monks, the rear cloister, the Royal Palace, as well as a space for a cemetery. There is the primitive chapel of the Trinity, the Palacio Abacial, the chapel of Santa Lucía and the Royal Arch leading to the Plaza de San Bernardo. The monastery of Santes Creus follows a fully Cistercian construction with the three classical enclosures where the different closed spaces are located according to their architectural applications.
First enclosure
The first enclosure is made up of a series of houses that constitute what is properly the town of Santes Creus, placed forming a horizontal line before entering the second enclosure, in the center and standing out from all these buildings, is the small Chapel of Santa Lucía from the year 1741 which was for years a nullius parish, naturally dependent on the monastery. Next to this chapel is the door called the Assumption or Royal Arch, which actually served as the parish offices of Santa Lucía since its thickness is the same as that of the side houses and allows various rooms to be admitted. The style is Baroque and a large octagonal tower stands out in the center of its upper part, while on the door there is an image of the Virgin of the Assumption and a shield with the arms of the monastery inside a niche. As an interior it is decorated with beautiful sgraffito.
Second enclosure
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When you enter through the Royal Arch, you can see a large rectangular square, in the center of which is a fountain on which there is a statue dedicated to Saint Bernardo Calbó, former abbot of the monastery. Around the square are the various ancient monastic rooms, where the oldest monks lived and those who worked in various trades; All of them display sgraffito decorations on their façades made during the XVIII century. Among these buildings is the Abacial Palace, ordered to be built by Abbot Contijoch, in whose construction part of the old hospital of the monastery called "Hospital de Sant Pere dels Pobres" was used. The most remarkable part is a small patio with pointed arches and a gallery with a double arcade. Real to the side of the cloister, raised by a staircase and where you can see the attempted walling decreed by King Pedro IV the Ceremonious by the battlements that crown the entire church.
Third enclosure
The third enclosure or the monastery itself, is entered through the so-called Royal Gate through which the cloister is accessed. It is a Romanesque doorway that under a lancet arch opens a flared semicircular arch with smooth beaded archivolts whose moldings extend vertically as thin little columns and a high podium. It does not present actual capitals but it does have substitute ornamental elements. The set is framed by two deteriorated and strong buttresses. It was ordered to be built by King Jaime II and his wife, Blanca de Anjou, the portraits of both are found in corbels of an archivolt as well as their shields.
Church
The construction works on the church began in 1174 and were finished around 1225. However, in 1211 they must have been sufficiently advanced for the temple to be consecrated. The overall appearance is that of a fortress due to the crenellated perimeter finish.
Outside
Above the transept stands an octagonal Gothic dome from the early XIV century century, surmounted by a baroque lantern dome, not visible from the inside of the church. The main façade, the west, faces the Plaza de San Bernardo. It contains a Romanesque doorway from the very flared XII century, with archivolts resting on smooth columns with capitals decorated with a series of plant and heraldic. Above it is an imposing glazed Gothic window that is almost completely preserved in its original state, with biblical scenes distributed in small spaces, accompanied on both sides by semicircular arch windows.
This large Gothic stained glass window is almost 9 meters high by 1.8 meters wide. It is built with a tracery framed by a pointed arch with five smooth archivolts that limit the rest of the opening. The fretwork of the stained glass window is made up of a pentafolio inscribed in a circle, two trefoils between small curvilinear angles and four streets divided into fifty-two compartments that end in a very sharp pointed arch. The ceiling panels are divided into small compartments presenting the work of the scenes, with an iconography belonging mainly to the life of Mary and Christ, with a work that can be compared to that of a miniaturist from the Middle Ages. It is surprising that the artist did not take into account that they would be impossible to appreciate from the plan of the temple. The royal protection of Santes Creus, together with a series of architectural and artistic achievements, place the window around the year 1280 and its own characteristics usually date it around the year 1300.
On the opposite façade, on the eastern side of the main apse, there is a large rose window, measuring 6.30 meters in diameter and almost three meters deep, made up of columns with double arches and apart from the crystals of the central rose window, which were placed in a restoration, the rest are originals from the 13th century. In this apse there are three narrow and elongated lower windows with semicircular arches hidden inside by the current altarpiece.
Inside
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The nave is 71 meters long by 22 wide, the thickness of its walls is 2.60 meters for the naves and 2.95 for the apse. The layout of the plant responds to the scheme of a Latin cross with three naves, the central one being wider, made up of six sections from the feet to the transept. This is as wide as the central nave, which is why it gives rise to a transept with a square plan; on the eastern side of each of its arms there are two apse chapels which, because they are smooth, are barely visible on the outside. The large rectangular apse in which the presbytery is extended is evident from the outside. Attached to the western wall of the south wing of the transept, there is a single flight of stairs that leads directly to the monks' bedroom; It is the so-called "matins staircase" that was used to access the choir from the bedroom during the hours of night prayers.
The roof of the naves has a pointed ribbed vault reinforced by very wide perpiano arches, which unload on embedded pilasters that do not reach the ground but are supported by corbels formed by a series of stepped rollers. In addition, for its interior lighting there are various arched windows with interior spillage, located in the side naves. Consistent with Cistercian patterns, the interior lacks any ornamentation, other than the altarpiece behind the main altar, a Baroque sculptural work by Josep Tramulles, made in 1640, there are four other altarpieces in each apsial side chapel and another two at the foot of the temple.
Royal tombs
On both sides of the main altar there are two funerary monuments belonging to royal tombs of the dynasty of the Kingdom of Aragon:
- On the side of the Gospel:
King Pedro III of Aragon (Pedro I as King of Valencia and Pedro II as Count of Barcelona), who died in 1285. At the foot of this tomb, on the pavement, is buried Roger de Lauria, faithful admiral of this king, who died in 1305.
- On the side of the Epistle:
King James II of Aragon, of Valencia and Count of Barcelona, who died in 1327. In the same monument is his second wife, Queen Blanca of Naples, who died in 1310.
Tomb of Peter III
King Pedro III died on November 11, 1285 in the Royal Palace of Villafranca del Panadès. Once the royal physician Arnau de Vilanova certified the king's death, a long funeral procession was formed to bury the monarch in a "decent and honorable" burial in the Monastery of Santes Creus, as he had written in his 1282 will. The procession took several days to reach its destination, where the funeral obsequies were celebrated with great solemnity for the sovereign who was buried, according to the chronicler Bernat Desclot, in front of the main altar of the monastery church.
Between 1285 and 1291, when Jaime II was king of Sicily, he ordered to send to the monastery "various porphyry stones" for his father's tomb, which Admiral Roger de Lauria brought from that island. The new king wanted to build a funerary monument similar to the ones he had seen in the cathedral of Palermo of the Sicilian kings, especially his maternal ancestors, Henry VI and Frederick II, both buried in Roman porphyry tubs, reused as sarcophagi..
the body of the King was then put into a tumulus that the admiral traxo of Sicily of very excellent porphyte.- Jerome Zurita, Analyses of the Crown of Aragon (1562)
The tomb of King Pedro III was built between 1291 and 1307 at the request of his son Jaime II when he acceded to the throne of the Kingdom of Aragon. He appointed Bartomeu de Gerona as director of the work, who at that time worked in the cathedral of Tarragona, who was joined in 1294 by the stonecutter Guillem de Orenga along with a couple of master painters. The transfer of the body of King Pedro III to this mausoleum took place on November 30, 1300.
The monument consists of the sarcophagus, which is the red porphyry bathtub, with the only original Roman decoration, a lion's head and two rings held by claws. Two sculptures that represent two lions carved in white stone serve as its base. The smooth top is an elliptical jasper slab and on it there is a construction of the same size that on its sides are represented between Gothic arches, Christ with the apostles and the Virgin Mary with the monks Saint Bernard of Clairvaux and Saint Benedict of Nursia. In total there are sixteen polychrome figures. A large canopy-like pavilion with openwork tracery within four pointed arches covers the entire set, which is rectangular in plan, the capitals of the columns are richly elaborated with a floral theme and on all four sides it has the representation of the tetramorph from which some tall pinnacles. The vault that it forms on the inside is decorated with a blue painting and golden stars.
The epitaph of King Pedro III, placed in front of the mausoleum, on the pillar that separates the presbytery from the side chapel of the transept, reads the following inscription:
- PETRUS QUEM PETRA TEGIT GENTES ET REGNA SUBEGIT,
- FORTES CONFREGITQUE CREPIT, CUNCTA PEREGIT,
- AUDAX MAGNANIMUS SIBI MILES WHO FIT UNUS,
- WHO BELLO PRIMUS INHERET JACET HIC MODO IMUS,
- CONSTANS PROPOSITO VERAX SERMONE FIDELIS,
- REBUS PROMISSIS FUIT HIC ET STRENUUS ARMIS,
- FORTIS JUSTITIA VIVENS AEQUALIS AD OMNES,
- ISTIS LAUDATUR VI MENTIS LAUS SUPERATUR,
- CHRISTUS ADORATUR DUM PENITET UNDE BEATUR,
- REX ARAGONENSIS COMES ET DUX BARCINONENSIS,
- DEFECIT MEMBRIS UNDENA NOVEMBRIS,
- ANNO MILLENO CENTUM BIS ET OCTUAGENO,
- QUINTO, SISTE PIA SIBI TUTRIX VIRGO MARIA
- PETRUS QUEM PETRA TEGIT GENTES ET REGNA SUBEGIT,
Sepulcher of James II and Blanca of Naples
James II's will, given in Barcelona on May 28, 1327, provided that his body should be buried next to the mausoleum of his father Pedro III, but in another mausoleum, where he and his wife Blanca of Naples would be buried., who in turn had vowed to be buried in it. Blanca of Naples died in 1310, long before her husband, who would still contract two other marriages. While the execution of the final mausoleum was awaited, the queen was buried in a first burial mound: "Quedan tumulum ad opus sepultura doimina Blanca" made by Jaume Llirana de Montmeló and which is known to have charged 500 Barcelona sous.
In the mausoleum of Jaime II and his wife Blanca de Nápoles, executed by the royal architect Bertrán Riquer and Pere de Prenafeta as a "stone killer" between 1311 and 1315, it would be placed on the opposite side to that of Pedro III. Inside the canopy was placed the double white marble sarcophagus that was to receive the remains of both spouses, decorated with pointed arches on a blue glass bottom. Francesc de Montflorit in 1315 communicated in a letter to the king that he had finished the monarch's commission for two images with the figure of "vostra noble madona na Blanca, regina d'Aragó" and a Virgin for the Royal Chapel. The transfer of the queen's remains took place on January 13, 1316, it is believed that the recumbent statue of the king would also be finished by this date. Each one of the effigies of the monarchs occupies the entire declining plane that forms the cover of the tomb, executed in marble, which covers the urn where the remains of the monarchs are found. The recumbent figures of both spouses appear dressed in the Cistercian habit and with a royal crown, next to the head there are two angels, possibly representing the moment of collecting their souls and at the feet of the queen a dog, a symbol of fidelity, and in those of the king a lion that represents strength and courage.
The epitaph of King James II the Just is found in front of his tomb and reads as follows:
- HONORATUR HAC TUMBA QUI SIMPLICITATE COLUMBA
- THIS IMITATUS REX JACOBUS HIC TUMULATUS,
- REX ARAGONENSIS COMES ET DUX BARCINONENSIS,
- MAYORICENSIS REX NEC NON CICILIENSIS:
- MORIBUS ET VITA CONSORS SUA BLANCA MUNITA,
- ILLUSTRI NATA CARULO SIMUL HIC TUMULATA.
- NEC FUIT HIC SEGNIS IN SUBDENDIS SIBI REGNIS,
- SUBDITA SUNT JAMQUE SIBI MURCIA SARDINIAQUE,
- FLORUIT HIC QUINQUE REGNIS TEMPUS UTRIUMQUE,
- RESTITUIT FREE TRIA JUS SERVANS DEITATIS,
- HIC HUMILIS CORDE PECCATI MUNDUS A SORDE,
- MISERICORS MUNDUS ANIMO SERMONE FACUNDUS,
- JUDICIS JUSTUS ARMIS BELLOQUE ROBUSTUS,
- LAETUS NON MAESTUS VULTU MITISQUE MODESTUS,
- DICI PACIFICUS MERUIT QUIA PACIS AMICUS,
- REGNA TENET COELI DOMINO TESTANTE FIDELI,
- CUM SE COLLEGIT HABITUM CISTERCIENSEM PRAE ELEGIT,
- QUITE REGIT PARCAT QUAE NESCIUS EGIT.
- DEFECIT MEMBRIS SECUNDA NOVEMBER,
- ANNO MILLENO CENTUM TER BIS QUOQUE DENO
- SEPTENOQUE PIA SIBI SISTAT DEXTERA VIRGO MARIA. AMEN
- HONORATUR HAC TUMBA QUI SIMPLICITATE COLUMBA
In December 1835, during the First Carlist War, the French Legion of Algiers and various companies of miqueletes lodged in the monastic building, causing extensive damage to it. The royal tombs of Jaime II and his wife were desecrated. The remains of Jaime II, son of Pedro III, were burned, although it seems that some remains remained in the tomb. The mummy of the Blanca queen of Naples was thrown into a well, from where it was removed in 1854. The tomb of Pedro III, due to the solidity of the porphyry urn used to house the royal remains, prevented his remains from flowing the same way good luck.
Cloister
From its origins, the monastery had a simple Romanesque cloister built towards the end of the XII century and the beginning of the XIII. At the behest of King James II and with his patronage, in 1313 abbot Pedro Alegre undertook the demolition of the old cloister and the construction of the current one, all without altering the rooms that already existed in the cloistered environment, from the church itself to the hall. capitular and other monastic rooms. The only thing that remains of the primitive cloister is the small pavilion that houses the sink-washing room in which the monks washed their hands after agricultural tasks, before going to the refectory or dedicating themselves to prayers. This temple is a hexagonal construction, each of whose sides is formed by two semicircular arches on double-shaft columns. The central column on the side by which it is attached to the cloister was removed to give greater access. The roof is ribbed based on portions of a pointed vault and with the key that shows the heraldic cross of the monastery.
The current cloister consists of four galleries covered with ribbed vaults. It is due to the hand of the English master Reinard de Fonoll, whose work continued Guillem de Seguer, who probably executed the tracery of the windows, in each gallery with different ornamentation. The larger bays are made up of eight windows and the smaller seven. It is of a refined Gothic style exultant in its arcuations, in the stylized columns, in the ogive vaults and in the exuberant ornamentation of the capitals of great iconographic richness, with plant, animal, figurative and narrative motifs with biblical scenes. It contains the wall tombs of some Catalan nobles, and remains of paintings, one of them depicting the Annunciation.
Cloister sculpture
The variety and theme of the sculpture that is represented in the capitals and in the friezes of the pillars are surprising in a monastery of the Cistercian order, since all beings were rejected by Saint Bernard of Clairvaux in his Apologia ad Guillelmum, collected in this cloistered space.
By the entrance of the Royal Gate that leads from the second to the third monastic enclosure, the cloister is found just in the south-west corner. The pillar that forms it is carved with a cycle dedicated to Genesis in the form of a frieze all around it, showing a series of storied scenes on: the creation of Adam; Eve's; the Paradise; the temptation of the serpent; the fall into sin; the shame of both hidden in the bushes, where there is a phylactery that reads: Adam, Adam, ubi es? Respondit Adam: Domine, audivi vocem tuam et timui; and the expulsion by the archangel Uriel. The story continues, going through the pillar towards the part of the cloister garden, where the result of sin is seen: Adam works the earth while Eve spins and her children Abel and Cain work in the fields and cattle.
Fried in a pillar on the Creation of Adam and Eve
Adam, Eve with his sons Cain and Abel after the expulsion of Paradise
In the eastern gallery, the decoration used is mostly vegetal, although in the central part where the entrance to the chapter house is located, the capitals of the pillars are full of small animals as if defenseless against others with an anthropomorphic appearance They seem to want to catch them. In the following decorations on this same side, the stonecutter appears with his work tools, the mallet and chisel, a common occurrence in many capitals of other cloisters, and a series of satirical characters that have been interpreted as related to the Stultifera navis or the Festum asinorum, works that circulated in the XIV century about the happy life, vices, lust and corruption that affected the nobility and clergy of the time. This same theme continues in the south gallery where representations of sin are mixed with monstrous beings and other beneficial symbols. Towards the part where the temple-basin is located and the next west gallery, heraldic elements can be seen, the sticks of King James II as well as the fleurs-de-lys of Queen Blanca of Naples, sponsors of the execution of the cloister. Arms of noble families such as the Cervelló and Queralt and that of some abbots of the monastery such as Bonanat de Vilaseca who must have made some economic contribution or Pedro Alegre at whose time the construction of the cloister began.
Owl.
Fight between fantastic animals
Imaginary animals
Struggles between species
The one who believes himself to be the author of Reinard de Fonoll
In the angular pillar of the Northwest part, there is a figure that is believed to be the self-portrait of Reinard de Fonoll. It is the face of a young man and crowned with flowers, a symbol of the resurrection, placed in an appropriate place since this pillar is next to one of the two entrances that the cloister has to the church.
In the northeast corner is the other door that connects the cloister with the church in its area near the transept. Above the semicircular arch of the door there are five sculptures: the risen Christ in the center with his hands raised, his torso and feet bare to show the signs of the wounds suffered. He is accompanied by three angels with the instruments of the Passion —the cross, the crown of thorns, the nails, and the vinegar container together with the sponge— and a kneeling image corresponding to the donor who carries an abbey staff, for which He believes that it must represent Abbot Miró, who was the one in office in 1341 when the works on the cloister were completed. On the cantilever of Christ there are angels playing the trumpets of the call to the resurrection of the dead with Adam and Eve. All this small set of sculptures is a superficial representation of the Last Judgment.
In the cloister there are numerous tombs and tombstones of important Catalan families who contributed donations to the construction and expansion of the monastery, thereby obtaining the privilege of being buried in this place. They were placed under the arches of the galleries, tombs more or less decorated with recumbent statues or without them and most of them decorated with the family arms. From the Queralt lineage, they even moved, at the end of the XIII century, the remains of other relatives who were buried outside the monastery.
There is a tomb belonging to the Alemany family in the southern gallery that was moved in 1625 from the old hospital for the poor of this same monastery. It is a tomb belonging to Ramon Alemany who died in 1324 during the conquest of Sardinia, which shows on the sarcophagus, under an arch, the recumbent image of the deceased with two angels holding his head and a crown of flowers that alludes to the hope of the Resurrection. On the front of the stone mortuary box, the images of the twelve apostles are found in relief, distributed in pairs under some Gothic arcuations."
Wikimedia Commons hosts a multimedia category Cloister of the monastery of Santes Creus.
Chapter House
The one in Santes Creus responds to the prototypical scheme of the chapter houses of the Cistercian Order. It is located in the center of the eastern wing of the cloister, separated by the sacristy from the end of the transept of the church. The orientation of the room allows the entry of morning light through three open windows on its eastern face, without prejudice to the one that penetrates through two other large windows with a more elaborate design that are located one on each side of the room. the access door. These two windows and the door form a triple archway that, like the rest of the room, reflects the Romanesque style typical of the period in which this room was built: they are made up of semicircular relief arches under which are housed pairs of arches same type that rest on double-shaft columns with separate capitals and bases. For better transit, the door lacks a mullion.
The plan of the room is a square subdivided into nine portions, by means of four central columns. Each of these nine spaces is covered with a ribbed vault whose ribs rest on the columns themselves or on corbels embedded in the walls, just like the semicircular arches do. The plements are barrel vault segments. A continuous factory bench unfolds along the entire interior perimeter of the room, replacing the wooden chairs that the community once used to gather around the abbot's presidential seat. On the pavement you can see the tombstones carved in relief of seven tombs of as many abbots who were occasionally buried here, despite the fact that as a rule they were buried in the common cemetery of the monastery, except for one of them who was a bishop.
- Wikimedia Commons hosts a multimedia category Capitular Hall of Santes Creus.
Chapel of the Assumption
Right next to the chapter house there was a small room whose service was to store documents and books that were used for reading the chapter. At one time it was used as a chapel and in 1558 the sister of the then abbot Valls, Magdalena Salbá, made a donation so that the chapel would be dedicated to the Assumption of Mary. In it you can still see a marble relief representing said Assumption and a sculptural scene in alabaster of the Dormition of Mary surrounded by an apostolate in rather poor conservation. At the entrance to this chapel, the burial of her benefactor is found on the pavement, covered with a tombstone in relief of her image.
Bedroom
It is a large rectangular open-plan nave (approximately 46 m long x 11 m wide x 6 m high) located on the upper floor of the east wing of the cloister, that is, above the chapter house and the The monks' room, its construction dates back to the year 1173. Initially the friars slept in their smocks on some mattresses lying on the floor in a single common space, without divisions as their rules mandated. It remained like this until the last centuries when they were partitioned. There is a double access to the bedroom: by the matins staircase that communicates directly with the church by the south arm of the transept; and by the daytime staircase that allows access from the cloister. This ascends through a space adjacent to the chapter house which, due to its dimensions, forces it to be developed in two sections, while the other staircase has only one. The room is covered by eleven pointed arches that unload on corbels embedded in the side walls with vegetal and geometric decoration. These walls are pierced between the arches by windows that, in addition to lighting, allow cross ventilation. Today the bedroom is used as an occasional concert hall.
Back Cloister
This cloister, also known as the “Old Cloister” or “Infirmary Cloister”, is reached from the main Gothic cloister through the space that served as the old monastic parlor, a place where the monks received from the abbot the distribution of their daily jobs.
It has a rectangular plan forming its galleries by means of pointed arches with large oculi above them in one of the galleries and without any other kind of decoration in all its galleries. Its construction was carried out on a previous one, surely the first one that was used when the monastery was founded. In the XVII century, the time of its reconstruction according to some authors, various elements of the primitive cloister were used and according to others its construction was It was carried out with the transfer of the cloister that had belonged to the female convent of Bonrepòs in the town of La Morera de Montsant and its assets were incorporated into Santes Creus, when it became extinct in the year 1452.
Around this cloister there are various rooms such as the winery, built at the end of the XII century and with a very similar to the chapter house, two columns in the central part from where the arches divide the space into two naves with six sections with covered vaults. Close to the winery is the prison, a necessary location since the abbots, among their privileges, included having civil powers over the population of their territories. There are remains of the old kitchen that had communication with the refectory, which is illuminated by means of tall and narrow windows. The benches where the monks sat are leaning against the walls, with a ceramic plinth around the entire perimeter serving as a backrest.
In this same enclosure is the primitive Romanesque-style church of the monastery dedicated to the Trinity and later, when they disposed of the main church, it was converted into a chapel for the monks' infirmary.
Royal Palace
Located in the southern part of this second cloister is the Royal Palace, whose construction has been carried out in various phases taking advantage of the old buildings. It is believed that there have been up to three different royal dependencies. The first was King Pedro III the Great, when he decided to take the monastery under his protection and turn it into a royal pantheon, around 1280, he ordered the construction of the Palace to begin. Due to the destruction of a large part of the building due to floods around the year 1315, his son Jaime II decided to build a new palace, moving it to the right side of the church façade, forming part of the total front of the monastery. The building had two floors and access to the upper floor was through a staircase on the exterior façade, the remains of which were demolished in 1958 during the paving of the main square of the second enclosure of the monastery.
The part preserved today is due to the monarch Pedro IV, who without knowing the reason, on the death of Jaime II, decided to demolish the still unfinished palace of his predecessor and move its construction around the year 1350 to the same location as the first ordered by Pedro III.
The rooms are located around two adjoining courtyards and are distributed over three levels. A small vestibule, with polychrome coffered ceilings and decorated with the coats of arms of Catalonia and the monastery belonging to abbot Porta (1390-1402), which leads to the main courtyard, the most ornate, with a well in the center, some simple corbels staggered support some lowered arches attached to the wall that support the staircase to the upper gallery. Two beautiful and fine arches are supported on the handrail and it is adorned by some sculptures, placed at the beginning and at the end, representing the hunting by a lion of a wild boar and a gazelle, symbol of royal strength. On the lower entrance lintel to this staircase, there is a relief showing the shield of the four sticks between lions and angels and tenants together with plant ornamentation. The upper gallery occupies three sides of the patio, it is made up of eleven columns that form pointed arches with a thin and slender shaft with decorated capitals, the roof is made of a coffered ceiling with abundant shields of the monastery, abbots and the House of Aragon. The dependencies are located on the first and second floors but have already been highly transformed.
About the name of the monastery
There are documents from the years 1173 and 1174 in which the monastery is called: monastery sancte Marie, qui est in Sanctis Crucibus. Likewise, from this last year and with reference to its old name of Valldaura: Sancte Marie Vallis Lauree.
On the name of Santes Creus, according to a legend, the shepherds of the place used to bring their cattle from the mountains to the lower lands in winter where they enjoyed a milder climate. The large number of cattle left on these lands organic matter from their defecations and abandonment of dead animals, this meant that due to their putrefaction and when rains originated, phosphorescent gases were released at night, which formed will-o'-the-wisps, in sight of which the shepherds took it as a supernatural and miraculous fact, for which they were placing wooden crosses where they had seen the lights the night before. This meant that this territory began to be known under the name of "field or place of Santes Creus".
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