Simat de la Valldigna, Valencia, España Gandia, 46728, Valencia, Spain

Monastery founded by the King of Aragon, Jaume II the Just (Jaime II the Just) (1291-1327). According to tradition, this king, after wars against Muslims in the lands of Alicante and Murcia, while passing through this valley, called Alfàndec, and impressed by its fertility and beauty, he said to his chaplain, Fray Boronat de Vila-Seca abbot of Cistercian monastery of Santes Creus: "Vall a decent per vostra Monastery of religion." And the abbot said, "Vall dignity." Literal translation: Valle worthy of a monastery of your religion. James II promulgated on March 15, 1297 order granting the lands of the then Alfàndec Valley, the abbot of Santes Creus (Tarragona) for the new foundation would be the Royal Cistercian monastery of Santa Maria de la Valldigna, a name which has since receive this valley. It was granted the whole valley, the castle of "Mariny" their hamlets and farmhouses, together with the inhabitants of the area. So the abbot, became lord of the valley with unlimited powers, both legal, economic and religious. It is said that the monastery was built on the site had existed a village called Benizael, to which Muslims used to come with their goods to buy and sell. The Royal Monastery, held the lordship of the place, reinforced after the expulsion of the Moors from the Kingdom of Valencia in 1609 until 1811, when by order of the Court of Cadiz, were abolished all ecclesiastical privileges. In 1835 the confiscation of Mendizabal put an end to monastic life. Santes Creus Thirteen monks came to form the new community. While performing the work on the new monastery, they stayed in the market or Almodí and she built a chapel as a chapel. Since its beginning the monastery was a center of power and irradiation of culture in the Kingdom of Valencia, and its abbots highlights Roderic de Borja, who became pope under the name of Alexander VI (1492-1503). The new monastery would cover a large territory formed by the populations that had the valley: Simat, Benifairó, Taverna, La Xara, Alfulell, L'Ombrie, Massalalí and Ràfol d'Almunia. At that time all were alquerias populated by Moors. The monastery would be governed by abbots Valldigna perpetual until 1460, played the position until his death or resignation. From 1460 to 1530 are governed by Abbot (abbots in commendam), which were powerful and influential people that sometimes not even go near the Valldigna. Subsequently, abbots were replaced by three-year, and since 1617 by abbots quadrennial. Its abbots were part of the ecclesiastical establishment and as such, they had a say in the Valencian Parliament. [Interior view] You can look at three significant stages in its construction: the implementation of the fourteenth century Gothic, forming the complete structure of the set around the cloister, according to the canons of the Cistercians, a renovation that occurred in the year 1396 after suffer an earthquake, and a second final renewal after its destruction by another earthquake in 1644, with complete replacement and new units already in Baroque period (seventeenth and eighteenth centuries), they belong to the current church and chapel "Mare de Deu de Gracia" (Our Lady of Grace). Gradually, they are expanding monastic dependencies as directed by the Cistercians. Yet it was during the rule of the abbot of Saranya Arnau (1357-1387) when significant new units were built, among which was the armeria (now defunct), the apartments abbey (popularly called the "Palau de l'Abat), and New Gate (Portal Nou) or Puerta Real, on which the shields are still in stone with the royal arms of Aragon and the Abbot Saranya. From 1519 to 1528 the fortified monastery is due to the wars of the Germanias, continuing Moorish revolts and attacks by Algerian pirates. During the war of Germanias, in 1521, the monastery was sacked with fury. You build a wall around the monastery with a tower at each of its angles. Puerta Real, or "Portal Nou" Fourteenth century. Access to the walled enclosure is made through the Royal Gate or "Portal Nou". It is made with stone worked in masonry of good quality. On the arch are carved three crowns: the crown of Aragon center, on either side the coat of Abbot Arnold of Saranya built during whose rule the door. Their weapons blackthorn branch and a staff. Two towers flanking the door a quadrangular projections, formerly with battlements and now with a kind of scallops, and they were restored by Abbot Garix Felix (1720-1724), in the eighteenth century. We walk out the door in the atrium, with vaults, the original item that is perfectly preserved. Turning now to the left of the towers, we found a rectangular room that was the mill (Almàssera). It is of masonry and brick factory. Its construction dates from the eighteenth century. Here is housed the oil mill, barn and stables. At present very renovated multipurpose room is used as (exhibitions, conferences, reception etc.).. [Façade of the Chapel of Our Lady of Grace] Chapel of Our Lady of Grace "Capella de la Mare de Deu de Gracia. It was built in 1720 (XVIII century) where Abbot Felix Garix and is located to the right of the Portal Nou. In the frontispiece of this chapel we can see a bit of wall painting that simulates a set curtains on both sides. This ornamentation is very strange, taking into account the effect of fortification and hard life he maintained the rest of the monastic. Over the door of the chapel (Buixcarró marble, quarry located nearby) is the shield of Valldigna. This is a church of a Greek cross with a dome on scallops and drum. The Baroque façade is also of two bodies made out of marble, with the shield of the Valldigna on the threshold, as already mentioned. This chapel was erected for worship outside the virgin, since it seems there was a sixteenth century chapel there. photos [Top supplier of source] The space between the Puerta Real and the first monastic stays a fountain that until recently was in the Viveros Gardens in Valencia. It is called the Fountain of the Dolphins or the work of newts and 1740 (XVIII century). It was disassembled and brought back to their place of origin. It is made of pink and gray marble, consisting of a cup of nice profile, plate-shaped pipes masks and a pinnacle-decorated fountain at its base with as many heads of sea monsters. About this auction include the date of 1835 and the inscription "Valldigna. The story of this fountain is a curious one, with the seizure of Mendizabal, 1835, the source was acquired in 1852 by the City of Valencia and in 1854 moved to San Lorenzo Square, opposite the Palace of Benicarlo (now headquarters of the Courts Valencia). In 1911 this place was dismantled in 1930 and settled in the nursery, until 2005 it has been brought back to his birthplace, in this monastery, though it did not occupy the place it now occupies. Faculty called the Silence. Beside the church was monastic cloister, of which only scanty remains are preserved. It was a well-proportioned square, sober and austere as for the Cistercians, and was undoubtedly a major architectural set pieces. It was covered with ribbed vaults and pointed arches. To summarize the abandonment and deterioration of the monastery, it is sufficient to indicate that this cloistered space in the seventies of the twentieth century, was a field of pear trees. [Cloister of Silence] [Faculty of silence and wall of the church] Done during the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, is the backbone of the Cistercian monasteries. He stays fall as most important are: the Church, Chapter House and the Refectory. The arches are gone but the bursts are preserved on the walls and the supports of the arches (MENSULAS). In the center stood the courtyard and faced the door of the refectory was the washroom with her temple, disappeared all together. In the north is the church, which originally had four hits being at present only one open, that of laymen. On the south side is the refectory, and at this the Chapter House. On the walls around the cloister remains have been found of a floor, roof and floor that suggest the existence of an upper floor, probably from a later period. At present it has undertaken the reconstruction of a few pointed arches, which give an idea of how it should be part of the structure of this cloister. Late fifteenth century Chapter House early sixteenth century. Built by the abbot Roderic de Borja (1479-1491) (later Pope Alexander VI), its construction was delayed until the time of Abbot Pere Lluis de Borja (1502-1504) that ended the works. The chapter house is in the monastic world, one of the most important, as in she met the monks headed by the abbot to read the chapters of the order and to decide important issues affecting the community. The residence was built in part on another building, possibly a former chapter house smaller and rectangular as shown by the remains embedded in the north and south walls and a boot in the arch in the north. This old building had to be related to the former monastic cloister, of which there are remains in the south of the church canvas Its construction is attributed to Pere Compte, the author of the Lonja de Valencia. One of the best preserved pieces of the monastic, and is crowned with battlements. The mill is of ashlar and masonry. It is a square building, located east of the Cloister of Silence, which had a starry vault as cover (now rebuilt), the only remaining original outbursts in the corners, keeping the brackets in the representation of the four evangelists [one in each corner, the bull (St Luke), the angel (Matthew), the eagle (John) and the lion (Mark)]). In the vault, the central key representing the Mother of God of the Llet (La Virgen de la Leche) and Sant Bernat (San Bernardo), and the remaining eight key Valldigna symbology, the city of Valencia, abbots builders Roderic and Cesar Borja, and Saints of the Cistercian church, Sant Bernat (St. Bernard) and Sant Benet (San Benito). The keys to the vault were originally polychrome today have lost their color. Access is through a gate flanked by two Gothic windows-flame. The flamboyant decoration of the door and windows have disappeared, except for a few traces of decoration on the cover. Inside highlights the place where the chair stood the abbot, in the east wall, which was framed by a flaming arc reduced, now disappeared. It is a hole in the wall-shaped chapel. The roof is ribbed with two brackets representing angels bearing shields. On this two narrow windows are splayed open. Baldó Pere Abbot (1499-1502) made the ogee arches of the chapel. [Locutorio] [Locutorio] Locutorio Among the chapter house and refectory there is a hallway with two pointed arches, made in stalls, which connects the cloister with the time remaining after the chapter house and refectory. It appears that the parlor was for the conversation of the monks. They are covered with ribbed vaults and had a second floor. In the brackets we see different decoration with motifs of anthropomorphic animals and heraldic own Baldó Pere Abbot. Refectory or dining (XV century) have thick, sturdy walls. It was built during the first commendatory abbot, Joan d'Arago (1460-1475). In 1970 he was still standing wall that closed the premises as well as the Gothic door access. He acted as a church during the period 1648-1697 while building the present church of the monastery. [Refectory. Canvas exterior] [Refectory. Interior] [Refectory. Inner wall] [exterior wall of the refectory and Gateway. In the foreground space where stood the cloister of Silence] [Refectory, boot record of the arches and windows] It has access from the south wing of the cloister, through a door with pointed arch, where it shows the coat of the abbot who had it built. It is a rectangular building factory molds. Domed roof of the transept, are preserved outbursts of arches, five on each side, made in stalls. The battlements have the walls are of a speech delivered after the sixteenth century. In the south wall is the reader's pulpit, from which passages were read from the Bible. On the eastern wall during restoration appeared two incomes that communicated with the kitchen. In the bottom of the walls are visible mechinales where banks were inserted dining. [New Building] Obra Nova (New Building) From the eighteenth century, is by the abbot LLuís Sanxis (1748-1752). It was a large-scale building that housed the various offices of the monks lay (refectory, celleria, dormitories and workplaces). This building of which only remains, it is known that he had four plants, which was of considerable size and some of its agencies had sockets tiles, the floors of all rooms was of clay. These units are located next to the refectory, on the south and west sides. Palau de l'Abat (Abad Palace and Abbey) for units of the Abbot and receiving distinguished visitors Located on the east side of the monastery, is isolated to have lost the remnants of the buildings that communicate with the rest of the monastery . [Palace abbey restoration (2003)] [Arch abbey palace under restoration (2003)] [Inside the palace abbey restoration (2003)] [Palacio del Abad] [Palacio del Abad] [Palacio del Abad] [ Abad Palace] [Palace of Abbot] [Palacio del Abad] [Palacio del Abad] [Palacio del Abad] [Palacio del Abad] [Palacio del Abad] [Abad Palace] [Palace of Abbot] Built by the abbot of Saranya Arnau (1357-1387) will lengthen its factory during various stages of construction, ranging from the fourteenth to the eighteenth century. Notably the lower cloister made by segmental arches, on which rose the sobreclaustro of pointed arches which was carried Torrelodones (Madrid) as we shall see. In this cloister under stresses moderation in dealing with the brackets and segmental arches. In the center of the cloister we can see a stone well. Fit between its walls tell the presence of kings of the Crown of Aragon as Martin the Humane, Alfonso the Magnanimous and King Philip II of Spain. [View sobreclaustro in Torrelodones] [View original instead sobreclaustro] Sobreclaustro Abbot's Palace One of the most significant elements of the monastery, is the sobreclaustro, of which we spoke earlier. Consisting of a set of ten Gothic arches of sandstone that were located on the first floor of the Palau de l'Abat. And we say that this faculty is very significant because it was dismantled and moved piece by piece between 1920 and 1926, for the residence was being built the Earl of Almenas in Torrelodones (Madrid) on the farm called "El Canto del Pico . This property has suffered considerable time with the purchase and sales and even the retreat of Francisco Franco. Over time, this faculty has been deteriorating for the apparent abandonment of the property, until the present moment, where the cloister has been purchased by the Generalitat Valenciana for a million euros and has been in place original monastery. The sobreclaustro is rectangular in shape, carved stone arches resting on molded capitals shields emblazoned with Saranya and Abbot of the Crown of Aragon. Wall or walls of the closure during the period 1298 to 1305 (XIV century), constructed the first walled or closing and the first church. This was first walled battlements and surrounded the whole monastery. At first there were at the four corners of the enclosure four turrets. On the wall facing south, was the door of the monastery, since the Royal Gate served only for very special occasions. This gate was called the Xara. Both the Royal Gate of Xara like they had a moat and drawbridge. Monastic Church or Church of Santa Maria de la Valldigna. The first church was built in the fourteenth century and destroyed on December 16, 1396 by an earthquake. A second church was built in the fifteenth century and returned to be destroyed on June 26, 1644 by another earthquake, being abbot Francisco Talavera. The current church we see today is the initiative of the abbot in 1648 and Rafael Trobat long time until 1697 with the Abbot Josep Castillo. [Main facade] [Outside head of the church] [Dome Church from the outside] [View of the transept of the church from the outside] [Side facade of the church] [Side facade of the church] [Outside head of the church] [Church Interior] [Interior church to the head] [Interior church toward the feet] [Interior church toward the feet] [more inside the door of the lay at the feet of the church] [Church Interior] [Interior church] [Decorating painting inside the church] [gospel side sacristy door] [Door Sacristia epistle side of the] [above the chancel choir] [Presbytery and chorus] On 18 March 1648, the abbot Trobada i Fray Rafael Figueroa, signed with the master stonemason Joaquim Bernabeu, the documentation for the work of the church, all in marble stone. This is a single-nave church of a Latin cross plan with courtyard entry, six side chapels between the buttresses, transepts, transept and dome. In the choir and the sacristy are trasagrario. You have a high bell tower at the head of the church. Is baroque, with lots of constructive elements of classicism. From a single nave covered with a barrel vault reinforced with arches that give way to the side chapels between the buttresses. It is relatively well preserved, have high arches and baroque pictorial ornamentation. The exterior is covered with double-covered slope. In the transept, which stands on the ground, rises a dome that is not spherical, but pointed inside. On the outside is covered with blue glazed tiles. The arches should also be pointed, but are coated. The header had a sanctuary, where the choir stood. On either side were the sacristy, and behind the choir, which was accessed through a door. In the same rotating stood the throne of Saint Mary and the dressing room. At the foot of the church townhouse in 1697, an atrium or Galilee to the converted, separated by iron bars like a gate. Inside we find three frescoes, two of them on both sides of the access door to the temple and placed third on the lintel of the door. The atrium is really very curious, because it is covered by a cross vault with small domes at the ends and scallops for sosternerlas. The vaults are profusely decorated with frescoed Churrigueresque. At the head we have the bell tower built in 1657. It consists of three sections, the first corresponds to one of the corner towers protecting the temple of the fifteenth century, the second is the belfry, and the third is the pinnacle as a temple that usually cover the Valencian baroque steeples. [Bell] [Bell] [Bell] [Overview] The monastery church is Doric, but construction has some trim size, with triglyphs and metopes. With a height of 16 meters. The pillars are of white marble, with Attic base and floor of square slabs of white jasper the country. The cruiser has a width of 23 meters, and above it rises the dome. On both sides of the transept are two doors emblazoned shields renaissance abbey. At the ends of the arms south and north transept two large oil paintings adorned the walls. Today, those paintings are sleeping in the halls of the Museum of Fine Valencia awaiting restoration and perhaps future placement in the appropriate place. The entrance to the church known as the laity is very simple, only has a few fillets around the jambs, and they and the marble lintel are Buixcarró. Its shape is simply rectangular. All this simplicity of the exterior contrasts wildly with the internal decoration. On your left you can see a square fortified tower built in the fifteenth century to defend the temple. An approach to the chronology of the works can be: As Abbot Placid Saurina (1668-1692) built the altar, carved by the sculptor Josep Borja, with a height of 19 meters and a square of 9 meters. The Franciscan friar Vicente Ferrer painted the dome of the sanctuary and stained glass windows were purchased for all windows. Vicent Lloret Abbot (1692-1697) had built the chapel of the Virgin and renewed the entire roof with a gabled roof, work done by the master of houses Josep Vilar (1697). As abbot Fray Josep Carrillo (1697), the sacristy was built, the two chapels in the church door, the stairway alcove of the Virgin and the pinnacle of the steeple. These works were commissioned to Francesc Martinez. The scallops of the dome were decorated with shields and the church was painted by Pasqual Rams. By 1720 Joan Tomàs i Vinya La Fuente, merged the two largest bells, completing the set with four other children. And during 1752 (XVIII century) when making the last works in the monastery. Epilogue The history of the monastery of Valldigna is marked by its richness and engradecimiento, in 1300 James II gave them Barx site, granted in 1301 houses in Valencia, Gandia and Xativa. That same year acquired the farmhouse in Burriana, and in 1302 expanded the community five miles out (as seen in the arms of the valldigna, represented by a tower on the water). In 1306 it granted them the farmhouse of Massilia and the Benivaire (Alzira). In 1313 the king granted Carcaixent houses (Carcagente) and buy the farms of Fortaleny, Aitona and Liber, located on the end of Cober. And so many other towns and farmhouses that does nothing but increase the assets and wealth of the monastery. The typical setup of the monastery of Valldigna is any Cistercian monastery, which is located in the field, structured as a self-sufficient agricultural community, with cloister, church, refectory and kitchen, barn and cellars, bathrooms and toilets, bedroom and bedroom abbey the monks, all surrounded by a defensive wall. In 1811, the Cortes of Cadiz juridisccionales rescind all rights, so the monastery was deprived of all privileges. During the War of Independence the monastery became a hospital, and in 1812 was occupied by the French until 1814 that the religious community is restored. In 1835 with the seizure of Mendizabal, the monastery is abandoned and many parts and elements of it are sold to individuals, beginning one of the most terrible devastation that historical heritage have been made. Inside the monastery came to be used as a field of orange, barn, warehouse, have reached into heavy machinery and even explosives have been used in the interior, which gives an idea of neglect that took place after the confiscation. The Valencia in 1991 acquired the monastery for 231 million pesetas, and initiated proceedings for recovery. In 1998 he celebrated the 700th anniversary of its foundation and this made a definitive revival for its restoration. On 3 June 1998 in a solemn session of the Valencian Parliament held in the church approving the Cultural Heritage Act Valenciano. Today he finds is desecrated and therefore has no religion. 15 mins from the large town of Gandia 25mins from the  beach of Playa de Gandia and the port  1hr from Valencia airport 1 hr 20 mins from Alicante airport

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