ROUTE OF THE MONASTERIES IN ARAGON: MONASTERIES IN TERUEL
Santa María del Olivar.
Located in the Olivar Valley, 4 km. from Estercuel; 60 km. from Alcañiz by the road linking Tarragona and Alcolea del Pinar; 140 km. from Zaragoza; 120 km. from Teruel. The setting is a spot surrounded by trees on the banks of the river Escuriza.
Two different elements can be appreciated in the current building: the church and the convent, both of them forming a rectangular ensemble with Herrerian aspect. It is a National Monument.
In the 13th century, Don Gil de Atrosillo had the first hermitage built. Monks of the Merced Order lived there. The primitive hermitage soon became a Gothic church. In the 16th century some modifications were introduced following different styles: Mudejar, Aragonese Gothic and Renaissance. The work was finished in the 17th century.
The church has a single nave and two chapels on the sides. The apse is presided by the image of Santa María del Olivar. The original image was destroyed during the Civil War. A reproduction was made, and its face is a work by the sculptor Pablo Serrano.
Information about admission times in the monastery. Phone number: +34 978 753144.
The primitive convent is from the 14th century, but from that period only the cylindrical well of the central patio has survived. The current convent was built in the 17th century. It has a square plan and it was attached to the south wall of the church. It has two cloisters (the lower and the upper) and a small open inner patio. Some of the monastic rooms open onto the lower cloister: the porter’s lodge, the majestic staircase leading to the upper cloister, the library, the Profundos lounge, and the refectory. In the upper cloister we find the monks’ cells. In the inner patio there were twelve big windows, all of them ajimezadas (this was an Arab architectural design: the windows had a central mullion on which two twin arches rested). These windows were walled up, but this mistake will be corrected removing the walls and replacing them by glass.
Tirso de Molina spent six months of retreat in the Monastery and during that time he wrote six comedies about Aragonese subjects: The Lady of El Olivar, The wise jealous man, Words and pens, Quien calla otorga (Spanish saying meaning that the person who remains silent grants what the other says or wants), The lovers of Teruel, and The distrustful convicted.
An important restoration work is being undertaken in the monastery.
In the surroundings you can also visit:
The Hermitage of the Shepherd: a place that remembers the apparition of the Olivar Virgin to a shepherd.
The Shepherds’ Pillar: 50 metres to the southwest. This pillar commemorates the place from where the shepherd saw the Virgin.
The icebox, on the other bank of the river. Its origins date back to the 15th century. This is a domed construction where the monks stored snow rolled with straw during winter so that they could have ice for the rest of the year.
Fossil deposits in the Agua Ravine. About 3 km. from the monastery taking the way to Oliete.
Visigothic remains: 5 km. from the monastery. Some Visigothic graves are conserved.
Route of the Monasteries in Aragón - HUESCA - TERUEL - ZARAGOZA
OTHERS MONASTERIES
Tourist Routes in Aragon
Ample your information on Aragon
If you want to extend your information on Aragon you can begin crossing another interesting route is the Mudejar, Patrimony of the Humanity, also you can extend your cultural knowledge on Aragon examining its municipal and institutional heraldry without forgetting, of course, some of its emblematics figures as Saint George Pattern of Aragon also book of Aragon.
Also Aragon enjoys a diverse and varied Nature where passing by plants, animals or landscapes we can arrive at a fantastic bestiario that lives in its monuments.
The information will not be complete without a stroll by its three provinces: Zaragoza, Teruel and Huesca and his shines, with shutdown in some of its spectacular landscapes like Ordesa, the Moncayo or by opposition the Ebro.
Also you can dedicarte to the intangible ones: from the legend compilation that also does to universal Aragon you can persecute the presence of the Santo Grial in Aragon.
Huesca |
Teruel |
Zaragoza |
Aragon |
Maps |
Fauna |
Flora |
Geology |
Fungi |
Tourism |
Mudejar |
Goya |
Alphabetical Index |
Thematic
Francisco Javier Mendivil Navarro
ROUTE OF THE MONASTERY IN ARAGON - ZARAGOZA - Huesca -Teruel. monumentally can be mentioned among the m ‡ s of San Pedro olden Siresa, with a possible western block-n postcarolingia tradition, and the San Juan de the Pe-a, with architectural remains ‡ moz-tronic Arabs, although in both cases the sets are completed ‡ estilorom essentially unique. In Aragon ‡ mon acoustic architecture, with estructurade complex dependencies aclaustro organized around central expressive alcanzasu not complete until the introduction n-n of the Cistercians, with significant male monasteries Veruela, Stone and Wheel , ofemeninos, like Sigena founded in 1188. The mendicant orders accumulate-Franciscan monasteries and preachers in Aragon, delivering mind your arquitectura entre basi ‡ g-cal styles and Moorish. The Carthusians, at last but, not entered in Arag-n to the modern age.
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