MONTIJO SIGHTS
The Monastery of St. Maria
de Guadalupe
The Royal Monastery of Santa Maria de Guadalupe (Spanish: Real Monasterio de Nuestra
Señora de Guadalupe) is a Roman Catholic
monastic establishment in Guadalupe, Cáceres,
a province of the Extremadura autonomous
community of Spain. It is located at the feet of
the eastern side of the Sierra de las Villuercas and was one of the most important monasteries in the country for more than
four centuries. UNESCO declared it a World
Heritage Site in 1993. The monastery had its
origins in the late 13th century, when a shepherd from Cáceres, named Gil Cordero, discovered on the bank of the Guadalupe River a
statue of the Blessed Virgin, which had been
apparently hidden by local inhabitants
from Moorish invaders in 714. On the site of his
discovery a chapel was built, dedicated to Our
Lady of Guadalupe.
Church of St Peter
At the center of Montijo you can find the church
of Saint Peter apostle. It is a gothic church which
was built in 1574. The temple was restored at the
VXII century leaving intact the shed drop, lower
arm of the Latin cross, whose form takes the
shape of the temple today, adding the transept
and the header or chapel. Inside the temple there
are many chapels and altarpieces, among which
include the following: Shrine of the Immaculate
Conception, altarpiece of the Virgin of Carmen,
Altarpiece of San Blas, Altarpiece, Altarpiece of
Saint Vincent de Paul, Altarpiece of Our Lady of
the Rosary and Altar of Souls.
King Alfonso XI, who visited the chapel more
than once, invoked Santa Maria de Guadalupe
in the Battle of Rio Salado. After gaining the
victory, he ascribed it to the Madonna's intercession, declared the church at Guadalupe a
royal sanctuary and undertook an extensive
rebuilding program.
The monastery, whose architecture evolved
throughout many centuries, is still dominated by
the templo mayor, or the main church, built by
Alfonso XI and his immediate successors in the
14th and 15th centuries. The square chapel of
Santa Catalina is also of the 15th century; it is
known for a cluster of ornate 17th-century
tombs. The 16th-century reliquaries chapel connects Santa Catalina with the baroque sacristy
(1638–47), lavi