Monastery of Santa María la Real de Valdeiglesias

The origins of the monastery, located in Pelayos de la Presa, seem to go back to Mozarabic times, when there were different hermitages scattered throughout the valley, among which one dedicated to the Holy Cross stood out. A document dated Toledo in 1150 indicates that King Alfonso VII donated the valley to Abbot Guillermo and his monks to unify several pre-existing hermitages and found a monastery hosted by the Order of Saint Benedict. Subsequently, he joined the Order of the Císter and, for that purpose, in 1177, King Alfonso VIII brought monks from the Valladolid monastery of La Espina to take charge of him. These historical data, and other later ones, come from the compilation made by a monk in the Tumbo de Valdeiglesias in 1644.

It is legitimate to think that the construction of the temple should have started shortly after, around 1180. In its current appearance, you can see parts of up to five different stages over time.

The monastery church responds to a floor plan with three apses, a transept and a single nave. Its three apses are clearly original, dated around 1200. It is a typically Cistercian head model, in which the central apse has a semicircular plan, while the sides finish off in a flat front wall. It is a frequent typology in the architecture of this monastic order, with similar examples in France as the abbey churches of Le Thoronet and Senanque (Provence), although both with five apses. The same plant model, including the three apses, is that of the Romanesque church of Chanteuges (Haute-Loire, Auvergne). In Spain the church of Nuestra Señora de las Vegas de Requijada (Segovia) responds to a similar configuration, and has been compared with that of the Cistercian monastery of Santa María la Real de Sacramenia (Segovia), an example again with five apses. The central apse has a straight section covered by a pointed barrel vault and a hemicycle with a furnace vault reinforced by ribs with a simple circular profile. The simpler side apses are covered by a quarter sphere vault for the hemicycle and pointed cannons on the straight sections. Sobriety is a fundamental characteristic of all construction, with complete austerity in decoration. All of this is typical of Cistercian architecture from the late twelfth and early thirteenth centuries, still strongly linked to Romanesque, but including elements of the Protogothic.

On the straight section of the central apse remain the remains of a small bell tower, apparently belonging to this same original construction or something later. Its unusual location should have been chosen for safety, as it did not dominate the central section of the transept where they were usually located. It was a quadrangular construction, open on its four fronts by pointed arches on Cistercian capitals, and which must have been covered with a rib vault. Currently, only the eastern side and the starts of the adjacent arches are preserved. It is a singular work without comparable examples in the Hispanic architecture of the time.

The temple has a transept spanning the width of the three apses and a single nave. Originally, they must have had wooden covers that disappeared, possibly already, in a fire that occurred in 1258 that destroyed part of the church, which was later rebuilt. Only the semi-circular windows of the nave, built in ashlar, seem to correspond to the original work.

The later work shows Mudejar architectural characteristics, as shown by the north walls of the transept and the nave, built of masonry taped in brick lanes, characteristic material of the Mudejar in this area. In the northern section of the transept, on its western wall, there is a doorway, the Puerta de los Muertos, made of brick. It consists of a timid arch framed in a protrusion as an alfiz, a work undoubtedly after the original church, and which also responds to models of Mudejar architecture from the late Middle Ages. On this north side of the transept, using the same techniques and materials, a small semi-circular semi-circular tower was built, which housed a staircase that allowed access to the roof of the church and, probably, to its bell tower. The ground floor of this turret was later converted into a chapel and was covered with a ribbed vault.

Later transformations took place at the end of the Gothic period, in the times of the Catholic Monarchs (De la Morena, 1974: 8-9). Then, the nave and the transept were raised, covering themselves with rib vaults with terraces and externally reinforcing the walls with buttresses. The nave had five sections and on both feet it had a high choir, whose undergrowth was supported by low ribbed vaults and only its frontal arch remains. At present, the church only conserves the starts of some of its vaults and the corresponding pillars that were attached to the pre-existing walls, as well as some of its scalloped arches with the characteristic ball decoration of that time. All this was part of a series of works that were undertaken then as a revitalization of the monastery complex in which the cloister was also intervened. A new refectory was built and this entire area whose surface was the product of previous partial interventions was regularized (Díaz, Marín and Lemus, 2005: 335-336).

On the south side of the church there is an irregularity in the layout of the complex, since the wall of the church does not run parallel to that side of the cloister, but both open at an angle from the transept, leaving an open space with a trapezoidal floor where the so-called "Mozarabic chapel" is preserved. It has been assumed prior to the construction of the temple and linked to the origins of the cenobium, and its qualification has been justified in the apparent use of the Mozarabic foot as a metric pattern, although this data seems inaccurate (Vela Cossío and García Hermida, 2011: 1450 -1451). It has been considered that it could be a testimony of the constructions prior to the Cistercian work, perhaps the mentioned hermitage of the Holy Cross, a kind of architectural "reliquary", thus justifying the irregularity of its location. However, its constructive characteristics and the lack of other evidence raise, in our opinion, serious doubts about its age and functions.

It consists of a construction of small dimensions, with a square plan, which starts at its lower part from a few courses of good ashlar, unevenly preserved on its four sides. This seems the oldest preserved part, which could be contemporary with the construction of the head of the church or earlier. On this base, walls with attached supports of very irregular masonry, masonry and brick rise. This is the basis for a unique octagonal brick vault, skipped and sloped, which can be related to Islamic antecedents. All this would correspond to a second construction phase, already within a late medieval chronology. This "chapel" could be part of a somewhat larger ensemble that perhaps extended to its east and west sides. Later, all this would be within a larger construction that would cover a good part of the mentioned trapezoidal space and of which the footprint of a large transverse semicircular arc arranged in a north-south direction remains.

The cloister, located to the south of the temple, as we have said, was surrounded by the corresponding monastic dependencies. The sacristy and the chapter room were in its eastern panda, as well as the wardrobe and the antecristy. On this same side is the access to a spring located in the basement through a stone staircase. The kitchen and the refectory were located on the southern side. Here a pair of decontextualized semi-circular arches are preserved, whose characteristics would correspond to the original building from the end of the 2005th century, and whose exact provenance is unknown, although it has been suggested that they may belong to the primitive refectory (Díaz, Marín and Lemus, 332 : XNUMX). The fact that the geminated columns that support them start from a level considerably lower than that of the final cloister, could indicate that they are part of a construction already located in that place from its origin. On the west side of the cloister would be the cilla and the converts area. What is preserved today corresponds in part to the renovation of the complex in late Gothic times, and to this correspond the pointed arches of the lower gallery, as well as the ribbed vaults of the antecristy, the wardrobe and the northeast corner of the cloister, the latter restored in 2016 in an intervention promoted by the General Directorate of Historical Heritage of the Community of Madrid (García Muñoz and Martín Jiménez, 2017: 690-692).

Already in the middle of the XNUMXth century the upper gallery was built, of which there are hardly any traces today. To this same moment the conserved of the door of the Renaissance-style sacristy would correspond. At the end of this century and the beginning of the XNUMXth century, the monastery expansion works continued which, among others, included the layout of a new cloister and new rooms to the southwest, including the bell tower that currently exists. Already in the second half of the XNUMXth century a new western facade of the church was built, whose appearance corresponds to that of the Baroque art of the time, and which preserves the coats of arms of Valdeiglesias, the monarchy and the Observance of Castile, a the one that the monastery was incorporated at the end of the XV century. Some of the sculptures that were in the niches of the façade have been recovered and are currently kept in the same monastery.

The decline of the community occurred from the eighteenth century, undoubtedly accentuated by a fire that occurred in 1743 that affected many of its dependencies. The community of monks was reduced, suffered the looting of the Napoleonic troops, and from 1836 the consequences of confiscation. Already in ruins, it was auctioned by the State in 1884, succeeding different owners thereafter. It was not until its acquisition in 1974 by the architect Mariano García Benito that the work of protection, recovery, restoration and enhancement of the complex began. It was declared a historical-artistic monument (Well of Cultural Interest with a national character) in 1983. In 2004 it was donated by its owner to the municipality of Pelayos de la Presa, to which it currently belongs, being managed by the Fundación Monasterio Santa María la Real de Valdeiglesias.

Antonio Momplet Miguez
Francisco J. Moreno Martin           

Excerpt from the book: Path of Perfection Convents and Monasteries of the Community of Madrid                                                        

The Monastery is made up of a group of large buildings, an ancient monastery of the Cistercian order. In 1150, with Alfonso VII the Emperor, the twelve Mozarabic hermitages existing in the Valle de las Iglesias were unified under the Rule of San Benito, then founding the Monastery of Santa María la Real de Valdeiglesias. Joining from 1177 until his confiscation in 1835, the Cistercian Order.

Over the centuries, works and architectural transformations continued, some motivated by fire. At least two fires are documented, one of which only affected the church, but the second destroyed most of the complex. The apse and nave of the church correspond to the first Romanesque phase, apparently covered by a coffered ceiling or wooden ceiling.

In the XNUMXth century, very important modifications were made, building the stonework vaults of the church and the ambulatory of the cloister, as well as its upper gallery.

Again in the eighteenth century, the main facade of the church and part of the bodies of bedrooms and the east wing are made.

Currently only a small part of the monastery remains in use. Its original structure responds almost literally to the typological scheme of the Cistercian convents, but there is nevertheless a surprising detail in the unusual misalignment in the alignment of the church with respect to the rest of the monastery premises. The church is of a single large nave. The head is very interesting with the circular apse flanked by two other small apses with a square plan on the outside and circular on the inside.

A series of interventions have been made in order to consolidate the remains of the Monastery, especially highlighting:

Debris removal and global archaeological intervention and classification of pieces for the restoration and recovery of arches and vaults, archaeological excavations and archeology studies of the architecture and wall stratigraphy of the monastery. A new perimeter walk to the building has been generated, humidity has been controlled, and work has been carried out in different areas such as the apse of the church and attached chapels, north wall of the transept, chapel and stair case, north wall and south wall. from the churches, south transept, octagonal chapel, alley of converts and the cloister, sacristy and wardrobe.

The chronology of these interventions would be as follows:

Between 2005 and 2006 some more urgent partial consolidation and restoration works were carried out, and in 2007 a Master Plan for the Rehabilitation of the Monastery of Santa María la Real de Valdeiglesias.

Between 2008 and 2009 a petrological study of the construction materials of the monastery was carried out, as well as a reading of the faces so that, together with the historical studies, a correct analysis could be made of the different construction phases of the complex. From this moment, and until today, we proceeded to intervene in the monastic complex through successive phases of action.

During 2010 and 2011 a first phase of restoration and structural consolidation was carried out in the church. Between 2012 and 2013, the cloister was intervened and in 2014 some dependencies attached to it were consolidated, as well as the walls of the north transept.

During the years 2015 and 2016, restoration works were carried out in the apse and ante-christ, the fireplace and attached rooms were consolidated, and an inventory and cataloging of carved pieces scattered throughout the monastery was carried out.

Throughout the years 2017 and 2018, the restoration project for the nave of the church was drafted and executed, which continued in 2019. In this last year, the project for the consolidation and restoration of the facade of the church has also been drawn up.

In 2019, the restoration works of the Nave of the Monastery were completed and accessibility was provided to it, and the Consolidation and Restoration Project for the Cover of the Church of Santa María la Real was also carried out.

Between 2010 and 2019, investments have been made in Pelayos de la Presa for a total of € 1.354.384.

In 2020 it is planned to carry out the consolidation and restoration of the Cover of the Church of Santa María la Real de Pelayos de la Presa for an amount of € 385.367.