There are less than 2,000 inhabitants currently registered in the small town of Guadalupe, in the northeast of the province of Cáceres and framed within the community of Villuercas-Ibores-Jara. However, its historical relevance is inversely proportional to its population density.
Renowned internationally for the impressive Royal Monastery of Santa María de Guadalupe, Added to the list of World Heritage Sites by UNESCO since 1993, this quiet town in Cáceres has made the monastery its tourist touchstone.
Erected in the 14th century, when it began to be considered a monastery, the truth is that it was already It had previously been a sanctuary and prioryalways dedicated to the Virgin of Guadalupe, whose carving was found in the 12th century by a shepherd in the Guadalupe River (hence the whole name that later follows the legend) and which, curiously, bears quite a resemblance to the Marian apparition. what would happen in Mexico in 1531.
The truth, legend or not, is that the Guadalupe myth multiplied and is considered not only the patron saint of Extremadura and Mexico, but of all of Latin America, which is why it is very common to find a great disparity of accents when speaking Spanish on visits to the monastery.
Architectural summit of several consecutive styles, The Royal Monastery is one of the best examples of conservation of religious architecture in Spain, finding testimonies ranging from Gothic to Neoclassical.
Although summarizing everything that the monastery houses in a few lines is bold, there are certain elements that should not be overlooked. The church, consecrated to the Virgin of Guadalupe, is one of those great examples of architectural mix where we find a Gothic construction whose decoration, with profuse polychrome and fabrics, is fully baroque.
No less relevant is the chapter house, which maintains Gothic frescoes, already from the 15th century, and its cloisters—both Gothic and Mudejar—, two of the great photographic magnets of the monastery. Generously endowed with funds from the different monarchs of Spain, the monastery is a museum in itself, housing works ranging from the Renaissance to the 16th century.
El Greco, Luca Giordano, Zurbarán, Egas Cueman, Goya… The artistic extravagance of the monastery has even reached the 20th century, when the architect Rafael Moneo was commissioned to remodel the Dining Room of the Hospedería.
What to see in Guadeloupe
With attention, the Royal Monastery of Guadalupe requires more than a day to visit – and we would be quite short – but we know that time is of the essence. As is evident, that power of the monastery It served so that the rest of the town also grew and adorned itself.
What La Puebla is known as is testimony to this.today consolidated as a Historical-Artistic Complex, and which is nothing other than the development between alleys and arcades that Guadalupe had between the 14th and 16th centuries, its period of greatest splendor.
Walking through Guadeloupe is like invoking Stendhal syndrome at every step, surprising you at almost every corner. The Infant School or the Grammar School are good examples.. So are the network of shelters and hospitals that provided shelter to pilgrims – let’s not forget that Guadalupe is on the route of the Camino de Santiago -, including the Hospital of San Juan.
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Faithful to this character of passage, it is no less evident to highlight the presence of the medieval arches, of both walls, of which there are seven examples in total and also of the old Jewish quarter, a reflection of the mountain architecture of the area and also of the groupings of houses with wooden arcades.
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