The Charterhouse of Jerez de la Frontera ( es, la Cartuja de Jerez de la Frontera) or Charterhouse of Santa María de la Defensión ( es, la Cartuja de Santa María de la Defensión; also ''la Cartuja de Nuestra Señora de la Defensión'') is a

monastery A monastery is a building or complex of buildings comprising the domestic quarters and workplaces of monastics, monks or nuns, whether living in communities or alone (hermits). A monastery generally includes a place reserved for prayer which ...

Jerez de la Frontera Jerez de la Frontera (), or simply Jerez (), is a Spanish city and municipality in the province of Cádiz in the autonomous community of Andalusia, in southwestern Spain, located midway between the Atlantic Ocean and the Cádiz Mountains. , the ...

Cádiz Cádiz (, , ) is a city and port in southwestern Spain. It is the capital of the Province of Cádiz, one of eight that make up the autonomous community of Andalusia. Cádiz, one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in Western Europe, ...

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

. Its architecture is of a Late Gothic style, corresponding to the start of construction in the 15th century, with

Baroque The Baroque (, ; ) is a style of architecture, music, dance, painting, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished in Europe from the early 17th century until the 1750s. In the territories of the Spanish and Portuguese empires including t ...

aspects dating from the 17th century. The building, completed in the 17th century, has been protected by the Spanish government since the mid-19th century under a heritage listing. The

Renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) , from , with the same meanings. is a period in European history marking the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and covering the 15th and 16th centuries, characterized by an effort to revive and surpass ideas ...

entryway, designed by Andrés de Ribera, is of particular interest, as are the Chapel of Santa María, and the small Gothic cloister designed by

Juan Martínez Montañés Juan Martínez Montañés (March 16, 1568 – June 18, 1649), known as el Dios de la Madera (''the God of Wood''), was a Spanish sculptor, born at Alcalá la Real, in the province of Jaén. He was one of the most important figures of the Sevill ...

. The

choir stalls A choir, also sometimes called quire, is the area of a church or cathedral that provides seating for the clergy and church choir. It is in the western part of the chancel, between the nave and the sanctuary, which houses the altar and Church tab ...

are by

Juan de Oviedo de la Bandera ''Juan'' is a given name, the Spanish language, Spanish and Manx language, Manx versions of ''John (given name), John''. It is very common in Spain and in other Spanish-speaking communities around the world and in the Philippines, and also (pronoun ...

(1565–1625); they were originally made for the Convento-Iglesia de la Merced in

Sanlúcar de Barrameda Sanlúcar de Barrameda (), or simply Sanlúcar, is a city in the northwest of Cádiz province, part of the autonomous community of Andalucía in southern Spain. Sanlúcar is located on the left bank at the mouth of the Guadalquivir River oppos ...

and were transferred to the monastery in 1960. The paintings by Juan de la Roelas currently at the monastery also come from that church. Conversely, the Museo de Cádiz preserves numerous paintings by

Francisco Zurbarán Francisco is the Spanish and Portuguese form of the masculine given name ''Franciscus''. Nicknames In Spanish, people with the name Francisco are sometimes nicknamed "Paco". San Francisco de Asís was known as ''Pater Comunitatis'' (father of ...

that were originally from the monastery. Nowadays, the Sisters of Bethlehem, of the Assumption of the Virgin, and of Saint Bruno continue the long

Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...

monastic and spiritual tradition that had been carried on more than five centuries by the

Carthusian The Carthusians, also known as the Order of Carthusians ( la, Ordo Cartusiensis), are a Latin enclosed religious order of the Catholic Church. The order was founded by Bruno of Cologne in 1084 and includes both monks and nuns. The order has its ...

fathers.

History

The impulse behind the monastery dates back to Alvaro Obertos de Valeto, a knight of

Genovese Genovese is an Italian surname meaning, properly, someone from Genoa. Its Italian plural form '' Genovesi'' has also developed into a surname. People * Alfred Genovese (1931–2011), American oboist * Alfredo Genovese (born 1964), Argentine ar ...

descent, appointed during the ''

Reconquista The ' (Spanish, Portuguese and Galician for "reconquest") is a historiographical construction describing the 781-year period in the history of the Iberian Peninsula between the Umayyad conquest of Hispania in 711 and the fall of the Nasrid ...

'' by

Alfonso X of Castile Alfonso X (also known as the Wise, es, el Sabio; 23 November 1221 – 4 April 1284) was King of Castile, León and Galicia from 30 May 1252 until his death in 1284. During the election of 1257, a dissident faction chose him to be king of Germ ...

to defend the city shortly Alfonso had conquered it from

Muslim Muslims ( ar, المسلمون, , ) are people who adhere to Islam, a monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God of Abrah ...

rule in 1264. Lacking descendants, he left his fortune to establish a Carthusian monastery in the city. It was not until 1475 that this location near the

Guadalete The Guadalete River is located almost entirely in the Spanish Province of Cádiz, rising in the Sierra de Grazalema Natural Park at an elevation of about , and running for into the Bay of Cádiz at El Puerto de Santa Maria, north of the city of C ...

River was chosen, of special significance because in 1368 it has been the site of a victorious battle against invaders; the victory was attributed to

intercession Intercession or intercessory prayer is the act of praying to a deity on behalf of others, or Intercession of saints, asking a saint in heaven to pray on behalf of oneself or for others. The Apostle Paul's exhortation to Saint Timothy, Timothy sp ...

by the

Virgin Mary Mary; arc, ܡܪܝܡ, translit=Mariam; ar, مريم, translit=Maryam; grc, Μαρία, translit=María; la, Maria; cop, Ⲙⲁⲣⲓⲁ, translit=Maria was a first-century Jewish woman of Nazareth, the wife of Joseph and the mother o ...

, to whom a hermitage had been dedicated on the site, under the name ''Nuestra Señora de la Defensión'' ("Our Lady of the Defense"), which was adopted also for the monastery. At the entrance of the enclosure stands a wide tetrastyle portico with a semicircular central span which holds, in a smaller span, two heavy sheets of wood studded with bronze. This work, begun in 1571 by Jerezan architect Andrés de Ribera, conforms to the purest canons of

Andalusia Andalusia (, ; es, Andalucía ) is the southernmost Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community in Peninsular Spain. It is the most populous and the second-largest autonomous community in the country. It is officially recognised as a ...

n classicism. Conceived as a great

triumphal arch A triumphal arch is a free-standing monumental structure in the shape of an archway with one or more arched passageways, often designed to span a road. In its simplest form a triumphal arch consists of two massive piers connected by an arch, crow ...

, it is composed in a sober manner and decorated with

coats of arms A coat of arms is a heraldic visual design on an escutcheon (i.e., shield), surcoat, or tabard (the latter two being outer garments). The coat of arms on an escutcheon forms the central element of the full heraldic achievement, which in its wh ...

, canopies, fretwork windows, and glazed ceramic hemispheres, constituting a superb example of Renaissance architecture. At the beginning of the 17th century, with the original plan almost complete, new works were undertaken, such as the façade of the church, which was totally renovated in 1667 in a clearly

style, following the plans of Brother Pedro del Piñar, who also placed atop the crests of the church and refectory niche sculptures by

Francisco de Gálvez Francisco is the Spanish and Portuguese form of the masculine given name ''Franciscus''. Nicknames In Spanish, people with the name Francisco are sometimes nicknamed "Paco (name), Paco". Francis of Assisi, San Francisco de Asís was known as '' ...

. Like a veritable stone altarpiece, this façade is conceived in two orders superposed on

Corinthian column The Corinthian order (Greek: Κορινθιακός ρυθμός, Latin: ''Ordo Corinthius'') is the last developed of the three principal classical orders of Ancient Greek architecture and Roman architecture. The other two are the Doric order ...

s and curved and divided

entablature An entablature (; nativization of Italian , from "in" and "table") is the superstructure of moldings and bands which lies horizontally above columns, resting on their capitals. Entablatures are major elements of classical architecture, and ...

s, supported on a base decorated with coats of arms and floral themes. The ornate decor of

pilaster In classical architecture Classical architecture usually denotes architecture which is more or less consciously derived from the principles of Greek and Roman architecture of classical antiquity, or sometimes even more specifically, from the ...

s and

frieze In architecture, the frieze is the wide central section part of an entablature and may be plain in the Ionic or Doric order, or decorated with bas-reliefs. Paterae are also usually used to decorate friezes. Even when neither columns nor ...

s, the superposition of vases, and the airy top, with a much reduced third rank of imagery make this façade a singular element of the Andalucian Baroque. MuseoArqueologicoCadiz-P1050202

In the interior, of particular note are the choir stalls of the ''Coro de Padres'', a work in carved wood, completed in 1550; the replacement of the old altarpiece in the

Flemish Flemish (''Vlaams'') is a Low Franconian dialect cluster of the Dutch language. It is sometimes referred to as Flemish Dutch (), Belgian Dutch ( ), or Southern Dutch (). Flemish is native to Flanders, a historical region in northern Belgium; ...

style by Alejandro de Saavedra,José Luis Romero Torres
Bernardo Simón de Pineda y su Aprendizaje en Cádiz con el Arquitecto de Retablos Alejandro de Saavedra
, ''Laboritorio de Arte'' 19 (2006) 173–194. p. 179 (p. 7 of PDF). Access date 2010-02-15.

José de Arce José is a predominantly Spanish and Portuguese form of the given name Joseph. While spelled alike, this name is pronounced differently in each language: Spanish ; Portuguese (or ). In French, the name ''José'', pronounced , is an old vernacul ...

Esperanza de los Ríos Martínez, "José de Arce, escultor flamenco: Flandes, 1607-sevilla, 1666", N° 23 de Serie Arte (Universidad de Sevilla), 2007. , 9788447210886. p. 39 ''et. seq.''
Available online
on

Google Books Google Books (previously known as Google Book Search, Google Print, and by its code-name Project Ocean) is a service from Google Inc. that searches the full text of books and magazines that Google has scanned, converted to text using optical c ...

. and

Francisco de Zurbarán Francisco de Zurbarán ( , ; baptized 7 November 1598 – 27 August 1664) was a Spanish Painting, painter. He is known primarily for his religious paintings depicting monks, nuns, and martyrs, and for his still-lifes. Zurbarán gained the nicknam ...

, as well as the group of paintings on wood by Zurbarán for the walls of the sanctuary, now mostly in the Museo de Cádiz. In 1810, during the

Peninsular War The Peninsular War (1807–1814) was the military conflict fought in the Iberian Peninsula by Spain, Portugal, and the United Kingdom against the invading and occupying forces of the First French Empire during the Napoleonic Wars. In Spain ...

, the French invaders used the monastery as a barracks, and damaged or destroyed much of the complex that had been assembled over the prior three centuries. The monks were obligated to seek refuge in

, and when they returned, it was to a desolate, sacked monastery.

Conservation and access

Restored and returned to its original use, and now in a good state of conservation, the monastery was designated a '' Monumento nacional'' in 1856, one of the first dozen or so places in Spain to be so designated. More recently, it has been designated an Historic-Artistic Monument. It can be reached by the CA-2004, accessed from the

Autovía A-381 The Autovía A-381 is a local autovía in Andalusia, Spain. It is 88 km (55 miles) long and runs from the Autopista AP-4 at Jerez de la Frontera to the Autovía A-7 at Los Barrios, near Algeciras. Built between 2004 and 2006, it runs parallel to ...

Notes

References

:''The Spanish-language Wikipedia article from which this was initially translated incorporates material fro
the corresponding entry in the Cadizpedia
published in Spanish under a

GFDL The GNU Free Documentation License (GNU FDL or simply GFDL) is a copyleft license for free documentation, designed by the Free Software Foundation (FSF) for the GNU Project. It is similar to the GNU General Public License, giving readers the r ...

license.

External links

A ceramic mural from the Charterhouse
at retabloceramico.net {{Authority control Buildings and structures in Jerez de la Frontera

Gothic architecture in Andalusia Renaissance architecture in Andalusia Baroque architecture in Andalusia Bien de Interés Cultural landmarks in the Province of Cádiz

History

Conservation and access

See also

Notes

References

External links