Monasterio De Piedra

Monasterio de Piedra (Stone Monastery) is a monastery, hotel and park complex in the Iberian System mountain ranges, near Nuévalos, province of Zaragoza, Aragon, Spain. The monastery was founded in 1194 by Alfonso II of Aragon, with thirteen Cistercian monks from Poblet Monastery, in an old castle next to the Piedra River, and was dedicated to St. Mary the White (''Santa María la Blanca''). On February 16, 1983, the entire complex was declared a national monument.

History

The ''Monasterio de Nuestra Señora de Piedra'' (Monastery of our Lady of Stone) is located besides the Piedra (Stone) River. It is undoubtedly one of the most visited places in Aragon because of the many gardens and waterfalls created by the river located in the Piedra (Stone) Canyon. This attraction has become a place of rest and recreation for tourists.

The Monasterio de Piedra is in one of the most barren areas of Spain. Its origins date back to 1194, when Alfonso II of Aragon, and his wife Doña Sancha donated an old Moorish castle to the monks of Poblet to build a monastery and to establish the Christian faith in the area.

The Monasterio de Piedra is in a mountainous region, at around 736 m above sea level in the Iberian System. The traditional access road to the monastery follows the Piedra River, starting from the Nuevalos village. Along the old path are the masonry ruins of a watermill or wheel. This beautiful spot is often used by the Cistercians as inspiration for their work and prayer. The Monasterio de Piedra was founded by Alfonso II in 1194 with monks from Poblet. The work started in 1195 and was completed in 1219.
The monastery lies in the confluence of the Ortiz and Piedra Rivers, in a land of thermal springs, such as Alhama and Jaraba. Followers of Islam sought to establish their cities on the rivers banks because their economy was based on agriculture, which was performed through laboring irrigated lands. This is why they chose to live on low lands and did not effectively occupy the higher areas of the Pyrenees, where they merely controlled the traffic of people and goods through fortified steps at the entrance of the valleys. This is also the reason why the noble and Christian clergy, who would be the most likely to suffer because of the arrival of Islam, had to settle on the northern regions of the Iberian Peninsula, where they began to set up churches and monasteries that would sustain those early Christian communities.

Muslims occupied the existing cities from the Roman Empire and Visigothic civilization, restoring them to a new splendor. This was the case of Huesca, Tarazona, Calahorra and, of course, Zaragoza. In other cases, they founded new cities, such as Tudela, Calatayud, Daroca and Barbastro. This is the case of the Calatayud region, which currently belongs Nuevalos and the Monasterio de Piedra. The area had a large Muslim population which successfully resisted the Christian reconquest several times, as well as attempts of cultural assimilation. The monasteries served, among other things, as centers of evangelization and colonization.

The monastery was constructed for defensive strength, with a web of minor fortresses, in an area heavily populated by Muslims. Since the Muslim era, there were abundant irrigation systems, canals, ditches and castles. In 1201, Pope Innocent III issued a papal bull for D. Arnold, successor to the first abbot, confirming possession of property owned by the monastery on its own terms. In 1212 Pope Innocent III issued a papal bull confirming all former possessions. During the reign of Pedro IV the differences between monks and residents in 1335 caused the king to receive the Stone Monastery with their vassals under his tutelage. Subsequently, the pontiffs were granted protection. The monks made several altercations, among which were the passage of merchant caravans of mules, the exploitation of the salt in the municipality of Nuevalos, water use in the villages of the region, dominion over the villages, tithe, etc.

Excerpts from the Archivo Historico Nacional in Spain in the Aragonese language correspond to a sentence of the second half of the 13th century (between 1260 and 1265). We can see among other things: the origin of the term "pieça", (piece, part), which currently holds in Llumes village to designate the farms, but is lost in the rest of Aragon; the references to localities are under its current names except for Calatayud which appears as "Calataiub". The village now called Llumes is named "Flumes" from Flumen, or "river" in Latin. The municipalities correspond with the current ones, the limit between Monterde and Llumes is still the road from Cubel to the Monastery, which is the current limit of the Parish of San Miguel.

One had to cross the medieval keep to gain entrance through the walls The church opened into the cloister, noted for its great arches, and the various premises of the monastery. The chapter house (from the early 12th century) was the vital center of monastic life; the monks resided in the main building built in the 17th century. The Romanesque columns of the former abbot's residence support the current Neoclassical one, constructed in the 18th century. In front of the keep are several ancient stones lambing enclosures transformed into hotel rooms, with their corrals landscaped.

The monastery was closed down in 1835 during Isabella II of Spain's rule due to the Ecclesiastical Confiscations of Mendizábal