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The Monastery of Saint Dominic of Silos (the Old) (Spanish: ''Monasterio de Santo Domingo de Silos (el Antiguo)'') is a
/ref> King Alfonso had it dedicated to St
''Boletín Oficial del Estado'' Nº 275, 14 November 1996
{{DEFAULTSORT:Monastery Of Saint Dominic Of Silos (The Old) Cistercian nunneries in Spain Roman Catholic churches in Toledo, Spain Roman Catholic churches completed in 1085 Christian monasteries established in the 16th century Christian monasteries established in the 6th century 11th-century Roman Catholic church buildings in Spain
The Monastery of Saint Dominic of Silos (the Old) (Spanish: ''Monasterio de Santo Domingo de Silos (el Antiguo)'') is a Cistercian
The Cistercians, () officially the Order of Cistercians ( la, (Sacer) Ordo Cisterciensis, abbreviated as OCist or SOCist), are a Catholic religious order of monks and nuns that branched off from the Benedictines and follow the Rule of Saint ...
convent in Toledo, Spain.
History
It is believed to have been founded in the 6th century. Its rebuilding after the Conquest of Toledo by KingAlfonso VI of Leon and Castile
Alphons (Latinized ''Alphonsus'', ''Adelphonsus'', or ''Adefonsus'') is a male given name recorded from the 8th century (Alfonso I of Asturias, r. 739–757) in the Christian successor states of the Visigothic kingdom in the Iberian peninsula. ...
is mentioned by the historian Pedro de Alcocer.Historia o Descripción de la Imperial ciudad de Toledo/ref> King Alfonso had it dedicated to St
Dominic of Silos
Dominic of Silos, O.S.B., ( es, Santo Domingo de Silos) (1000 – 20 December 1073) was a Spanish monk, to whom the Abbey of Santo Domingo de Silos, where he served as the abbot, is dedicated. He is revered as a saint in the Catholic Church. His ...
. It was Cluniac
The Cluniac Reforms (also called the Benedictine Reform) were a series of changes within medieval monasticism of the Western Church focused on restoring the traditional monastic life, encouraging art, and caring for the poor. The movement began wit ...
before becoming a nunnery of the Cistercian order.
The convent underwent major rebuilding work in the second half of the 16th century, in which the mudéjar
Mudéjar ( , also , , ca, mudèjar , ; from ar, مدجن, mudajjan, subjugated; tamed; domesticated) refers to the group of Muslims who remained in Iberia in the late medieval period despite the Christian reconquest. It is also a term for ...
church was demolished. The new building was begun by Nicolás de Vergara and completed by the royal architect Juan de Herrera
Juan de Herrera (1530 – 15 January 1597) was a Spanish architect, mathematician and geometrician.
One of the most outstanding Spanish architects in the 16th century, Herrera represents the peak of the Renaissance in Spain. His sober style reac ...
.
Paintings
El Greco
Domḗnikos Theotokópoulos ( el, Δομήνικος Θεοτοκόπουλος ; 1 October 1541 7 April 1614), most widely known as El Greco ("The Greek"), was a Greek painter, sculptor and architect of the Spanish Renaissance. "El G ...
settled in Toledo in the 1570s. One of his first commissions in the city, which he gained with the aid of his patron Diego de Castilla, was to provide altarpieces for the convent's church. Some of the component canvases remain ''in situ'', but the main altar now features a replica of the largest of them, ''The Assumption of the Virgin'', which is in the Art Institute of Chicago
The Art Institute of Chicago in Chicago's Grant Park, founded in 1879, is one of the oldest and largest art museums in the world. Recognized for its curatorial efforts and popularity among visitors, the museum hosts approximately 1.5 mill ...
. Decades later El Greco provided a work intended to hang above his own tomb, ''The Adoration of the Shepherds'' (now in the Museo del Prado
The Prado Museum ( ; ), officially known as Museo Nacional del Prado, is the main Spanish national art museum, located in central Madrid. It is widely considered to house one of the world's finest collections of European art, dating from the ...
).
Conservation
The building has the heritage listing ''Bien de Interés Cultural
A Bien de Interés Cultural is a category of the heritage register in Spain. The term is also used in Venezuela and other Spanish-speaking countries.
The term literally means a "good of cultural interest" ("goods" in the economic sense) and inclu ...
''.
References
External links
''Boletín Oficial del Estado'' Nº 275, 14 November 1996
{{DEFAULTSORT:Monastery Of Saint Dominic Of Silos (The Old) Cistercian nunneries in Spain Roman Catholic churches in Toledo, Spain Roman Catholic churches completed in 1085 Christian monasteries established in the 16th century Christian monasteries established in the 6th century 11th-century Roman Catholic church buildings in Spain