Convento de San Bernardo - Granada, Andalucía, España
Posted by: 
Ariberna
N 37° 10.722 W 003° 35.472
30S E 447520 N 4114860
This Cistercian Monastery dates from the year 1683
Waymark Code: WM16798
Location: Andalucía, Spain
Date Posted: 05/24/2022
Views: 1
"At that time there were two Carmelite beguinages in Granada who depended on the Carmelites of the Holy Martyrs and received spiritual help from Saint John of the Cross. They were dedicated to the education of young people of the nobility but little by little they lost vitality and those who formed them, merging into one, yearned for another life of more rigor and distance from the world.
The main inspirer of the foundation of our Monastery was the Archbishop of Granada Fr. Francisco de Rois y Mendoza, a Cistercian, a monk from Valparaíso. He arrived in Granada in 1673, although he did not see his desire to bring daughters of San Bernardo to this city come true because he died in 1677, leaving the seed sown that would germinate a few years later.
The economic difficulty in carrying out this project was providentially solved when the Potentias Dña. Mariana de la Torre Esparza became part of the beguinage, who bequeathed all her numerous assets together with those of her sister, Dña. Isabel de la Torre, with the aim to carry out this foundation. In return they asked to be admitted to profession as nuns once the convent was erected. The deed of donation is dated November 8, 1682.
In this year Fr Alonso Bernardo de los Ríos y Guzmán was Archbishop of Granada. He had the happy idea of ??asking Fr. Alonso de Santo Tomás, Archbishop of Málaga, to transfer to Granada, for a determined period, three nuns from the Cistercian monastery so that they could start up the desired foundation, later returning to his monastery in origin. Two of those who came were the daughters of the remarkable Granada sculptor Pedro de Mena. Here came the third sister who accompanied the others on their return to Malaga once the Cistercian observance had been established.
In 1695 they moved definitively to the house owned by Ms. María de la Torre Esparza, in Carrera del Darro, adapting the building to the demands of a functional monastery and adding a spacious temple to it. The community has remained here ever since, although the gatehouse of the Monastery is on Calle Gloria Nº 2, perpendicular to the main façade.
From its large terrace you can see a splendid panoramic view of the Alhambra monument, as well as a beautiful view of the Albaicín, the Sacro Monte, the Cathedral. All this does not prevent you from having the necessary separation to be able to be away from the hustle and bustle of the world even while in the middle of the city."
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