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Monastery of San Juan de los Reyes

Monastery of San Juan de los Reyes

Juan Guas

Photo: Querubin Saldaña Sanchez · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons

Location
Toledo, Spain
Client / Owner
Ferdinand II and Isabella I
Year
Completed 1477
Access
Tickets required
Typology
Spiritual
Style
Gothic

The Monastery of San Juan de los Reyes is a Franciscan monastery in Toledo, Spain, built in the Isabelline style by the Catholic Monarchs, Ferdinand II of Aragon and Isabella I of Castile. They founded it to commemorate the birth of their son, Prince John, and their 1476 victory at the Battle of Toro. It was meant as the monarchs' mausoleum, but they later chose Granada as their burial place.

Juan Guas drew the plans, and construction began in 1477. Napoleon's troops badly damaged it in 1809, and it was abandoned in 1835. Restoration started in 1883 and was completed in 1967.

The church has a Latin cross plan with an elongated nave of about 50 meters. The granite facade is decorated with manacles and shackles associated with Christian prisoners from Granada. The upper cloister has Mudéjar ornamentation and a larch-wood ceiling.

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