The Abbey of New Clairvaux is a rural Trappist monastery located in Northern California in the small town of Vina in Tehama County. The farmland, once owned by Leland Stanford, grows prunes, walnuts, and grapes that the monks harvest from the orchards and vineyards to sustain the community.
View from within the 800-year-old chapter house brought from Santa Maria de Ovila in Spain (2013).
The interior of the church in 2023
Entrance to wine tasting room
Santa María de Óvila is a former Cistercian monastery built in Spain beginning in 1181 on the Tagus River near Trillo, Guadalajara, about 90 miles (140 km) northeast of Madrid. During prosperous times over the next four centuries, construction projects expanded and improved the small monastery. Its fortunes declined significantly in the 18th century, and in 1835 it was confiscated by the Spanish government and sold to private owners who used its buildings to shelter farm animals.
The ruins of Santa María de Óvila in Spain, shown more than 75 years after the most striking architectural features were removed by agents of William Randolph Hearst
Enameled monastery sign shows damage
William Randolph Hearst spent roughly $1 million to obtain the monastery's finest features.
Dismantled cloister of the abbey in the 1930s