Santa María de Óvila
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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 northeast of Madrid. In 1835 it was confiscated by th
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
Abbey of New Clairvaux
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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,
Santa María de Óvila
…around California: the old church portal was erected at the University of San Francisco, and the chapter house was reassembled by Trappist monks at the Abbey of New Clairvaux in Vina, California. Other stones are serving as simple decorative elements in Golden Gate Park's botanical garden. In Spain, the new government of the…
Entrance to New Clairvaux Abbey
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