Santa Catalina Monastery

Ares, Spain

Santa Catalina Monastery construction started in in 1393, in a Romanesque style when Gothic standards were already taking hold. With Mendizábal's disestablishment (1837) the Franciscans were obliged to abandon the monastery, and the building's ownership and management passed to the army until the year 2000.

The monastery has two cloisters, the best conserved of which is in Renaissance style. The church was modified in the 18th century, when it changed from a cross-shaped ground plan to a single nave covered with a barrel vault on arches. Coloured wooden retable with Baroque ornamental designs. Some of its images are in churches in Ferrol. Inside the monastery, we can see the remains of capitals, statues, tombstones. Other sculptural remains from the 16th century can presently be seen in the San Antón Archaeology Museum (A Coruña).

References:

Galicia Tourism

Address

Montefaro, Ares, Spain

See all sites in Ares

Details

Founded: 1393
Category: Religious sites in Spain

More Information

en.wikipedia.org
www.turismo.gal

Rating

4.2/5 (based on Google user reviews)

Interesting Sites Nearby

San Felipe Castle (1,6 km)
Ferrol Co-Cathedral (5,2 km)
La Palma Fortress (1,4 km)

Igrexa de San Xurxo (12,8 km)
Tower of Hercules (12,4 km)
Igrexa de Santiago Church (12,8 km)
Colegiata de Santa María del Campo (12,6 km)
Santa María del Azogue Church (19,6 km)
San Francisco Church (19,6 km)
San Antón Castle (12,7 km)
A Coruña City Walls (12,6 km)
Monastery of San Xoán de Caaveiro (17,6 km)

User Reviews

Claudio Parafita (5 months ago)
It's a shame that this historic building is not being maintained in a better way. It has parts that cannot be visited due to the collapses it has suffered. Well cared for and with advertising it would be a very interesting place for tourism to visit.

Félix Vega (6 months ago)
Monastery with a lot of charm, in a beautiful environment, it's a shame that it is a little neglected.

Lourdes Cancela (17 months ago)
I really liked the building, but you can't visit the interior, in one of the patios there is a bar, a good place to have a drink. We found it funny, because the owner has a parrot that says something like "Hello Catalina", nice moment

Vanuska V (3 years ago)
Very beautiful monastery, although it says that it can be visited and that we went inside, we could not do anything else than to access the canteen inside. The rest closed with a padlock. A pity.

Rafael Sanchez Gamas (3 years ago)
Relax

Featured Historic Landmarks, Sites & Buildings

Finest Norman castles in Italy

Exploring the History of Northern Poland

Discovering Slovenia's Historic Wonders

Photo from Flickr, copyright gwpics

Historic Site of the week

Abbey of Saint-Georges

Saint-Georges de Boscherville Abbey is a former Benedictine abbey. It was founded in about 1113 by Guillaume de Tancarville on the site of an earlier establishment of secular canons and settled by monks from the Abbey of Saint-Evroul. The abbey church made of Caumont stone was erected from 1113 to 1140. The Norman builders aimed to have very well-lit naves and they did this by means of tall, large windows, initially made possible by a wooden ceiling, which prevented uplift, although this was replaced by a Gothic vault in the 13th century. The chapter room was built after the abbey church and dates from the last quarter of the 12th century.

The arrival of the Maurist monks in 1659, after the disasters of the Wars of Religion, helped to get the abbey back on a firmer spiritual, architectural and economic footing. They erected a large monastic building one wing of which fitted tightly around the chapter house (which was otherwise left as it was).