Monasteries, the cradle of western culture
The power of the large abbeys continues to be latent in Castilla y León. Their religious and economic predominance in the Middle Ages is regenerated today, since they have become one of the most important and attractive tourist landmarks of the region, due to their monumentality and superb location next to other historical enclaves, beautiful natural environments or hidden valleys.
Many monasteries continue to be next to the old pilgrimage routes, such as the Camino de Santiago or the Ruta de la Plata. These monasteries are open to the public. Most of them are well preserved and inhabited by various religious orders.
A good part of the history of Castilla y León was written behind their thick walls. They are sacred temples, places to pray, spiritual homes, true miniature cathedrals. Despite their disappearance or decline, many of these structures still stand today.
Their presence amidst the landscape announces the profuse wealth hidden behind their walls: cloisters, capitals and apses that sep invaluable treasures. The convents and monasteries preserve the artistic and cultural testimony of the many religious orders that inhabited them, a reminder of the past economic, social, cultural and religious splendour that made them powerful almost one thousand years ago.
The Cluny, Cistercian, Franciscan, Trinitarian, Theresian orders ... all of them protecting the stones upon which western culture was built. Many of them, also, have been turned into hotels and pilgrim hostels.
