Location: Ucles (Cuenca)
Tel. 969 13 50 58
Open: 10am- dusk
daily
Closed: 1 & 6 Jan, 25 Dec
Monasterio de Ucles or Ucles Monastery is a massive Roman Catholic monastery complex perched on top of the hill near a town of Ucles in the province of Cuenca and was built by the Order of Santiago, whose central house (Caput Ordinis, "Head of the Order") was there. It has the status of Cultural Interes. The monastery is part of a large group of buildings built during different historical periods, beginning during the Muslim domination, reaching its fullness as a fortress during its possession by the Order of Santiago, of which they were their most important home, and acquiring their current aspect once the Reconquest was over.
The monastery is located on the top of a hill, at the foot of which, to the east, lies the town of Uclés. The monastery is part of a large group of buildings built during different historical periods, beginning during Muslim domination, reaching its full potential as a fortress during its possession by the Order of Santiago, of which it was its most important house, and acquiring its current appearance once the Reconquista was finished.
The hill on which the monastery sits was already
home to a Celtiberian fort in ancient times. However, it was the
Muslims who built a fortification with imposing defensive parapets,
some of which can still be seen today. After being definitively
conquered by the Christians, King Alfonso VIII gave the castle to
the Order of Santiago in 1174, becoming its headquarters. As time
went by, an intricate set of rooms was created, where the members of
the order lived, which were joined to the fortress and the church
built after the Christian conquest.
After the end of the
Reconquista, the set of buildings underwent a radical remodeling,
which eliminated a large part of the defensive elements of the
castle and gave it its current appearance. Not so with the walls,
which are still preserved, a wall protects the old orchard, watered
with the waters of the Bedija River, followed by the wall, which has
a restored part (to the south) and the rest in very poor condition,
still leaving glimpse its sawtooth-shaped arrangement.
The
construction of the current monastery began on May 7, 1529, during
the reign of Charles I (in 1523 the crown became administrator of
the Order of Santiago), starting with the east wing, which is in the
Plateresque style. The original traces are by Enrique Egas. In the
last quarter of the 16th century, the construction of the church
began, in the Herrerian style. Later in the 17th century, work
continued on the west and south wings, followed by work on the patio
and main staircase. The work was completed in 1735, under the reign
of Philip V, with the eastern nave being raised one level and the
main doorway being completed, which is in the Churrigueresque style.
In the first phase of its construction, stone from the “Cabeza
del Griego” hill (Segóbriga) was used; Roman inscriptions can be
seen on two ashlar stones on the east façade.
In 1836, with
the confiscation of Mendizábal, the convents were definitively
suppressed by decree of March 9, the Santiago community was
dissolved. The ecclesiastical governors administered the old priory
from the death of the last Bishop-Prior in 1844 until the
dissolution of the Military Orders in 1873. On February 4, 1874, the
Headquarters of Uclés was added to the Bishopric of Cuenca, a
Seminary College, and the course begins in September. From 1880 to
1897, the Uclés convent hosted the Scholasticate of the Society of
Jesus of Toulouse. In 1902, a secondary school run by Augustinians
was established in the convent, until in 1936, at the beginning of
the Civil War, it was looted and destroyed, and a blood hospital was
installed in the building shortly after. Once the war was over, it
was used by the newly established dictatorship as a concentration
camp for Republican prisoners, operating from April 1, 1939 until
the summer of that same year, with up to 5,000 captives being
crammed there. Later, it was used as a prison. for political
prisoners between 1939 and 1943, hundreds of republican detainees
dying in this period (the most conservative calculations speak of
294 proven deaths), executed by virtue of a sentence or without it,
due to various illnesses or by beatings and torture. They were
buried in an area outside the monastery, known as "La Tahona" (their
remains are now in the municipal cemetery). Once the prison was
closed, the building was restored by the National Service for
Devastated Regions and Reparations, and from October 1949 to June
2012 it housed the minor seminary of the bishopric of Cuenca, with
the name “Santiago Apóstol” Minor Seminary.
Asset of Cultural
Interest
The monastery was declared a National Monument on June
3, 1931. Under the protection of the generic Declaration of the
Decree of April 22, 1949, and Law 16/1985 on Spanish Historical
Heritage. In 2003, protection was extended to its surroundings.
As a result of the long period during which the works were executed, three architectural styles can be seen in the monastery: Plateresque, Herrerian and Churrigueresque, which makes it an ideal place to review art history. The east wing of the monastery, from the first half of the 16th century, was built in the Plateresque style. The church, which occupies the north wing, and was completed in 1602, is in the Herrerian style. The rest of the monastery, erected during the 17th century, is in the Baroque style and culminates with its Churrigueresque-style façade, attributed to Pedro de Ribera.
This style is called this way because its decoration imitates the
filigree that goldsmiths made on silver. The building was designed by
Enrique Egas and its execution corresponds to the following masters:
Francisco de Luna, Gaspar de Vega, Pedro Tolosa, Diego de Alcántara and
Bartolomé Ruiz (16th century).
The plateresque decoration is
clearly observed in the windows and balconies of the eastern façade
where a clear asymmetry can be seen, where the motifs of: skulls,
shells, crosses and allegorical motifs are repeated; as well as in the
Apse. The coffered ceiling of its refectory, carved in melis pine wood,
has octagonal coffered ceilings, thirty-six stand out that show busts of
various characters, some of them show the cross of Santiago on their
chest, so they could be knights of the Order of Santiago. A crowned
skull stands out, which some attribute to Don Álvaro de Luna (which
instead of his effigy contains a skull surrounded by the inscription
"You, noble barons, know that I forgive no one", referring to death) and
the one who presides which corresponds to the effigy of Charles I that
shows imperial attributes: crown, sword and orb. The old sacristy has
two naves forming a right angle. It has a very low cross vault, a
manhole with an extraordinary font made of a single piece of dark
jasper, two richly decorated cabinets and is decorated with Plateresque
work on friezes, columns and pilasters.
The church is the work of several architects who were disciples of
Juan de Herrera (architect of El Escorial), which is why the monastery
is called the "Escorial de la Mancha". It has a Latin cross plan with a
single nave, with five sections and a choir raised on a carpanel arch.
The transept is higher and closes in the shape of a lantern. The dome is
half orange and is decorated with segments on pendentives, it is by
Antonio Segura. The body of the church is separated from the presbytery
by a fence decorated with the royal arms and the cross of Santiago. The
side chapels (where the history of the Order of Santiago and the
Monastery is shown) are interconnected. Its construction was completed
in 1598.
The original main altarpiece was of Greco-Roman style
with Baroque tendencies, the work of Francisco García Dardero (17th
century), only the paintings of the upper part remain. The rest was
looted by the Republicans at the beginning of the civil war, it was
rebuilt in 1952 and is the work of Julia Alangua. The painting of
Santiago that presides over the altarpiece is the work of Francisco
Rizi, restored in the 80s of the last century.
The pantheon.
Between the sacristy and the church is the entrance to the crypt, which
is shaped like a Latin cross. Today it is used as a theater and there
are no remains of burials. The old church was the burial place of
illustrious figures of the Order of Santiago. Doña Urraca, Master
Rodrigo Manrique and his wife were buried there, as well as his famous
son Jorge Manrique and many other figures of the Order. The Infante
Manuel of Castile, his wife Constanza of Aragon and his son Alfonso
Manuel were also buried there, on the Gospel side, in a shallow grave
placed in the hole in the presbytery wall. Today it is not known exactly
where all these remains rest. When the current church was built (1602),
the existing tombs in the church of Santiago were relocated to its
basement, which was descended by a staircase of eighty steps that was in
a chapel under the choir. Likewise, it is possible that the tombs were
destroyed during the War of Independence, when the Uclés Monastery was
looted by French troops.
It is debated whether Francisco Quevedo
was imprisoned in a cell in the crypt, which is below the main altar,
there are opinions for all tastes.
In the 17th century, the patio
of the monastery was built, with two floors of galleries, the upper one
closed as balconies, as well as the staircase that gives access to this
second floor.
The cloister It has thirty-six balconies, in honor
of the thirty-six regular canons who came from Loyo (the masters were
forty-four). The upper part of the cloister is closed and the lower part
is open.
The west façade was planned by Francisco de Mora, but
was not executed by him. It is also in the Herrerian style and the front
entrance of the church is located there. Next to it there is a piece of
wall from the old Arab construction. This façade is flanked by two
towers with high spiers (similar to the one that remains) that
disappeared in the 19th century in the fires of 1845 and 1877 and that,
with the respective plans, must be replaced at some point, maintaining
the original plan of the work.
The main or midday façade was built in 1735 by Pedro de Ribera, an
important baroque master of the courtly focus. What stands out on this
façade is both its composition, like an altarpiece façade, and its
sculpted ornamentation.
Four pilasters appear arranged on the
façade, without architectural support, which act as decorative elements.
At the top there are dolphins, lions, heads, warriors, trophies,
fruits and two crosses of Santiago. As a finishing touch, two busts of
Moors held with chains, half a body of Santiago with the master cross in
his left hand and a sword in his right that reads Fidei defensio
("Defense of the faith").
At the bottom there is the inscription
Caput Ordinis ("Head of the Order"), loose crosses, a royal crown,
knights with trophies and chained Moors, an exponent of the dominion
that was held over them and the slavery to which they were reduced.
Three towers remain from the old fortress of the Order of Santiago, whose names are incorrect in most castle books, but which are clearly defined in the Order's visitor books kept in the National Historical Archive. The three towers, in a north-south direction, are: the Pontido tower, linked by a small bridge to the Palomar tower, then a moat excavated in rock, which was overcome by means of a drawbridge and connected to a wall. that led to the Albarrana tower. The exact location of the old towers of the Old Homenaje, the Homenaje, the Plata and Blanca is unknown, although it is known that they were demolished to continue the work on the current church.
In the current monastery there are several remains of the old
fortress:
A wall canvas at the east end of the main facade. It
corresponds to a tower that was above the head of the old church, which
was located where the current hallway is.
Another wall canvas on the
right side of the main doorway of the current church.
The underground
of the old monastery with semicircular arches in the second basement,
and a pointed arch in the first.