Guadalupe

Guadalupe lies in a mountain valley dominated by the royal monastery of Santa María. The shrine of the Virgin drew pilgrims and royal patronage from across Castile, and Alfonso XI ordered a new church here in the fourteenth century. The monastery grew into a remarkable ensemble of Gothic and Mudéjar buildings, including a cloister whose delicate pavilion was completed in 1405. Its importance extended beyond Iberia as devotion to the Virgin of Guadalupe travelled with Spaniards to the Americas.