MONASTERY OF THE VIRGIN OF LA VEGA
30 minutesIn the 16th century, a profound renovation was undertaken, giving rise to the Renaissance church that still stands, while the cloister was rebuilt in the 18th century by the architect Andrés García de Quiñones, adapting the space to the Baroque taste of the era.
After the Disentailment, the old monastery passed into private hands. Already in the 20th century, the Granja Escuela-Asilo of the Vicente Rodríguez Fabrés Foundation was built on these grounds, inaugurated in 1914 by Alfonso XIII. Today, the complex belongs to the Rodríguez Fabrés Foundation and combines a boarding school with various Vocational Training centers, thus maintaining its educational vocation.
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In 1166, the church was ceded to the abbot and the Regular Canons of the Collegiate Church of San Isidoro de León, which led to prolonged lawsuits with the bishop of Salamanca, in which both the pope and King Ferdinand II of León intervened.
The hermitage suffered severe floods in 1236; to the point that the monks could save their lives by taking refuge at the top of the tower. After its destruction, a new conventual complex was erected, of which only five Romanesque arches are preserved. For a long time, it was thought that they came from the cloister of the Old Cathedral, but recent studies maintain that they originally belonged to the monastery's chapter house.
The building underwent numerous renovations between the 16th and 18th centuries, motivated by the recurrent damage caused by the floods of the Tormes river. The current church began to be built in 1561 under the direction of Pedro de Lanestosa and Miguel de Isturizaga, while the main chapel was rebuilt in 1718. From this temple comes the late Romanesque image of the Virgen de la Vega, patron saint of Salamanca since 1618, which is currently preserved in the Old Cathedral.
During the disentailment, the estate was acquired by the banker Vicente Rodríguez Santamaría. His son, Vicente Rodríguez Fabrés, stipulated in his will (1904) that all his fortune should be used for the creation and maintenance of two asylums—one for the elderly and one for children from Salamanca and its province—as well as a farm-school for the professional training of young people.
The architect Joaquín de Vargas Aguirre directed the renovation works, respecting the historical vestiges. The Romanesque galleries were moved to the sacristy, the church was extensively intervened in 1908, and the Baroque cloister by Andrés García de Quiñones was dismantled and relocated five meters beyond its original position. These ancient parts were integrated into the new constructions: the asylum was installed in the old dependencies of the monastery, around the Baroque cloister, and on the land located NE of the plot, the farm-school was built from scratch.
Today, the foundation maintains a student residence, and a large part of the buildings are dedicated to the Integrated Vocational Training Center, thus perpetuating the educational and social vocation of the place.
The properties that are part of the Rodríguez Sánchez Fabrés Foundation were erected over some eight hundred years, which gives them remarkable historical and architectural value. Among the most prominent are:
• Romanesque gallery: the oldest vestiges correspond to an arcade of five Romanesque arches, currently installed in the church's sacristy.
• Church: built in the 16th century, it underwent profound remodelling during the 18th and 20th centuries.
• Baroque cloister: it was built in the 18th century by the architect Andrés García de Quiñones,
• Farm-school pavilions: designed in 1912 by the architect Joaquín de Vargas Aguirre, they complete the complex with an educational and social function.
REMAINS OF THE CLOISTER OF THE PRIMITIVE ROMANESQUE MONASTERY
From the Romanesque period, only a gallery composed of five arches remains, traditionally interpreted as the remains of a cloister, and now reinstalled in the church's sacristy. For a good part of the 20th century, following the hypothesis formulated by Gómez Moreno, it was believed that they came from the disappeared cloister of the Old Cathedral. However, more recent research maintains that these remains were always part of the monastery of La Vega and that this arcade originally corresponded to the access facade of the monastery's chapter house.
A section composed of five semicircular arches is preserved, supported by paired small columns and double capitals, upon which robust impost blocks decorated with vegetal motifs rest. The central arch, of greater amplitude, is supported by four capitals with their corresponding columns, which gives it a prominent character within the ensemble. Griffins, goats, shepherds, musicians, or dancers are some of the motifs sculpted on the sixteen preserved capitals.
THE CHURCH
The current church began to be built in 1561 under the direction of Pedro de Lanestosa and Miguel de Isturizaga. It features a three-nave plan, separated by solid cylindrical columns with bases and Renaissance capitals, upon which Gothic vaults of simple tracery rest. The choir is likewise supported by Gothic-style vaults. The main chapel was rebuilt in 1718.
In the section immediately preceding the presbytery, two semicircular arches with Renaissance archivolts —decorated at the keystone with angels and floral motifs— frame two magnificent stone altarpieces embedded in the wall. Both are crowned with a curved pediment that houses, in the tympanum, the figure of the Holy Spirit in the altarpiece on the left and that of the Eternal Father in the one on the right. The altarpiece on the Gospel side represents the Ascension of the Lord, while the one on the Epistle side shows the scene of the Deposition of Christ, a work of exquisite carving whose composition evokes the Pietà created by Juan de Juni for the tomb of Don Gutierre de Castro in the cloister of the Old Cathedral.
Both altarpieces were later covered by other modern altarpieces dedicated to the Virgin. The one on the right side was reserved for the Virgin of Pilar, before which the benefactor's parents and grandparents were buried, and in another nearby tomb, Vicente Rodríguez Fabrés himself. The renovation works were carried out by the architect Joaquín de Vargas Aguirre.
THE BAROQUE CLOISTER
Within the modern building housing the Rodríguez Fabrés Foundation is the cloister built in 1757 by Andrés García de Quiñones, the only remaining vestige of the vanished monastery. It has semicircular arcades on the ground floor and balconies with moldings on the upper floor. This entire complex was heavily intervened by Joaquín de Vargas. Inside the asylum building, the two imperial-type staircases he built are preserved.
THE FARM SCHOOL
In 1905, Rodríguez Fabrés' executors entrusted the construction of the asylum-school and the farm-school to the architect Joaquín de Vargas. Access to the enclosure is through a door with a spectacular modernist grille. On the northeast side of the plot, the farm-school was erected, with a monumental brick and Villamayor stone door, also notable for its grille with curvilinear and spiral motifs. It is a rectangular enclosure with a central pavilion dedicated to teaching, built in Villamayor stone. Around it, sheds for machinery and stables for livestock were arranged.