It was founded in 1261; the evidence is a papal bull issued by Pope Benedict XIII in that year, allowing Friar Juan Rodríguez and his companions to establish a community on the coast of Andalucia.

The friary, and the church associated with it, display elements of Gothic and Moorish revival architecture; their walls are decorated with frescos by the twentieth-century Spanish artist, Daniel Vázquez Diaz (1882-1969).

Throughout its five hundred years of existence, the monastery has been refurbished and repaired countless times, but the most extensive modifications were undertaken as a result of damage from the Lisbon earthquake of 1755.

Christopher Columbus stayed at the friary two years before his famous first voyage, after learning that King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella had rejected his request for outfitting an expedition in search of the Indies.

The ribat, rábida (or rápita) in Spanish is derived from the Arabic word meaning "watchtower", and the ruins of several other Moorish towers of this kind along the Costa de la Luz still exist.

As with the Moors and the Templars before them, the Franciscan friars established this location, from the beginning, as a stronghold, a place for resisting the depredations of pirates who continually roamed the coast.

The noble of the region, Don Juan Alfonso de Guzman El Bueno, the 1st Duke of Medina Sidonia (1410-1468), as well as local commoners, all collaborated in the construction projects.

In 1992, in celebration of the 500th anniversary of Christopher Columbus's voyage of discovery, there was a meeting of the Spanish council of ministers (cabinet), presided over by King Juan Carlos I, in this room.

The library holds documents and objects of historical interest, most notably the map of the world of Juan de la Cosa on which, for the first time, the coast of the Americas appears.

Around a small patio adorned with numerous plants and flowers are rooms decorated with colorful frescos executed by the Spanish painter, Daniel Vázquez Diaz, in 1930.

In front of the main entrance is an iron cross and the busts of the Franciscan friars, Juan Pérez and Antonio de Marchena, which both were made by the sculptor León Ortega.

Any Spaniard or American who reflects deeply and elevates his thoughts must ask, 'Won't you help us in our intention to spread love and peace, the forces that radiate from this humble monastery?'

According to a legend with scant historical basis, this image was brought back from one of his trips by a sailor from Palos de la Frontera and, because the Moors were still in Spain, it was hidden by submerging it off the Huelva coast.