San Benito el Real, Valladolid

The aisles are tall, with minimal height difference with the center nave, creating a space that suggests a single church-hall, more common in the first half of the 16th century.

The exterior of the building has thick walls of limestone (extracted from quarries near Valladolid, like Villanubla, Zaratán or Campaspero) and large windows that illuminate the spacious interior.

The backs of high chairs depict the saints to whom the Spanish Benedictine houses were dedicated, allowing each abbot to find their seat.

Some decorations are based on paintings in Rome's Domus Aurea; the images of saints depart from prior Gothic models.

In 1571 an iron grille was erected, covering the three naves and dividing the church into two parts: the front for common people, and the apse for the monks.

It was stripped of its works of art, though the choir stalls were kept, and the altarpiece transferred to the National Museum of Sculpture in the Colegio de San Gregorio, Valladolid.

Adjacent to the church is the monastic building with three cloisters; one of them known as Patio Herreriano, now a museum of contemporary art, and a Mannerist main facade designed by Juan Ribero de Rada.