Valbuena Abbey

The monastery was founded in 1143 by Estefanía, daughter of Count Ermengol V of Urgell, and settled from Berdoues Abbey[1] in France, of the filiation of Morimond.

[2] Later, the conventual buildings passed into private ownership and were eventually acquired by a Baron Carlos Kessel, who sold them to Juan Pardo.

The monastery was declared a Monumento Nacional (Bien de Interés Cultural) in 1931 and managed by Pardo's heirs until 1950.

The Order of Mercedaria's offer to convert the monastery into a training house or novitiate was rejected and sold to the Archdiocese of Valladolid in July 1966.

In March 2000, the Council of Castile and León awarded the monastery of Santa Maria de Valbuena the category of National Heritage.

The groin-vaulted church of three aisles in four bays, with a barrel-vaulted transept and a crossing which was heightened in the Renaissance and covered with a cupola, is largely in accordance with the usual Cistercian building practice.

The chapter house and the day room are also groin-vaulted, while the refectory on the south side of the complex has a pointed barrel-vaulted roof of four bays.