Guadalupe: the municipality of Extremadura with one of the most important sanctuaries in the world
We leave the arid fields of infinite ocher tones of Castile to enter a road that winds between green forests full of oaks, holm oaks, and above all, chestnut trees. Seeing them reminds us of that old legend: in times of the Habsburgs, a squirrel could cross the whole of Spain without its feet touching the ground. They are the mountains of Guadalupe and Villuercas , where they abound deer, roe deer and large birds of prey.
Endowed with a microclimate, it is not surprising that flourishing fields of olive trees or succulent vines are seen from time to time. Suddenly it begins to descend and appear in the middle of a deep valley the walled towers and the glass chimneys given in capricious shapes that surround the fortified Royal Monastery of Santa Maria de Guadalupe , a large building that encloses the Virgin Brunette , its sumptuous treasures, an authentic reliquary that surrounds it. Time seems to have stopped in Guadeloupe.
Little has changed since the construction of the monastery began in 1330. It is easy to imagine the feelings that the officers or soldiers who pilgrimage there for Thanksgiving full of faith and devotion after a battle had. Or the emotions they had felt upon being released after passing years in Moorish prisons.
Royal Monastery of Santa Maria de Guadalupe
Even the small main square of the Puebla, declared Artistic historical monument in 1943 , maintains the same popular mountain architecture buildings with wide arcades and wrought iron balconies. They are the ones that the indigenous people saw Christopher Columbus brought from New World on his first voyage and that they were baptized in the font that still exists. It is also a magical place where you can sleep inside historic buildings in contact with the past, such as the ** National Tourism Parador ** or the ** Hospedería de los Monjes **. The first is located within the old hospitals for pilgrims and the Colegio de los Infantes; the most spectacular view of Guadeloupe is obtained from its manicured gardens.
The second, nestled inside the monastery around a magnificent gothic cloister of two heights, it was run for four centuries by the Hieronymite Order and since 1908 by the Franciscan. Even the food has changed little.
The Monks' Inn
Slaughter products such as chorizos, cabbage blood sausage or chestnut-based sweets , are the same ones that delighted the kings of Spain, great devotees of the Brown Virgin, and also the most humble pilgrims for centuries. There are several versions about the origin of the image of the Virgin of Guadalupe, each one more fanciful. It is even said that it was the work of his own Saint lucas and that he had already performed great miracles before arriving in Spain. My favorite is this :A Gil Lamb, a humble shepherd from Cáceres, who despite his name he was a cowboy , appeared to him Mother of the Redeemer while he was looking for a lost cattle.
After grant him two miracles , resurrecting one of his cows first and his son later , he revealed to her where an image of him was hidden in an old tomb. Actually it is a figure protogothic with the child Jesus on the knees carved in cedar wood, which is said to have been abandoned by some Sevillians fleeing from the Moorish troops. She is not the only Virgin saved from the Moorish invasion to reappear centuries later, nor is she the only Brown Virgin of whom there is a great tradition in Spain, but she is the most famous and the most miraculous.
The Virgin Guadalupe, the most famous and the most miraculous
The Virgin explained to the young shepherd that the carving should remain where it had been found with a sanctuary to house it. At first it was a humble hermitage, but Alfonso XI ordered the construction of a fortified monastery in 1330 , completed in 1336. Guadeloupe received a visit from the king four years later after his triumph at the Battle of Salty and, in the same place, he had it enlarged. The Virgin of Guadalupe was the first to be venerated in the New World.
Christopher Columbus gave her name to one of the islands discovered in what he supposed were the indies and made a pilgrimage to the town of Extremadura in Thanksgiving for saving him and his crew from a storm in the Azores during his first trip. Many of the conquerors were devout Extremadurans who raised oratories in America, such as Hernán Cortés, who prayed for nine days at the feet of the Virgin of Guadalupe on his return from Mexico.
Christopher Columbus gave his name to one of the islands discovered in what he assumed were the Indies
That explains the number of Latin Americans who stay at the Parador or the Hospedería, they have tapas in the bars of the square, buy souvenirs or get married there . Not only Spanish devotees come to Guadalupe to get married, but also many Mexicans, Venezuelans or Colombians who are devoted to the Virgen Morena. One of Guadeloupe's main sources of income is couples tourism and guests who go there to get married.
It is very common to see signs of "rooms for weddings and dance" in the restaurants of the Puebla . The monastery, an impressive fortified and walled building with crenelated towers, is mainly Mudejar in style, although there are elements Gothic, Renaissance and Baroque which are due to its reforms and extensions. In the gothic church of Our lady , which is accessed by an imposing staircase, the Virgin is enthroned in an imposing baroque high altar sculpted by Juan Gomez de Mora , gilt and polychrome by Giraldo Merlo Y Jorge Manuel Theotocopuli , son of El Greco.
In the Plaza Mayor where you can have tapas and buy
The Virgin has been thus protected within the monastery that revolves around two cloisters, the landscaped mudejar with its central pavilion and the Gothic , where all the activity of the Hospedería de los Monjes is centered. The Virgin of Guadalupe must be one of the richest in this world with her works of art , sumptuous trousseau and its collection of jewels , gifts from the grateful devotees of her throughout the centuries.
These treasures are found in different rooms such as the Embroidery Museum located in the old refectory of the monks, that of Choral Books Miniados and Painting and Sculpture that contains great works of the Greco, Goya and Zurbaran . The most spectacular part of the artistic ensemble is the sacristy, with its eight canvases by Zurbarán, as well as the dressing room of the Virgin, which is an authentic Baroque jewel with large paintings by the master Lucas Jordán. It is advisable visit Guadeloupe in spring , in a mild summer or fall , when the forests of the mountains reach different splendors.
Winters are usually harsh in the area. It's nice to try pastoral and country dishes on the terraces of the bars in the square sitting in front of the imposing stairway leading to the church or walk the streets close to the Jewish quarter . Indispensable are the Iberian pork products fattened with acorns from the region that are purchased in the shops under the arcades of the square, such as the blunt morcón and cabbage blood sausage.
* This article is published in the Condé Nast Traveler magazine for October number 77. This issue is available in its digital version for iPad in the iTunes AppStore, and in the digital version for PC, Mac, Smartphone and iPad in the virtual newsstand by Zinio (on Smartphone devices: Android, PC/Mac, Win8, WebOS, Rim, iPad) . Also, you can find us on Google Play Newsstand.
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Walk the narrow streets of the Jewish quarter