With the renewal of the €10 unlimited regional travel pass we’re again visiting the smaller towns near Valencia. Puig (officially El Puig de Santa Maria) is just 14k and less than 30 minutes away. The train wasn’t crowded on the way there, though bursting at the seams on the way back as people were joining the King’s Day festivities in Valencia.
Walking to the center of Puig from the metro stop we passed a field of recently harvested persimmons, those left unharvested sitting bright orange in the sun to tempt the passers-by. In town’s center children lined up for face painting, balloon making and such, part of the festivities associated with King’s Day, January 6, when the “kings” appeared with gifts for the newborn Jesus. The actual ranks, names, origins, appearances, and exact number are unmentioned, all these coming later on as traditions and not as history. The Kings story is only found in the Gospel According to “Mathew” (we don’t know who actually wrote any of the Gospels). The bakeries all around Spain are undeterred by any of this, happily selling round King cakes for the January 6 event, much like the ones sold in New Orleans, in case you’ve ever had one there.
Entry to the Monastery is a mere €4, which includes the obligatory guided tour. They throw in the puffingly steep climb to the museum entry. Our Spanish only guide spoke quickly, her voice often reverberating heavily off the stone and plaster walls. You have to stand in front of her to have much hope of understanding. She turns to explain the various features of the many rooms so you have to keep up. I stopped trying to do so after a while, thinking she’d found my tracking her to be odd.
She begin In 1237 when Jaume I (Jaime in Spanish, James in English) ordered the construction of a church on a hill in el Puig. A priest named Peter Nolasco (Peter is the Valenciano, Pedro the Spanish) found a Byzantine icon of what came to be called Nuestra Señora de los Ángeles, by no means the only image carrying this name. Jaume already had a castle on a nearby and taller hill – you can explore the ruins easily. The work on the church was finished in 1240 and turned over to the Ordo Beatae Mariae de Mercede Redemptionis Captivorum, the Mercedarians, an order established in 1218 by the very same priest in Barcelona. Makes me wonder how he “found” this icon.
Pilgrims flocked to the site to see Nuestra Señora, believing the discovery to have been miraculous. To better handle the crowds workers began to build the present Gothic church in 1300. In 1588 they built the massive monastery in which there are cloisters, the Salón Real, the Salon Gotico of Jaume I, and the Salón of Ceramics. The architect was one Antón Dexado de la Cossa.
The monastery they built has a fortress-like rectangular stone exterior. It looks to be some six stories high with four imposing towers. The interior is richly appointed everywhere you look. You’d think that given its size they would have run out of decor but in those days gold was flowing into Spain from the “New” World (not new at all to the inhabitants, of course) and there were lots of artisans. The building has served many purposes, one of them was for printing, and there is a museum dedicated to this.
There are two cloisters. In one you see the Gothic Hall and the Printing Museum. There are numerous paintings by José Vergara (1726-1799). In the second cloister there are many paintings as well, and the Salón Real (Royal Hall), the Hall of the Order of the Knights of el Puig along with the Gothic church. The expertly painted dome is behind the main chapel. The materials and workmanship everywhere are stupendous. See https://www.spain.info/en/places-of-interest/royal-monastery-puig-santa-maria
From El Puig’s castle Jaime I launched his assault on Valencia, then held by the Moors, the Arabic conquerors who invaded Spain in 711 CE. The Moors were preparing a surprise attack on the castle in Puig. Legend has it that Jaime was awoken by the beating wings of a bat, allowing him to thwart the enemy. He added the bat with open wings to the coat of arms of Valencia, where it remains to this day. See https://valencia-unravelled.com/history/a-story-of-bats-and-dragons/
Below the monastery there is a bomb shelter, built during the Spanish Civil War. On the hill with the castle there are defensive trenches dug by the Republicans during that period.
The Monastery’s official website is https://www.monasteriodelpuig.org/en/
Discover more from Gary J. Kirkpatrick Art and Travel Blog
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
