“All
who present themselves are to be welcomed.”
Rule
of Benedict 53.1
When we
did our Miami trip in February, we took some extra days to see more
places in Florida and the Miami area. Miami is a lovely city and
great to visit. Today this city looks all bright, and new,
especially with the sun shining and the sky clear blue on this most
perfect day. We drove in on a Friday morning and timed it perfectly
when there was minimal traffic. I had read about this Ancient Spanish
Monastery and knew we had to go to see it. We were driving in a
very busy and not so nice of a section of the city in North Miami
Beach and we were thinking this was not going to be so good. Were
we wrong. We pulled into the parking area and even that was
gorgeous with large trees and Spanish moss draped over their
branches. When we got out of the car we heard the birds serenading
us. What a nice welcoming we had. We walked into the office and
museum pay to go inside. We paid for our tickets and got a military
discount. We only paid four dollars instead of the ten is usually
costs. Thanks Joe for your service.
We
walked through the gate and entered the courtyard where we could see
the monastery. It is so impressive looking with the arched double
doorway and the bell tower above. It did look as if it had been here
for century’s. The gardens were nicely landscaped and well
cared for with beautiful flowers and trees. As we walked around
the cloister there was so much to see. What a gem of a place to see
with the old stone walls and floors, the walkways around the inside
courtyard with pillars precisely placed all the way around, the
ancient statues, beautiful fountain, gardens, and the pictures. The
chapel was lovely with the beautiful stained glass windows. What an
amazing place and so worth the money. What an incredible
accomplishment taking this monastery apart, shipping it, and putting
it back together piece by piece. This is the oldest European built
structure in the western hemisphere and sits on six acres of land.
Here is a bit of history about this amazing place.
This
medieval cloister was originally built about two miles from
Sacramenia, Segovia Spain in the twelfth century. Sacramenia is a
mountain region about 830 m above sea level and in a region that has
lots of medieval churches, chapels, monastery, castles, and walls.
It was built between 1133-1141 and was originally named “Monetary
of our lady, Queen of the Angels.” It was later renamed to honor
Bernard Clairvaux when he was canonized. The building was used as
and Cistercian monetary for almost 700 years. Seven hundred years is
along time and that alone is hard to imagine. It was later sold in
the 1830's to be used as a granary and stable.
The
monastery stayed active till 1835. William Randolph Hearst bought
the cloister and out buildings in 1925 and had it taken apart,
numbered, and packaged in wooden crates with hay for shipping. It
took 11,000 crates to have it moved. Some of the information was
lost when the crates were brought to the US and quarantined because
of an outbreak of hoof and mouth disease in Segovia. They opened the
crate and burned the hay so the disease wouldn't spread. When they
repacked the contents, they were not put back correctly. Hearst was
unable to fund the project because of financial issues, and the
crates were stored in a Brooklyn, New York warehouse. Raymond Moss
and William Edgemon bought and reassembled the crates on the North
Miami site in 1964 making it one of the largest puzzles ever to be
put together. The reconstruction of the historic building took 19
months and cost 1.5 million dollars to complete and when all was said
and done, and they finished with left over stones that were not used.
The
property was purchased by Bishop Henry Louttit in 1964 for the
Episcopal Diocese of south Florida but financial issues made them
sell. It was then purchased by Col. Robert Pentland Jr. who gave it
to the Episcopal parish of St. Bernard De Clairvaux.
It is
open from Monday through Saturday from 10 to 4 and Sundays 11-4.
What a great place this would be for a wedding. If you are in Miami
and want to see something historic and beautiful, this is the place
for you. Amazing. We absolutely loved it.
Www.spanishmonastery.com.
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