The monastery of Aula Dei ( Spanish. Cartuja de Aula Dei ) is a former Cartesian monastery located about 10 km north of the city of Zaragoza in Aragon , north-western Spain . It was declared a national monument on February 16, 1983. [one]
Content
16-21 centuries
The monastery was founded in 1563 by Hernando de Aragon , the Archbishop of Zaragoza and the grandson of the Catholic kings . The architecture of the interior of the monastery was designed by Martin Miteza to accommodate thirty-six monks, three times more than the usual Cartesian community.
In 1809, during the Pyrenean Wars, the monastery was occupied by French troops, who used it as a barracks. The monks were expelled and were able to return only in 1814. This monastery, like most in Spain, was closed in 1836, and the monks had to leave it again. The monastery was re-bought by the Cartesians in 1901. In 1902, monks from the French Cartesian monasteries of Valbonne (Chartreuse de Valbonne) and Voclaire (Chartreuse de Vauclaire) settled there. The monks were forced to leave France because of the anticlerical policy of the country's prime minister, Emil Combe .
The life of the Cartesian monastic community, performing the charter of St. Bruno , is distinguished by strictness and secrecy from the outside world. This caused a conflict with the secular authorities of Spain, who, on the eve of the 250th anniversary of the birth of Francisco Goya, demanded that the monastery should open access to the artist’s frescoes for everyone. Both men and women should have received the right to visit - which became a stumbling block, because to stay on the territory of the monastery of women - it was necessary to obtain papal permission (bulla). At that time, for the entire twentieth century, only three women visited the monastery: the Infanta Isabel in 1913, the restorer Teresa Graça in 1978 and the court secretary Inés Lafuente in 1995 - and each of them received the prior consent of the Vatican. After two years of disputes and under pressure from the authorities, the monks were forced to compromise and on January 19, 1998 an agreement was signed, according to which the monastery undertook to allow everyone to the frescoes of Francisco Goya once a month. November 11, 1998, Queen Sophia became the first woman to visit the monastery without the papal bull.
Disruption of the usual flow of life, the gradual transformation of the monastery into a tourist center and the new demands of the authorities of Aragon - were some of the reasons that forced the monks to leave the monastery of Aula Dei in 2011 - and move to another Cartesian monastery in Spain - Port Coeli (Cartuja de Porta Coeli), located north of Valencia. Leaving, the monks left their library in the monastery, which at that time had about 20 thousand books. The complex of the former monastery of Aul Dei - was transferred in 2012 to the Catholic organization - Chemin Neuf and became the center of the latter in Spain.
Murals
The return of the monks at the beginning of the twentieth century was a salvation for the still surviving artistic values of the monastery - and especially for the main decoration of the monastery church - the large frescoes of Francisco Goya, which by that time remained only 7 out of 11. French artists invited in 1903 - brothers Paul and Amedey Buffet recreated four lost Goya frescoes, and also partially restored the remaining works of the Spanish artist. A more detailed and professional restoration of the frescoes was carried out only in 1978-79 by Teresa Graça and Carlos Barbosa on the order of the Madrid Institute of Restoration (Instituto de Conservación y Restauración de Obras de Arte, Madrid). All 11 frescoes are dedicated to the Life of the Virgin Mary - the main patroness of the Order of the Cartesians - and were created between 1772 and 1774. Due to the limited accessibility of the building, the frescoes remain largely unexplored, despite the fact that this is possibly Goya’s most impressive early work. [one]
21st Century
The Cartesian monks left the monastery in August 2012, transferring the monastery to the Catholic community of Chemin Neuf. [2] As an open religious community, Chemin Neuf provides access to Goya’s frescoes weekly (rather than monthly).
Recommendations
- "Goya", 2003, Robert Hughes - pages 40-41
- ↑ La Cartuja de Aula dei ampliará sus días de visita (isp.) . es: Heraldo de Aragón (17 January 2012). The appeal date is January 30, 2012.