Monastery of Sant Jeroni de Cotalba

Monastery of Sant Jeroni de Cotalba

Location within Spain
Monastery information
Full name	Saint Jerome of Cotalba Royal Monastery
Other names	San Jerónimo de Cotalba
Order	Hieronymites
Established	1388
Disestablished	1835
People
Founder(s)	Royal Duke of Gandia
Important associated figures	Ausias March, House of Borgia, Duke of Gandia
Site
Location	Alfauir, (Valencian Community), Spain
Visible remains	All
Public access	Yes

The Saint Jerome of Cotalba Royal Monastery, Sant Jeroni de Cotalba (in Valencian), San Jerónimo de Cotalba (in Spanish), is a conventual building of gothic, renaissance and neoclassical styles constructed between the XV and XVIII centuries, located in the municipal area of Alfauir, (Valencia), Spain.

It is one of the most notable monastic constructions of the Valencian Community. In the village of Alfauir, some eight kilometres out of Gandia in the direction of Albaida is the monastery of San Jerónimo de Cotalba. The monastery has its origins in Xàbia, where in 1374 Pope Gregory XI authorised its foundation to some hermit monks. Originally commissioned by the Royal Duke of Gandia Alfonso de Aragón y Foix in 1388 to save the friars from attacks by Berber pirates which they had been suffering whilst they lived in Jávea. The family and the two wifes of the well-known Valencian medieval poet Ausias March are buried in this monastery.

Afterwards, in XVI century, the monastery will have the protection of the Borgia family, being the Duchess of Gandia, Maria Enríquez de Luna, the one that realized works of extension in the monastery.

The popular legend tells that in one of the monastery's cloisters preached Saint Vincent Ferrer to the people.

Following the Ecclesiastical Confiscations of Mendizábal, where religious buildings were sold off to pay state debts, it has been owned by the Trénor family. During the Spanish Civil War the monastery was used as a military hospital. The monastery was declared as an item of cultural interest (BIC) in 1994 and is now in the process of being restored and enhanced for visitors. Since May 2005 the doors to this building have been opened to the public. Nowadays, it's possible to visit the majority of the monastery.

Sections of the monastery

The constructed enclosure emphasizes the bell tower, where it's possible to find a copy of the entry in Valencian recalling the date and name of the founder.

• Renaissance cloister double overlay.
• Gothic spiral staircase of the chapter house.
• The church.
• Romantic garden.
• Gothic aqueduct.

• 
  Wings of the cloister and stairs.
• 
  Gothic stairs.
• 
  Medieval sarcophagus of the Duke's children Alfonso de Aragón y Foix.

Bibliography

• Este artículo incorpora texto del BIC incoado por la Consejería de Cultura de la Generalitat Valenciana
• es:Jesús Eduard Alonso López. Sant Jeroni de Cotalba: desintegració feudal i vida monàstica (segles XVIII y XIX). Gandía, CEIC Alfonso el Vell, 1988. ISBN 84-86927-00-5
• Fernando Mut Oltra y Vicente Palmer Terrades. Real Monasterio de San Jerónimo de Cotalba. Fernando Mut, Editor, Gandía, 1999. ISBN 84-60591166

External links

• The "Real Monasterio de San Jerónimo de Cotalba" - a slice of history (in English)
• Information and visits timetable of the Monastery, Alfahuir Town Hall
• Monastery of San Jerónimo de Cotalba
• Route of the monasteries of la Safor
• Safor Monasteries Route (in English)