Restoration of the cilla and the Mozarabic chapel of the Monastery of Santa María la Real de Valdeiglesias
Cistercian Monastery dated between the 12th-17th centuries located in Pelayos de la Presa
El Monastery of Santa María la Real de Valdeiglesias It is an old monastery of the Cistercian order, of great historical and architectural interest.
Since Visigothic times, this region to the west of Madrid was a hermitage center of the first order with a large number of temples and hermitages. The Monastery was founded in 1150, under the Rule of San Benito and the protection of Alfonso VII the Emperor.
The church and the cloister are of Romanesque origin and Gothic development; the monastery is neoclassical. In his occupation there is a continuity from the middle of the Middle Ages to the contemporary age. After the confiscation of 1835, the building was abandoned and subjected to the permanent looting of its architectural elements until it was bought in 1973 by D. Mariano García Benito, to whom we owe the protection of the remains that still remain. At the moment it is demolished, conserving some areas better than others, depending on the looting suffered.
In 1967, it was declared a Historical Artistic Monument, endorsed by Royal Decree 3444/1983 of November 23, in which the Monastery is declared a National Historical Artistic Monument, as an Asset of Cultural Interest in the category of Monument. The complex currently belongs to the Santa María la Real de Valdeiglesias Foundation, after the free transfer made by its previous owner, the architect D. Mariano García Benito.
The process of deterioration of the complex continues its course, and to stop it, the Community of Madrid has launched successive interventions, developing projects and works for structural stabilization and consolidation, as well as recovery and replacement of architectural elements.
restoration project
This project is intended to recover several elements of great value and interest: the old cilla, the Mozarabic chapel and the small chapel on the north arm of the transept.
La cila It is a very simple rectangular building that is in a deplorable state of preservation. It does not have a roof or any remains of the two slabs that it had and the wall construction is suffering from the loss of watertightness and its progressive weakening. The main tasks to be carried out in the cilla are the following:
- General structural consolidation.
- General restoration of walls.
- Waterproof sealed-grouted.
- Restoration of trompe l'oeil.
- Dismantling of eardrums of holes and installation of gates and door.
- Water collection and conduction to absorption well.
La Mozarabic chapel It is a small, very old building, completely replaced in the XNUMXth century by the chapel that we can see today, made of mixed masonry and brick masonry and with an octagonal dome with gallons covered with plaster and stucco. The main works in this area are the following:
- General structural consolidation of loading docks, instability, etc.
- General restoration of water-repellent grouted walls and seals.
- Replacement columns.
- Excavation of sanitary cavity for water conduction.
- Paving and waterproofing of the roof of the chapel; trench opening-draining excavation; pavement arrangements.
