Guadalupe Monastery

The monastery grew from a fourteenth-century shrine holding a dark wooden Virgin said to have been hidden during the Muslim conquest and rediscovered by a shepherd, and it became the most important Marian sanctuary in Castile: Isabella and Ferdinand signed documents relating to Columbus here, and the first indigenous Americans brought to Spain were baptised in its font. Its name travelled to Mexico with the later apparition. UNESCO listed it in 1993. The buildings run from Gothic and Mudejar to baroque, with a Mudejar cloister of two storeys and a brick pavilion, a sacristy hung with eight paintings by Zurbaran made for that room and still in it, and an embroidery collection. Guided visits cover the interior.

What you actually see

• The Mudejar cloister - two storeys of horseshoe arches around a brick pavilion.
• The Zurbaran sacristy - eight paintings still hanging where they were made for.
• The Virgin of Guadalupe - the dark medieval image behind the altar.
• The embroidery collection - vestments worked over several centuries.

When to go

March to June and September to November; the Villuercas hills are cooler than the Extremadura plain but summer is still hot. Visits are guided at set times and the monastery closes for services and a midday break.

Honest expectations

The interior is seen only on a guided tour in Spanish, at fixed times. The village is remote, over an hour from Trujillo on winding roads. Accommodation is limited to a small number of places including the hostelry in the monastery itself.

Nearby

The Villuercas geopark surrounds the village; Trujillo lies west.