The Ancient Spanish Monestary

History

The Monastery of St. Bernard de Clairvaux was built in Sacramenia, in the Province of Segovia, Spain, during the period 1133-1144.  It was originally dedicated in honor of the Blessed Mother and named the “Monastery of Our Lady, Queen of the Angels.”

In 1925 William Randolph Hearst purchased the Cloisters and the Monastery’s out- buildings.  The structures were dismantled stone by stone, bound with protective hay, packed in some 11,000 wooden crates, numbered for identification and shipped to the United States.

Soon after the shipment arrived, Hearst’s financial problems forced most of his collection to be sold at auction.  The stones remained in a warehouse in Brooklyn, New York, for 26 years.  One year after Hearst’s death in 1952, they were purchased by Messrs. W. Edgemon and R. Moss for use as a tourist attraction.  It took 19 months and almost $1.5 million dollars to put the Monastery back together.  Some of the unmatched stones still remain in the back lot; others were used in the construction of the present Church’s Parish Hall.

Address:

16711 West Dixie Highway