We decided to begin our day of exploration in Toledo by visiting sites close to our hotel. First on our list was a monastery located up the street from the hotel, the Monasterio de San Juan de los Reyes (Monastery of St. John of the Monarchs), originally built between 1477 and 1504. The first idea behind the building of the monastery was a celebration of the Aragon/Castile victory over the Portuguese in the 1476 Battle of Toro (this battle was actually somewhat indecisive – the Portuguese would also annually celebrate their victory in the same battle). The monastery was also conceived as the future burial place of the Castilian monarch, Isabella I, and her husband, Ferdinand of Aragon (who would succeed to the throne of Aragon as Ferdinand II in 1479), and space was reserved in the design of the monastery's church for a tomb to be constructed when needed. Those of you who have been keeping up will be thinking, "Wait… aren't they buried in Granada?" Yes, they are – after conquering Granada and tossing out the Moors in 1492 (in 1477 they didn't know they would be doing this), they changed their minds about their burial place. But construction continued on the monastery, and on its completion in 1504 it was turned over to the Franciscan order of monks.

The monastery mainly consists of a church and an adjacent two-level cloister, all in a Spanish/Flemish Gothic style with Mudéjar accents. We started our exploration in the lower cloister. The lower cloister consists of a square walkway with Gothic cross-vaulting, surrounding a courtyard with a garden. The cloister is decorated with numerous statues of saints, all created in the 20th Century.




One can enter the church directly from the cloister, and we did so. On entering, we first noticed the elaborate stone reliefs, on either side of the church, of eagles (the eagle is a symbol of St. John the Evangelist, after whom the monastery is named) holding coats of arms of both Castile and Aragon. There is Gothic vaulting throughout the church. If one looks close, stylized Y and F initials (Ysabel/Fernando) can be found in many places. There is an octagonal dome, under which the tombs of the monarchs were to be constructed (this is open space due to the change in plans).




The main altarpiece at the front of the church, called the Altarpiece of the Holy Cross, is from the early 16th Century, making it roughly the same age as the rest of the church. However, it is not the original altarpiece to occupy its position. Early in the 19th Century, the soldiers of Napoleon roamed far and wide across the European continent, bringing damage with them everywhere they went. Toledo was no exception, and the Monasterio de San Juan de los Reyes in particular suffered from their presence. Among other indignities, the original altarpiece was destroyed, and a second cloister which had existed at the time was damaged beyond repair. If the monastery appears to be in pretty good shape, it's because of a restoration effort that began in 1883 and continued until 1967. The present altarpiece was taken from the Hospital of Santa Cruz, which today exists as the Museum of Santa Cruz at the other end of the Old Town (which we didn't get a chance to visit). A painting above the altarpiece looks to be much newer, probably 20th Century (maybe a part of the restoration).


The layout of the church is otherwise pretty typical. There's a raised choir in the back with two small chapels underneath it, and three small chapels along each of the church's sides. Here's some of that:


We exited the church by the door through which we'd entered, and found a stairway nearby that took us to the upper cloister. Like the lower cloister, the upper cloister has a square walkway that encircles the courtyard. Unlike the lower cloister, you have to look down to see the courtyard from the upper cloister. Also unlike the lower cloister, the ceiling of the upper cloister is made of wood, in Mudéjar style.






By this time we'd pretty much seen what there was to see, so we headed out of the monastery using the same route by which we'd entered, through an entrance hall where they sold tickets and souvenirs.

After exiting we walked around the corner to look at the north side of the church. On either side of one of the windows, there were many chains hanging down from the bricks. This was apparently Queen Isabella's idea – these were chains used to hold Christian prisoners of the Moors who had been liberated during the Reconquista.

Just down the hill from the monastery is the Puente de San Martín, the westernmost of the two medieval bridges that cross the Tagus River between Old Town Toledo and the opposite bank (now actually different parts of New Town Toledo). We took a quick glance at the Palacio de la Cava (built in the 14th Century, now private property) across from the monastery and then headed downhill toward the bridge.

The Puente de San Martín was built in the 14th Century by archbishop Pedro Tenorio to replace an earlier bridge that had been destroyed during the conflict between Pedro the Cruel and his half-brother, the eventual Henry II. The bridge has five spans, the longest of which is 40 meters (131 ft., an impressive engineering achievement for its time). The bridge has large towers at both ends and has been pedestrianized (newer bridges exist for vehicular traffic).






From the western end of the bridge there is a nice view looking back at the monastery on the hill.


We turned around and headed back up the hill toward the monastery. Our intention was to participate in the day's Church-O-Rama activities. See the next page for an explanation.