The Romanesque Masterpiece of Santo Domingo de Silos

Santo Domingo de Silos, located in the village of Santo Domingo de Silos in Burgos Province, Spain, dates back to the Visigothic period of the 7th century. In the 10th century, the abbey was known as San Sebastián de Silos. It acquired its current name when Dominic of Silos was entrusted to renovate the abbey by Fernando the Great, King of Castile and León. Dominic had been prior of the Monasteries of San Millán de la Cogolla before being driven out by King García Sánchez III of Navarre for opposing the king's intention to annex the monastery's lands.

Dominic designed the church to have a central nave with two side aisles and five chapels attached to its apse and transept. When Santo Domingo died in 1073, work on the church and the cloister was handed over to Abbot Fortunius, who saw the rest of the construction to its completion. The church was subsequently rebuilt by the neoclassical architect Ventura Rodríguez.

The abbey was closed in 1835 along with other monasteries in Spain. Benedictine monks from Solesmes revived the foundation in 1880. The monastery is named after the eleventh-century saint Dominic of Silos. The two-storey cloister of the monastery, which has large capitals with carved scenes and relief panels, is considered a masterpiece of Romanesque art. The cloister is an angled rectangular shape with 16 semi-circular arches on the north and south sides and 14 semi-circular arches on the west and east sides.

Construction on the lower storey was begun during the last quarter of the 11th century and completed in the second half of the 12th century. The cloisters and pharmacy are open to the public, and visitors are also able to attend services such as vespers in the abbey church. Access to the library is restricted to researchers.

Sources: Wikipedia, OpenStreetMap, Wikidata, Wikimedia Commons