The semi-ruined Monastery of Santa Cruz de Ribas

The Monastery of Santa Cruz de Ribas, situated between Ribas de Campos and Monzón de Campos in Spain's Province of Palencia, is a semi-ruined Spanish monastery of the Premonstratensian order. The foundation of the monastery dates to 1176, when King Alfonso VIII of Castile brought the Premonstratensian monks from the Monastery of Santa María de Retuerta. During the Middle Ages, it belonged to the lower Merindad of Monzón.

In 1592, King Philip II of Spain and his children visited the monastery. In 1627, the move of the majority of the Premonstratensians reduced the community to that of a priory.

By the 18th century, the monastery had borne witness to a fire in 1715 and a devastating flood in 1739, which marked the preliminaries of its desamortización in 1841, the process of confiscation of assets which affected most of the ancient monasteries in Spain.

Sources: Wikipedia, OpenStreetMap, Wikidata, Wikimedia Commons