The Monasterio de San Pedro de Cardeña: A History of Momentous Events

The Monasterio de San Pedro de Cardeña, located 10 km from Burgos, is considered a Bien de Interés Cultural (BIC) and was declared a Monumento histórico-artístico perteneciente al Tesoro Artístico Nacional in 1931. The monastery dates back to at least 902 CE when Gonzalo Téllez and Flámula made the first documented donation. Unfortunately, during the 9th or 10th century, the monastery's early monks were martyred by Muslims. However, there is no concrete evidence in the sources to support the claim that the monastery's monks were canonized in 1603.

The monastery continued to attract royal visitors, such as King Felipe III and Queen Doña Margarita of Austria, but one of its preciosas reliquias, the cabeza de San Esteban, was transferred to the Monasterio de Celanova. Two urns containing relics from the monastery are in the monasterio de la Huelgas and one in the Burgos cathedral. The monastery became a concentration camp during the Spanish Civil War, housing over 4,000 Republican prisoners of war before it closed its doors as a concentration camp in November 1939.

Since then, the Monasterio de San Pedro de Cardeña has been home to the Abadía Trapense de Nuestra Señora de los Mártires. A violent fire destroyed three-quarters of the monastery in 1967.

Sources: Wikipedia, OpenStreetMap, Wikidata, Wikimedia Commons