My drive up to the Monastery through a small town and past farms.
NOTE: This video is 8 min long.
The monastery is set within the fortress of Uclés (12th century), which was of a grand scale: one square kilometre of surface area surrounded by walls, bastions, buttresses and crenellated towers. The new building was built in the 16th century in the Renaissance style, although the southern façade, the most well-known of the monastery, is Baroque. It was done by Pedro de Ribera. There are two large doorways decorated with scallop shells on the crosses of St. James. The façade is decorated with suits of armour, helmets, flags and a half-body sculpture of the Apostle. Through the hallway is the courtyard of the double cloister. There is a Baroque stone curbed well with the shield of the Order of St. James. The refectory has handcrafted pine woodwork with 36 caissons representing the knights of the Order, presided over by the emperor Carlos V. The sacristy consists of two naves at right angles. There are two large windows decorated with sculptures. In the church, built by Francisco de Mora, there is a single nave with a cross-vault and several lateral chapels from the 16th century, connected by small semicircular doors. Of note is the Main Reredos, which has a painting by Francisco Ricci, and the remains of the Grand Master D. Rodrigo and his son Jorge Manrique, author of 'Stanzas for the death of my father'. The main staircase, which leads from the courtyard to the second floor, is regal and elegant. http://www.monasteriodeucles.com
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