Monasterio de San Prudencio de Monte Laturce, Medieval monastery in Clavijo, Spain.
The Monasterio de San Prudencio de Monte Laturce stands as ruins in a valley depression of Monte Laturce between Clavijo and Leza de Río Leza, featuring remnants of a 12th-century Cistercian church and 17th-century structures that reflect centuries of monastic life in La Rioja.
Founded around 925 as a monastic community dependent on San Martín de Albelda, the monastery was transferred to the Cistercian Order in 1181 by Don Diego Jiménez de Tejada, flourishing under papal privileges until its abandonment during the 1835 ecclesiastical confiscation.
The monastery served as a burial place for local nobility and bishops, including Sancho Funes in 1146, while its baroque main altarpiece was relocated to the church of San Millán de Barriobusto in Álava in 1821, preserving its artistic legacy.
Currently accessible from the Leza valley, the ruins face constant deterioration due to livestock intrusion and unauthorized stone extraction, with conservation efforts led by the association 'Salvemos el Monasterio de San Prudencio de Monte Laturce' seeking legal protection status.
According to tradition, the monastery's location was chosen miraculously when a horse carrying the body of Saint Prudencio, a 6th-century bishop and hermit, stopped precisely at this elevated spot in the valley.
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