Overview
From the Royal Monastery of Santa María de Guadalupe World Heritage inscription:
The monastery is an outstanding repository of four centuries of Spanish religious architecture. It symbolizes two significant events in world history that occurred in 1492: the Reconquest of the Iberian peninsula by the Catholic Kings and Christopher Columbus’ arrival in the Americas. Its famous statue of the Virgin became a powerful symbol of the Christianization of much of the New World.
The Royal Monastery of Santa María de Guadalupe is located in the town of Guadalupe in the Spanish Region of Extremadura. It is one of the most important religious destinations in Spain and was a vital place in the history of Spanish exploration and conquest of the Americas, as well as to the political history of Spain.
The site is a popular religious and tourist destination for Spanish tourists, but relatively unknown to international travelers. About 80% of the visitors to the site are from Spain.
Guadalupe is the namesake of many other Guadalupes around the world, mostly in Latin American countries.
The monastery is still an active monastery with monks and daily services, although the number of monks living here is much smaller than what it was in the past.
In 1993 it was inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site and is one of the many World Heritage Sites in Spain.
