Founded in 1158 by the powerful family of Moncada, the monastery of Sante Creus reached its most splendid moment in the 13th and 14th centuries, when the kings of Aragon chose the monastery as a royal pantheon. Under his protection Santes Creus has become one of the most extensive and influential monastic domains of the kingdom. The monastic life continued uninterrupted until 1835, when the monastery was abandoned and very deteriorated until the restoration carried out in the 20th century.
✔ The church, with an austere and imposing architecture, without ornamentation. The floor is of Latin cross, with three naves covered with ribed vault, squared apse and four apsidal chapels. The main facade, crowned by crenels, contains a 12th-century Romanesque portal and an imposing Gothic window with stained glass. In the apse we find a magnificent rose window.
✔ The cloister, Gothic in style (14th century), notable for the artistic quality of the ornamentation of the capitals. In the center there is a beautiful Romanesque small temple that houses a fountain - lavatory.
✔ The monumental sepulchres, belonging to the royal family or to members of the Catalan nobility.Very remarkable are the two Gothic monuments of the royal mausoleums of James II of Aragon with his wife, and of King Pere III the Great.
✔ The monastic rooms: the chapter house, the bedroom, the refectory, the kitchens, the cellar and the library.
✔ The Royal Palace, built in several phases (13th - 16th centuries). It has Gothic, Plateresque and Renaissance elements.
✔ The back cloister, from the 16th century.
✔ The Gate of the Assumption or the Royal Arch, Baroque style, finished with a large hexagonal tower.