St. Bernard De Clairvaux
Cloisters Of The Monastery Of St. Bernard De Clairvaux
The Monastery of St. Bernard de Clairvaux was built in Sacramenia, Spain during the 10th century and was originally named the "Monastery of Our Lady, Queen of the Angels."
When Bernard of Clairvaux, a Cistine Monk and a leading influence in the Church during that period, the Monastery was renamed in his honor upon his canonization. This monastery was home to Cistercian monks for nearly 700 years. When Spain underwent a revolution in the early 1800s, the cloisters were seized, sold, and converted into a granary and stable.
Fast forward to 1925, when one Mr. William Randolph Hearst purchased the Cloisters and the Monastery's outbuildings. He then had the structures dismantled stone by stone, bound with protective hay, packed in some 11,000 wooden crates, numbered for identification and shipped to the United States to be reassembled.
Unfortunately, at the time the pieces were being shipped, hoof and mouth disease had broken out in Spain, and the U.S. Department of Agriculture, fearing possible contagion since the facility had been used as a stable, quarantined the shipment upon its arrival, broke open the crates and burned the hay, a possible carrier of the disease. Unfortunately, the workmen failed to replace the stones in the same numbered boxes before moving them to a warehouse.
The entire shipment was in disarray and all the stones were literally in a pile. Soon after the shipment arrived, Hearst's financial problems forced most of his collection to be sold at auction. The stones remained in a warehouse in Brooklyn, New York, for another 26 years. After Hearst died in 1952, the stones were purchased by W. Edgemon and R. Moss for use as a tourist attraction. It took 19 months and almost $1.5 million dollars to put the Monastery back together. Some of the unmatched stones still remain in the back lot; others were used in the construction of the present Church's Parish Hall.
Cloisters of the Monastery of St. Bernard de Clairvaux is an unusual building with a very unusual past. Now that you know the history of this beautifully restored building, be sure to make it a stop on your next tour of Miami.
The Monastery of St. Bernard de Clairvaux was built in Sacramenia, Spain during the 10th century and was originally named the "Monastery of Our Lady, Queen of the Angels."
When Bernard of Clairvaux, a Cistine Monk and a leading influence in the Church during that period, the Monastery was renamed in his honor upon his canonization. This monastery was home to Cistercian monks for nearly 700 years. When Spain underwent a revolution in the early 1800s, the cloisters were seized, sold, and converted into a granary and stable.
Fast forward to 1925, when one Mr. William Randolph Hearst purchased the Cloisters and the Monastery's outbuildings. He then had the structures dismantled stone by stone, bound with protective hay, packed in some 11,000 wooden crates, numbered for identification and shipped to the United States to be reassembled.
Unfortunately, at the time the pieces were being shipped, hoof and mouth disease had broken out in Spain, and the U.S. Department of Agriculture, fearing possible contagion since the facility had been used as a stable, quarantined the shipment upon its arrival, broke open the crates and burned the hay, a possible carrier of the disease. Unfortunately, the workmen failed to replace the stones in the same numbered boxes before moving them to a warehouse.
The entire shipment was in disarray and all the stones were literally in a pile. Soon after the shipment arrived, Hearst's financial problems forced most of his collection to be sold at auction. The stones remained in a warehouse in Brooklyn, New York, for another 26 years. After Hearst died in 1952, the stones were purchased by W. Edgemon and R. Moss for use as a tourist attraction. It took 19 months and almost $1.5 million dollars to put the Monastery back together. Some of the unmatched stones still remain in the back lot; others were used in the construction of the present Church's Parish Hall.
Cloisters of the Monastery of St. Bernard de Clairvaux is an unusual building with a very unusual past. Now that you know the history of this beautifully restored building, be sure to make it a stop on your next tour of Miami.
