Monastery of Santo Domingo de Silos

The Benedictine monastery is said to go back to a Visigothic foundation in the 7th century; it takes its present name from Dominic of Silos, whom Ferdinand I entrusted with its renewal in the 11th century. After its suppression in 1835, French Benedictines from Solesmes resettled it from 1880. The Romanesque cloister is regarded as one of the finest in Spain: the lower storey was built in two stages, around 1100 and in the last third of the 12th century, and the upper storey around the turn of the 12th to the 13th century. The monastery church was rebuilt in the 18th century by the Neoclassical architect Ventura Rodríguez.

The monks cultivate Gregorian chant; their album Chant reached number 3 in the US charts in 1994. Visitors can hear the singing at services in the abbey church; please ask the monastery for the times in advance. In the garden stands the cypress that Gerardo Diego celebrated in a sonnet.