Santa María la Real is a monastery in Aguilar de Campoo

Aguilar de Campoo

Aguilar de Campoo is a town in the province of Palencia, autonomous community of Castile and León, Spain. It is close to the River Pisuerga.-History:In 1255 Alfonso X the Wise declared it Villa Realenga...

, province of Palencia, Spain

Spain

Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...

.
Santa María la Real

Santa María la Real

Santa María la Real is a monastery in the small town of Nájera in the La Rioja community, Spain. Originally a royal foundation, it was ceded by Alfonso VI to the Cluniac order. It was an important pilgrimage stop on the Camino de Santiago...

 is a common name for monasteries in Spain, and indicates a royal connection, in this case to King Alfonso VIII of Castile

Alfonso VIII of Castile

Alfonso VIII , called the Noble or el de las Navas, was the King of Castile from 1158 to his death and King of Toledo. He is most remembered for his part in the Reconquista and the downfall of the Almohad Caliphate...

.
From the 12th century the monastery was the home of a Premonstratensian

Premonstratensian

The Order of Canons Regular of Prémontré, also known as the Premonstratensians, the Norbertines, or in Britain and Ireland as the White Canons , are a Catholic religious order of canons regular founded at Prémontré near Laon in 1120 by Saint Norbert, who later became Archbishop of Magdeburg...

 community. The architecture is in a transitional style between Romanesque

Romanesque architecture

Romanesque architecture is an architectural style of Medieval Europe characterised by semi-circular arches. There is no consensus for the beginning date of the Romanesque architecture, with proposals ranging from the 6th to the 10th century. It developed in the 12th century into the Gothic style,...

 and Gothic

Gothic architecture

Gothic architecture is a style of architecture that flourished during the high and late medieval period. It evolved from Romanesque architecture and was succeeded by Renaissance architecture....

.

Conservation

The monastery was closed in the 19th century as a result of the Ecclesiastical Confiscations of Mendizábal

Ecclesiastical Confiscations of Mendizábal

The Ecclesiastical Confiscations of Mendizabal, more often referred to simply as La Desamortización, encompasses a set of decrees from 1835-1837 that resulted in the expropriation, and privatization, of monastic properties in Spain....

. The buildings fell into ruin and in 1871 various capital

Capital (architecture)

In architecture the capital forms the topmost member of a column . It mediates between the column and the load thrusting down upon it, broadening the area of the column's supporting surface...

s (dated circa 1200) were removed to the National Archaeological Museum of Spain

National Archaeological Museum of Spain

The National Archaeological Museum of Spain is a museum in Madrid, Spain, located beside the Plaza de Colón , sharing its building with the National Library....

.

In 1914 the monastery was declared a national monument.
The restored buildings today house a Foundation for the study of the Romanesque as well as a Secondary Education School ((ies santamarialareal)) .
Palencia has the highest density of Romanesque monuments in Europe, and the monastery is promoted in the context of a Romanesque heritage route.