As with the other Spanish monasteries, it was abandoned in 1834. When it was revived in this century it was heavily remodeled, with the monks moving into seclusion in a new cloister to the south of the church, while the old cloister to the north was partially dismantled, and the remaining buildings were turned into a hotel.
Our reservation for a tour in English somehow turned into a tour in Castilian, with the guide resentful of the time spent by Marcelle repeating everything in English.
The church was built in the Romanesque style, and later added to in the Gothic style. To accommodate the increased height, they added a flying buttress. (I wonder if there's a matching one on the other side, in the monk's cloister).
The cellars were originally twice the height they are now. At some point a floor was added to divide it into two stories. So at first, the capitals would have been overhead, rather than at shoulder lever, but they still would have been outlandishly over-sized.
The carvings over the main door of the church include concentric rings of animal parts. Because of the break in the monastic tradition, no one is quite sure what they are meant to represent.
