Sobre los posibles orígenes del Real Monasterio cisterciense de Santa María de Piedra: precisiones acerca de su primera ubicación y sentido iconográfico de su advocación mariana

Abstract

The royal cistercian monastery of Saint Mary of Stone (Santa María de Piedra, Zaragoza) was founded by monks from Poblet (Tarragona) in 1195. The building of this monastery must be studied within tow specific areas of studies: The politics of Alfonso II, relating to repopulation of empty lands and the expansion of the ideological and the first gothic art as expressed by the followers of Saint Bernard of Clairvaux. 12 moncks left Poblet, blessed by abbot Pedro Masanet. Their leader was Gaufrido of Rocaberti, member of an important nobiliary family form Cataluña, whose linage goes back to the Carolingian Empire. These monks settled in what today is the village of Peralejos, near Teruel. They built a church and a monastery which was also priory until disentitle of Mendizábal in 1835. There were some problems which made the Cistercian community move from Peralejos to Old Stone Place, in Nuevalos, Zaragoza, and them, to New Stone, on the other side of the river wich give its name. The abbey was consecrated in 1218.