San Juan de los Reyes, cloisters

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The Monasterio de San Juan de los Reyes was founded by King Ferdinand II of Aragon and Queen Isabella I of Castile to commemorate both the birth of their son, Prince John, and their victory at the Battle of Toro (1476) over the army of Afonso V of Portugal.

The lower cloisters, with twenty four gothic vaulted ceilings and distinct ‘mudejar’ influence, open out into the garden through five large windows with centre partitions and which boast profuse decorative tracery on the intrados

The cloister has a small garden. The ground floor's ceiling is formed of German cross vaults set with figures of saints interspersed with animal and plant motifs, all created by the Toledo sculptor Cecilio Béjar in the 20th century

The monastery's construction began in 1477 following plans drawn by architect Juan Guas, and was finished, together with the splendid cloisters, in 1504

The church is dedicated to Saint John the Evangelist, patron saint of King Juan II, for use by Franciscan friars.

Cloister. Ground floor. Late gothic style, called “Plateresco” in Spain

The arches which have stylized gothic form, rest on pillars which show off relief carvings of flora and fauna, both real and imaginary, as well as the image of a saint on a corbel situated under an elegant capital.

In 1809 the monastery was badly damaged by Napoleon's troops during their occupation of Toledo. A devastating fire destroyed part of the cloisters and one of the domes of the church.

The seizure and pillaging of ecclesiastical assets, the expulsion of the then current incumbents of the monastery, the Franciscans who had lived in the monastery since the end of the XV century (they had had a presence in Toledo since 1219), together these events led to an ever greater deterioration of the monastery.

Restoration work which began in 1883 was directed by the architect Arturo Mélida and was not completed until 1967. The Franciscan Order did not return to the monastery until 1954, and indeed returned to a much smaller structure built specifically to house the fraternity.

The monastery, an example of Gothic style with Spanish and Flemish influences was restored to the Franciscan order in 1954.

Toledo was chosen as the site for building the monastery due to its central geographic location and because it had been the capital of the ancient Visigoth kingdom, symbolically reconstituted by Isabella and Ferdinand with the restoration of the lost unity of Spain, through the union of Castile with Aragon

the lower cloisters having been completed on 25th November 1504, the day Isabel la Catolica died.

The orange trees and the tangy scent of orange blossom are a tradition bequeathed by the courtyards of the Islamic mosques and luckily maintained in many monastery and church cloisters

the coats of arms of the Catholic Monarchs

The upper cloisters, which were completed in 1526, are accessed via a staircase designed by A. de Covarrubias, who also designed the new Puerta de Bisagra (the main city gate), and the imperial staircase in the Alcazar.

The windows are conpial arch with stone balustrades and are decorated with the recurring leitmotif of this monastery – the Yoke and Arrows. The ceiling is covered by highly crafted larch wood, painted with the motifs and coats of arms of the Catholic Monarchs – the initials F and Y (Fernando and Isabel).

The upper part of the cloisters, designed by Enrique Egas, has a polychrome ceiling with a recurring decorative motif of the emblems, arms and initials of Ferdinand and Isabella in theMudéjar style.

Mudéjar ceiling and the motto Tanto monta, mant tanto.

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