Formal Gardens in front of the Entrance
- Description: View of the formal gardens and entrance into the cloister. The Monastery was built in Sacramenia, in the Province of Segovia, Spain, during 1133-1141. Cisterian monks occupied the monastery for 700 years. However, due to the social uprising and revolution that was occurring in Spain during that time, the monestary was seized and sold. The monestary eventually became used as a stable for animals. When William Randolph Hearst bought the monastery in 1925, he had it dismantled and packaged the stones into around 11,000 crates filled with hay bound for America. However, once it reached America, it had to be quarantined due to the fact that it had been shipped from Segovia, Spain, which at that time was experiencing an outbreak of foot and mouth disease. The U.S. Department of Agriculture responded to the situation by burning the hay within the crates in case it carried the disease. However, by removing the stones in order to burn the hay this allowed for the possibility that the stones would not be returned to their corresponding crates, which is exactly what happened. This would make reconstruction much harder since the numbers on the crates matched numbers recorded on a blueprint of the monastery. Yet, this would not become a problem until 1952 when the stones were purchased by William Edgemon and Raymond Moss. Until this date the stones had been stored in a warehouse in Brooklyn, New York. The economic strain experienced by most during the Great Depression had also affected Hearst who became unable to pay for the reconstruction of the cloister after its delivery to America. In 1952, Edgemon and Ross decided to buy the disassembled building and turn it into a tourist attraction in Miami, Florida. After the cloister was rebuilt, they decided to sell it. It would change hands a few more times before finally being donated to the Episcopal Church of St. Bernard de Clairvaux.
- Keywords: entrance, St. Bernard de Clairvaux Church, Ancient Spanish Monastery, cloister, monastery, tree, garden, plant
- TIFF File: A high resolution TIFF of Formal Gardens in front of the Entrance (28.9 Mb) is available for download. This is a very large file suitable for printing. For most on-screen purposes, you should use the image displayed on this page instead of this TIFF.
- Source: Florida Center for Instructional Technology, Exploring Florida: Social Studies Resources
for Students and Teachers (Tampa, FL: University of South Florida, 2009)
- County: Miami-Dade
- Location:
- Date of Photo: 7/31/2007
- Photographer: Roy Winkelman
