The Irache Monastery
Renaissance monastic buildings
At the same time that the 16th century Renaissance cloister was being built (1540-1586), the sacristy, attached to the Epistle arm of the Wayside Cross , was begun around 1589. This dependency of square plan is closed with two sections of ribbed vaults of complex design, embellished by keystones sculpted with the figure of San Veremundo surrounded by abbots and that of San Gregorio with bishops, in which remains of polychromy can still be seen.
Next to the sacristy was built the conference room , which is accessed from the eastern bay of the cloister, built around 1574 by Amador de Segura, with a square floor plan covered with an elaborate vault of mixtilinear ribs and keystones decorated with rosettes. A master who stands out in the field of design, like the overseer of ecclesiastical works of the Pamplona bishopric, Juan de Villarreal, who in 1570 also provided a design for the monastery.
The refectory was built next to the chapter conference room , occupying the rest of the eastern bay, a Building built around 1600, with a rectangular floor plan and articulated in six sections, whose vaults with lunettes are decorated with geometric mannerist motifs.
Also noteworthy for its monumentality is the staircase erected in the southwest corner of the cloister, in which Amador de Segura and Domingo de Irategui intervened in 1574, with a square box and closed with an average orange dome on pendentives. In the lower part, a lowered vault of coffers and rosettes, gives access to a simple door that communicates with the gardens of the monastery.
Fernández Gracia, R. (coord.), Echeverría Goñi, P.L. and García Gainza, Mª C., El arte del Renacimiento en Navarra, Pamplona, Gobierno de Navarra, 2005, pp. 46-48, 140-142.
Fernández-Ladreda, C. (dir.), Martínez de Aguirre, J. and Martínez Álava, C. J. El arte románico en Navarra, Pamplona, Gobierno de Navarra, 2004, pp. 194-201.
García Gainza, Mª C., Heredia Moreno, Mª C., Rivas Carmona, J. and Orbe Sivatte, M., Catalog Monumental de Navarra, II**. Merindad de Estella, Pamplona, Institución Príncipe de Viana, 1983, pp. 304-320.
Ibarra, J., Historia del Monasterio Benedictino y de la Universidad literaria de Irache, Pamplona, 1938 (Facsimile by Amigos del Monasterio de Irache, 1999).
Martínez Álava, C. J., Del románico al gótico en la arquitectura de Navarra. Monasterios, iglesias, palacios, Pamplona, Gobierno de Navarra, 2007, pp. 178-216.
Martínez Álava, C. J., "Ayegui. Monasterio de Santa María la Real de Irache", in Martínez de Aguirre, J. (coord.), Enciclopedia del románico en Navarra, vol. I, Aguilar de Campoo, Fundación Santa María la Real, Centro de programs of study del Románico, 2008, pp. 259-288.
Martínez Álava, C. J., Todo el románico de Navarra, Aguilar de Campoo, Fundación Santa María la Real del Patrimonio Histórico, 2016, pp. 59-67.
Martínez Álava, C. J., Románico imprescindible, Aguilar de Campoo, Fundación Santa María la Real del Patrimonio Histórico, 2024, pp. 112-131.
Pellejero Sotés, C. J., "Claustro de Irache", Príncipe de Viana, n.º 5 (1941), pp. 16-35.
Sagasti Lacalle, M. J., "Architecture of the sixteenth century in the Irache Monastery", Ondare. Cuadernos de artes plásticas y monumentales, n.º 19 (2000), pp. 315-323.
Sola Alayeto, A., La Puerta Preciosa del Cenobio de Santa María la Real de Irache, Estella, Centro de programs of study de Tierra Estella y association de Amigos del Monasterio de Irache, 2009.