Introduction

The Cistercian monastery of "Santa María de la Caridad" in Tulebras was founded by King García Ramírez in 1147 and throughout its history it continued to enjoy numerous donations and privileges from princes, kings and popes. As the first female monastery of the Cistercian order in the peninsula, it was the head of other foundations such as those of Perales, later Santa Ana de Valladolid, Gradafes, Cañas, Vallbona, Las Huelgas and Trasovares, among others.

Its location in a border area, where clashes were frequent, meant that its assets were not very abundant and that the monastic complex was of small proportions, in contrast to the large male monasteries of the order in Navarre -Fitero, La Oliva and lranzu-. Despite this, one cannot fail to notice characteristics typical of Cistercian monasteries, such as the lack of ornamentation, the lack of superfluous elements and the stark bareness of the walls; there must have been nothing to distract the nuns, such as sculpture, paintings and chromatic stained-glass windows.

Cistercian abbeys were part of a vast building programme that included facilities as diverse as the guest house, infirmary, mill, dovecote, farm, workshops and everything else that served a self-subsistent community. Naturally, the nucleus of the monastery itself was made up of the church and the residential quarters. All of these made up what was known as a monastic square, which was usually made up of: the church, cloister, conference room chapterhouse, nuns' dormitory, guest house and refectory.