Monasterio San Juan de Los Reyes

Monastery in Toledo

San Juan De Los Reyes Toledo — CC BY-SA 3.0 / Choniron

San Juan De Los Reyes Toledo, Spain — Public domain / Daderot

Spires Of San Juan De Los Reyes — CC BY-SA 4.0 / LBM1948

Gothic San Juan De Los Reyes Toledo Spain — CC BY-SA 3.0 / Adam Jones, Ph.D.

Vault Of The Central Nave And Transept Area Iglesia De San Juan De Los Reyes, Toledo — CC BY-SA 4.0 / Jose Luis Filipo Cabana

The Monastery of San Juan de los Reyes or the Monastery of Saint John of the Monarchs, is an Isabelline style Franciscan monastery in Toledo, in Castile-La Mancha, Spain, built by the Catholic Monarchs (1477–1504). This monastery 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. Prince John of Portugal also celebrated his victory over the Castilian army of the Catholic monarchs with a solemn procession on each anniversary of the battle. This apparent contradiction was a consequence of the indecisive military outcome of the battle: the troops under Afonso V broke while the forces led by Prince John of Portugal defeated the Castilian right wing and remained in possession of the battlefield.

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. [Wiki]

The Monasterio San Juan de Los Reyes appears in our Complete Guide to Visiting Toledo!

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