After a journey spanning more than 5000 miles and many years,
stones from the Abbey of Santa Maria de Ovila in Guadalajara,
Spain, have found a permanent home in Vina, California. After
Ovila -- established in 1181 by Cistercian monks -- was closed
in 1835, it fell into disrepair. In 1931 publishing magnate
William Randolph Hearst purchased parts of the abbey, dismantled
the buildings and shipped them to the United States, where he
intended to use the stones to construct parts of his Wyntoon
Castle in northern California.
Financial difficulties prevented Hearst from moving ahead with
the project, and in 1941 he gave the stones to the city of San
Francisco in return for a cancelled debt. World War II and
numerous other situations intervened to hinder reconstruction.
The stones were moved to Golden Gate Park, where they stayed --
through fires, theft and vandalism -- for more than 50 years.
Cistersians at the Abbey of New Clairvaux, in Vina, California,
first learned of the stones in the 1950s. This began a
decades-long campaign to acquire them from the park.
Finally, in 1994, the city of San Francisco agreed to let New
Clairvaux have the stones; and with the help of architects and
stonemasons, the project to rebuild Ovila's chapter house at New
Clairvaux began. Once rebuilt, the Santa Maria de Ovila chapter
house will be the oldest freestanding building in the United
States west of New York and one of only three examples of
Cistercian Gothic architecture in the country.
The project will cost an estimated $4 million and is expected to
be completed in mid-2004. Reconstruction of the chapter house is
part of a larger endeavor that includes construction of a new
church and pastoral center for the abbey. The new buildings will
apply Cistercian architectural ratios in order to match the
unique style of the chapter house.
Click here to follow the progress of the project
