$<pa1n1025><cg1n4097><ca1l1><cb1l1>Guadalupe ù Place of Pilgrimage<ca1l0><cb1l0>
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$<pa1n1025>If you could visit only a single site in Extremadura, the choice would have to be the monastery of Guadalupe.
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$ The journey here is worthwhile.
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$ Whether you come from Madrid, Trujillo, or Cßceres, the last stage of your trip will take you through wild, breathtakingly beautiful mountain scenery.
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$ Finally, you catch your first glimpse of the monastery clinging to the slopes above you and forming with its towers, pinnacles and spires a magical profile.
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$<pa1n1025>Pilgrims have been coming here since the 14th century, but only in relatively recent years have they been joined by a growing number of tourists.
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$ Even so, the monasteryÆs isolation has saved it from the worst excesses of tourism and ensured that a visit here is still an adventure.
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$<pa1n1025>
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$<pa1n1025>The story of Guadalupe goes back to around 1300, when a shepherd uncovered a miraculous statue of the Virgin, this statue supposedly carved by St. Luke.
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$ Its fame might have been only local if it had not come to the attention of King Alfonso XI, who used to hunt here.
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$ Alfonso built a church to house the statue and later vowed to found a monastery, should he defeat the Moors at the battle of Salado of 1340.
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$ After his victory, he kept his promise.
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$ The place emerged in the Golden Age as a symbol of SpainÆs territorial expansion;
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$ documents authorizing ColumbusÆs first voyage to America were signed here, a West Indian island and numerous other locations in the New World were named after this monastery, and the first American Indians to be converted to Christianity were also brought here.
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$<pa1n1025>
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$<pa1n1025>The decline of the monastery coincided with SpainÆs loss of overseas territories in the 19th century.
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$ Abandoned for 70 years, it was taken over after the civil war of 1936-39 by Franciscan brothers, who slowly restored it.
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$<pa1n1025>In the middle of the tiny, irregularly shaped main square (transformed during festivals into a bullring) there is a 15th century fountain where ColumbusÆs two Indian servants were baptized on July 29, 1496.
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$ The bus station lies just below the village of Guadalupe, leaving you with a steep climb to the monastery itself where you are obliged to follow a guided tour that lasts about an hour.
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$ The tour concludes with the chapel where the miraculous Virgin is housed.
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$ It is a riot of color and rich materials, and it is given further distinction by its superb canvases by Luca Giordano;
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$ however, the focal point is the Virgin of Guadalupe, a dark wood object hiding under a great veil and mantle.
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$<pa1n1025><cg1n4099><ca1l1>Adapted from:<ca1l0>
#<pa1n1025><cg1n4099><ca1l1>Adapted from:<ca1l0>
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$ Michael Jacobs, "Guadalupe" in Christopher Billy (ed.), <cb1l1>FodorÆs 95:
# Michael Jacobs, "Guadalupe" in Christopher Billy (ed.), <cb1l1>FodorÆs 95:
