Monastery of Aguas Vivas

The Monastery of Santa María de Aguas Vivas, located in the municipality of Carcaixent (Valencia), Spain, is a religious building dating back to the 13th century.HistoryThe current building was built during the 16th and 17th centuries with gothic and baroque styles, while the North wing was finished in the 18th century. The monastery belonged to the order of the Augustinians, guarded the image of the Virgin of Aguas Vivas, patron saint of the city of Carcaixent. In the middle of the 19th century as a result of the Ecclesiastical Confiscations of Mendizábal, the monks had to leave the convent, which became the property of the barons of Casanova, aiming at rural housing. In 1977 the monastery was acquired and refurbished to destine it to hotel residence by Antonio Vidal Bellver (photographer and entrepreneur of Carcaixent). Today is owned by a known businessman of Gandia.ArchitectureThroughout the 16th and 17th centuries the current monumental structure of the convent was configured. Francisco Colom, Valencian architect, led an expansion of the monastery, particularly of the cloister in 1597.New works are dated in 1633, in 1695, when he is plotted and boost the new church with area, sacristy, altarpiece and Bell, Tower by Browning some altars. The building is articulated around the cloister which are the Church to the South, the whole of the farm to the North and large rectangular body of five plants that dominates the whole, towards the road of Alzira to Tavernes de la Valldigna to the East. To the West lies the Bell Tower, the Church, the doorway of access to the cloister and the farm buildings. The cloister of reduced proportions is rich in size and decorated with frescos. In the Center there is a cistern. To the left of the cloister is the refectory, and in parallel to the same kitchen. The Bell Tower shows a long vertical body with unique attachment of a sundial. A double and terse molding gives way to the body of campaigns with vertical Windows with semicircular arch. Gabled in Arabic tiles cover topped with iron weathervane.