Yuste Monastery cloister
— the cloister an emperor chose to die in.
Not only on a wall.
Yuste Monastery cloister, on ceramic.
Each tile is finished by hand in our Knoxville studio. Artwork is slowly infused into the ceramic surface under high heat and pressure, and rests beneath a thin glossy finish. The colour lives in the surface, not on top of it.
Pick any four 4-inch tiles — National Parks you've been to, a Smokies set, the four seasons of one place. $ for a set of , cork-backed, ready to live on the table.
Each tile ships in a kraft box, tied with cream ribbon, with a handwritten note from the studio if you'd like to add one.
Three or five different vistas, hung together — a chapter of places you've been, or want to go.
“A small Hieronymite monastery on a wooded slope above Cuacos de Yuste, in the Vera valley of Extremadura. The Emperor Charles V retired here in 1557 and died the following year in a low chamber off the church. Two cloisters survive — a Gothic one and a Renaissance one — wrapped around a pond and a chestnut grove. The road in climbs slowly through holm oak and cherry.
The place, in three passes.
The Monastery of San Jerónimo de Yuste sits on a south-facing slope above the village of Cuacos de Yuste, in the Vera valley of Cáceres province, Extremadura. The Hieronymite order founded it in 1402. Its place in European history was sealed when Charles V — Holy Roman Emperor, king of Spain — abdicated in 1556 and retired here in 1557, dying in a modest chamber off the church on 21 September 1558. The site is managed today by Patrimonio Nacional and sits at about 501 metres.
Two cloisters meet at the centre of the complex. The older Gothic cloister, late fifteenth century, opens onto a long pond fed by a mountain stream; the Renaissance cloister was added in the sixteenth century in the plainer style of the Spanish Reformation. The church is single-naved, austere, with a low altar at the east end. The imperial apartments adjoin the south transept so Charles could hear Mass from his bed during the final months of illness. A chestnut grove rises behind the buildings.
Yuste is about two hours west of Madrid by car, off the EX-203 above Cuacos de Yuste. The monastery is open Tuesday through Sunday under Patrimonio Nacional management, with timed entry for the imperial apartments and the church. The Ruta de Carlos V, a marked walking route, climbs from Jarandilla de la Vera over the Sierra de Tormantos and ends at the monastery gate. Allow about ninety minutes for the full visit. The village of Cuacos keeps a small Plaza de Juan de Austria from the same century.
