Soria - Monasterio de San Juan de Duero

Soria is located on the Douro River at about 1065 meters above sea level.

A strategic enclave due to the struggles for territory between the kingdoms of Castile, Navarre, and Aragon, Soria became part of Castile definitively in 1134, during the reign of Alfonso VII. Alfonso VIII was born in Soria in 1155. Booming during the Late Middle Ages thanks to its border location and its control over the cattle industry. In 1380, a court order forbade the Jews to try their own criminal cases in court. In addition, a decree was confirmed, according to which Jews were not allowed to be employed in the royal administration or among the nobility. These resolutions served as the basis for hate speeches that led to the massacre of the Jewish population in 1391. Soria went into a slow decline over the next few centuries. It was damaged greatly during the Peninsular War.

The Knights Hospitaller settled in Soria in the 12th century. A document shows that in 1152 the Order had a church dedicated to the Holy Sepulchre, near the bridge over the Duero, the main entrance to the city from the east. A document from 1190 shows that the Hospitallers maintained a hospital here.

Only the church was used until the end of the 18th century. The church was left to decay in the 19th century and was used as a cattle shed. Although the surviving buildings were among the first to be declared a Monumento Nacional in the province in 1882, they were left to decay. Only the roof of the church was repaired. Since 1992 the monastery has been part of the medieval section of the Museo Numantino in Soria.

The Nativity