The story
Behind the pilgrim church at Guadalupe, in the hills of Extremadura, is a sacristy built in the 1640s and left almost exactly as it was. On its walls hang eight paintings Francisco de Zurbarán made for the room, scenes from the lives of the Hieronymite monks who ran the monastery, lit with the deep shadow and plain white habits he was known for. They were painted for this space and have never left it.
The monastery grew up around a wooden statue of the Virgin, said to have been found by a shepherd, which drew pilgrims and royal favour for centuries. It sits today in an ornate chamber, the Camarín, behind the high altar. The buildings mix Gothic, Mudéjar and Baroque work from different periods, and the whole site was made a UNESCO World Heritage monument in 1997. For a visitor it is a monastery first, with one of Zurbarán's finest painted rooms kept intact inside it.
