Santa Maria de Ovila is a former Cistercian monastery built in Spain
beginning in 1181 on the Tagus River near Trillo, Guadalajara, about 90
miles (140 km) northeast of Madrid. During prosperous times over the
next four centuries, construction projects expanded and improved the
small monastery. Its fortunes declined significantly in the 1700s, and
in 1835 it was confiscated by the Spanish government and sold to private
owners who used its buildings to shelter farm animals. American
publisher William Randolph Hearst bought parts of the monastery in 1931
with the intention of using its stones in the construction of a grand
and fanciful castle at Wyntoon, California, but after some 10,000 stones
were removed and shipped, they were abandoned in San Francisco for
decades. These stones are now in various locations around California:
the old church portal has been reassembled at the University of San
Francisco, and the chapter house is being reassembled by Trappist monks
at the Abbey of New Clairvaux in Vina, California. In Spain, the new
government of the Second Republic declared the monastery a National
Monument in June 1931, but not in time to prevent the mass removal of
stones. Today, the remnant buildings and walls stand on private
farmland.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Santa_Maria_de_Ovila>
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Today's selected anniversaries:
1814:
The Carabinieri, the national military police of Italy, was
founded by Victor Emmanuel I as the police force of the Kingdom of
Sardinia.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carabinieri>
1830:
The Scottish Church College (pictured), the oldest continuously
running Christian liberal arts and sciences college in India, was
founded as the General Assembly's Institution.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scottish_Church_College>
1923:
The Hollywoodland Sign was officially dedicated as an
advertisement for a new housing development in the hills above
Hollywood, California.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hollywood_Sign>
2003:
French DGSE personnel aborted an operation to rescue Colombian
politician Íngrid Betancourt from the Revolutionary Armed Forces of
Colombia, causing a political scandal when details were leaked to the
press six days later.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Op%C3%A9ration_14_juillet>
2011:
Three coordinated bombings across Mumbai, India, killed 26
victims and injured 130 more.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2011_Mumbai_bombings>
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Wiktionary's word of the day:
tardigrade:
Sluggish; moving slowly.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/tardigrade>
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Wikiquote quote of the day:
Alea iacta est. The die is cast.
--Julius Caesar
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Julius_Caesar>