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The Oldest European Building in America Predates Columbus By 359 Years
How is that even possible?
In the year 1133CE, construction began on a remote hilltop in Castille by King Alfonso VII. At the time, the Reconquista was in full swing and the Christian kings had a policy of erecting Catholic institutions on areas formerly owned or in proximity to Moorish Muslims. The monastery was constructed over a period of many years before blossoming into a military and ideological fortress protecting the interior of Spain from Muslim incursions.
Today, the Monasterio Español de Sacramenia stands on a busy street in Miami, Florida, and is known as the Ancient Spanish Monastery. By most accounts, it is known as the oldest European building in North America.
Saint Augustine, also founded by the Spanish, would not be formally established until 1565, four hundred and thirty two years after Monasterio Español de Sacramenia began its construction back in Spain. Saint Augustine is the oldest continuously inhabited European settlement in the United States. The Monasterio Español de Sacramenia is far older than anything still standing in Saint Augustine today.
So, how did a monastery built in the early years of the 12th century end up thousands of miles away and hundreds of years later in Miami, Florida?
Black market buildings
In 1925, the newspaperman William Randolph Hearst used agents in Spain to illegally purchase many of the buildings that made up the ancient church. Using his vast wealth and connections, Hearst made multiple purchases of old Spanish buildings under the nose of the government. From the 19th century onward, the old empire was faltering and had suffered periods of economic and social upheaval that had left the nation in disarray.
Hearst, a flamboyant tycoon, used the instability to his advantage. He had grand designs for palatial personal residences in the United States made from reconstructed Medieval architecture that he was buying in Europe.
