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Ancient Spanish Monastery

North Miami Beach, Miami-Dade County

BUILT BY ONE PERSON

8STRANGENESS
OUT OF TEN

Gallery photo

WHAT IT IS

A 12th-century Spanish cloister, dismantled, shipped in 11,000 numbered crates, and reassembled in Florida.

William Randolph Hearst bought a Cistercian monastery in Segovia in 1925 and had it taken apart stone by stone. US customs, worried about hoof-and-mouth disease, burned the packing hay and repacked the stones in the wrong boxes. The crates sat in a Brooklyn warehouse for 26 years. Two Miami businessmen bought the pile in 1952 and spent 19 months solving the puzzle. The joints show where they guessed.

HOW IT SCORES

Rarity9/10

Is there anywhere else like it?

Backstory10/10

How did this come to be?

Disrepair4/10

What is holding it together?

Commitment8/10

How far do they take the bit?

NEARBY

The Miami Circle11 mi · Miami Venetian Pool15 mi · Coral Gables Stiltsville20 mi · Biscayne Bay

BEFORE YOU DRIVE

ENTRY FEE: $10
HOURS: Mon–Sat 10am–4pm, Sun limited
BEST TIME: Weekday. Weddings close it constantly.
HOW LONG: 1 hour
PARKING: Free lot
PAYMENT: Cards accepted
ACCESS: Mostly flat, some worn stone

COORDINATES

25.9294° N, 80.1594° W

16711 W Dixie Highway. Call ahead, because private events close the grounds without notice.

OPEN IN MAPS →

DETAILS COMPILED FROM PUBLISHED SOURCES. FEES CHANGE. CALL AHEAD.