Why here? ÁBBATTE was born in a Cistercian abbey where tradition and modernity coexist in the revival of the ancient art of weaving. This location is the perfect fusion between what happened in the 13th century at the Monastery of Santa María de la Sierra, where monks were already weaving, and ÁBBATTE, a textile brand devoted to recovering the craft of weaving.
The Cistercian order played a central role in religious history, placing special emphasis on manual labour. In addition to the social function it served until the French Revolution, the order exerted significant influence in intellectual and economic spheres, as well as in the arts and spirituality.
By the mid-16th century, nearly sixty per cent of the population of Segovia depended on the textile industry. The city had around six hundred looms and produced more than 16,000 pieces of cloth each year. This makes the site an ideal home for a project like ÁBBATTE, which seeks to revive the textile tradition of the Sierra de Guadarrama in contemporary workshops located next to the ruins of the former Cistercian monastery.
Even in the past, this region was a key centre for shearing and washing wool, thanks to its strategic location along transhumance routes. Wool, linen, and silk were the fibres used during the Middle Ages, and from the 13th to the 18th century, Segovia was one of the most active centres for the trade of Castilian wool.
The daily life of the white Benedictine monks of the Cistercian rule marks the beginning of a small community that grew to host kings. In the 14th century, it began to decline, eventually disappearing in the second half of the 18th century. The 19th-century disentailment and gradual abandonment of the site led it to fall into ruin, and it nearly vanished altogether.
This new monastic-inspired infrastructure is the perfect fusion between what took place in the 13th century in the adjoining monastery and the textile project ÁBBATTE has developed to recover handcrafted work.
Photo: Pablo Gómez – Ogando
Text: María Olmos Mochales