Santo Domingo de Silos Abbey (Spanish: Monasterio de Santo Domingo de Silos) is a Benedictine monastery in the village of Santo Domingo de Silos in the southern part of Burgos Province in northern Spain.
The two-storey cloister of the monastery, which has large capitals with carved scenes, and also relief panels, is considered a masterpiece of Romanesque art, and has been written about extensively, notably by Meyer Schapiro in his Romanesque Art (1977). There is also an important Romanesque free-standing enthroned Madonna and Child.
The monastery's scriptorium was an important one, which among other major books produced a finely illuminated Beatus manuscript (a commentary upon the Apocalypse); the text was completed (by two related monks) in 1091, but the illuminations (illustrations) were mostly done later by the prior, who finished his work in 1109. These include an important map of the Mediterranean regions. This is now in the British Library, having left the monastery by the 18th century. Other manuscripts were sold at auction in 1878, and are mostly in the British Library in London or the Bibliothèque nationale de France in Paris. The library still contains the Missal of Silos, the oldest Western manuscript on paper. Together with the library of Toledo Cathedral, the Silos Library was the main repository of liturgical manuscripts of the Mozarabic rite until the sale of 1878.
The monks of Silos became internationally famous with the issue of several Gregorian chant albums, most famously Chant. First released on LP, the CD became popular when re-released by Angel Records in 1994 and strongly marketed. It peaked at #3 on the Billboard 200 music chart, and was certified as triple platinum, becoming the best-selling album of Gregorian chant ever released. It was followed by Chant II (1995).
The cloisters and pharmacy are open to the public. Visitors are also able to attend services such as vespers in the abbey church, an eighteenth-century building designed by Ventura Rodriguez. Access to the library is restricted to researchers.
