Strata Florida Abbey

Ceredigion

Wales Ceredigion

Strata Florida Abbey

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The abbey of Strata Florida, Latin for ‘Vale of Flowers’, or ‘Ystrad Fflur’, as the locals call it, has stood in monastic tranquillity on the banks of the River Teifi since 1201. Established by Cistercian monks, it soon became the most famous church in Wales after St Davids and a keystone of Welsh culture. The ruins give clues as to the former wealth of the abbey, like the Romanesque carved doorway that once would have connected the nave to the high altar. The resting place of the 11 princes of Dinefwr and the poet Dafydd ap Gwilym, the abbey has been called the ‘Westminster Abbey of Wales’.