Entry No. 2 — the Miami file — filed under: oddities

Ancient Spanish Monastery (St. Bernard de Clairvaux Church)

Built by Cistercian monks in Sacramenia, Spain between 1133 and 1141, the monastery was seized and gutted during 1830s Spanish anti-clerical unrest, then bought by William Randolph Hearst in 1925, dismantled stone-by-stone into 11,000 numbered crates, and shipped to Brooklyn — where a hoof-and-mouth quarantine scrambled the labels and left it crated in a warehouse for 26 years before it was finally reassembled in Florida in 1952-64, a project Time called "the biggest jigsaw puzzle in history."

The move: Walk the 800-year-old cloisters and courtyard on a quiet weekday, then try to spot the mismatched or oddly-placed stones that hint at where the lost labels left gaps in the 20th-century reconstruction.

• 📍 North Miami Beach
• 💸 $$
• ⚡ Up for anything
• 🌗 Indoors

Where: 16711 West Dixie Highway, North Miami Beach, FL 33160

Hours: Added 2026-07-19 — confirm current hours before you go.

⚠ Seasonal or scheduled — always check before you go.

Plan a visit & invite your people →

Further reading: Wikipedia · Official site

last checked: 2026-07-19