The Cloisters of the Ancient Spanish Monastery in North Miami Beach contain the oldest European-constructed building in the Western Hemisphere: a twelfth-century Cistercian monastery originally built in Sacramenia, Spain around 1133–1141. William Randolph Hearst bought it in 1925, had it dismantled stone by stone, and shipped the pieces to America. After a decades-long saga involving bankruptcy and a crate-packing error that mixed thousands of stones from different parts of the structure, the monastery was eventually reassembled in its current location in 1952.
The result is genuinely remarkable — a functioning Episcopal church housed in an authentic medieval cloister, with its original carved capitals, columns, and stone walls. The garden is peaceful and the architecture is exceptional for Florida. Guided tours run on weekends. The monastery is about 15 minutes north of downtown Miami, well worth the detour for anyone interested in medieval architecture or in the sheer improbability of its presence here.