The Monastery of San Isidro de Loriana () was a sixteenth-century Franciscan monastery. It is located in the municipality of Mérida, Spain, in Badajoz, in the Cordobilla de Lácara, within the Sierra de San Pedro. The municipalities of La Roca de la Sierra and Puebla de Obando are nearby. San Isidro de Loriana was declared Bien de Interés Cultural on 12 November 2013 in the category of monument. It is an example of Franciscan architecture. History Initial structure The Monastery of San Isidro de Loriana was erected in 1551 next to the Loriana river under direction of Fray Alonso del Manzanete, a native of the town of Manzanete (now Puebla de Obando). It is located in close proximity to the Sierra de San Pedro, in the Loriana meadow, in what is now the Vidrio estate. The meadow began to be populated in the sixteenth century and was jurisdictionally attached to La Nava de Santiago. The location takes the name of the nearby stream that waters the area, the Lourianilla or Lorianilla, a tributary of the Alcazaba river. The late eighteenth century Census of Floridablanca places it in Mérida. The property on which the monastery was built belonged to Juan Velázquez Dávila, who offered to bear the cost of building and maintaining the convent, provided that the building was located on his property. The structure was built on an ancient chapel dedicated to Saint Isidore, believed to have formerly belonged to the Templars. The construction featured a narrow building with a single nave, separated into three sections, which had no more than two small rooms and no cloister. The upper section was divided into seven cells, which included the refectory, a kitchen, an office and the vestry. Fray Alonso remained Guardian of the Convent for seven years. He was later sent to Rocamadour, Salvatierra de Santiago and Alconchel, where he died in 1569. The Definitorios Provinciales (an entity that makes religious decisions) of 1557 and 1559 were held in the San Isidro de Loriana monastery. In one of those sessions Franciscan friar, San Pedro de Alcántara, was elected Provincial Commissioner. Refurbishment Its location in close proximity to the river resulted in exposure to high humidity and eventual deterioration. The structure was refurbished in 1605 and relocated to safer and higher ground. New construction techniques were employed, that reflected its geographical proximity to the Portuguese border. Indigenous slate material was used in