Catalunya 1400

This is probably the most representative monastery on the Route of the Royal Monasteries of Catalonia and is a genuine historical and architectural jewel. It is still home to a community of more than 30 monks, which gives it authenticity as a picture of monastery life. In 1992 it was declared a World Heritage Site.

The building we see today dates from the 14th century, although the monastery was founded in the 12th century (1129) by order of Ramon Berenguer IV, Count of Barcelona. The building housed the pantheons of the Catalan kings Alfons the Chaste, James I, Peter the Ceremonious and Martin the Humane.

The nucleus of the monastery’s spiritual life is located in the church, Santa Maria. It is made up of a basilical floor plan with a nave and two aisles with transept, an apse with an ambulatory for the passage of pilgrims, a spectacular pointed or ogival arch and a set of accessory chapels with a radial structure. The same style is maintained in the refectory, the room where the monks gather for meals.

Between the refectory and the basilica we find the cloister, a simple and harmonious square in the Gothic style (12th-13th c.), which acts as a distribution point for the communal rooms. The chapter house is off the east wing of the cloister.

The rooms making up the monastery complex are surrounded by three concentric rings of walls, with a series of doorways each leading to different parts of the building.

Two of these doorways stand out: the Porta Daurada (15th c.), guarding the entrance to places like the chapel of Saint George, the guest area and the paupers’ hospital, and the Porta Barroca (17th c.), which gives access to the basilica.

The monastery also keeps valuable works of religious art. Most of them are exhibited in the museum, located in the Gothic Royal Palace, or King Martin’s Palace.

There is also an important collection of documents in the library, where we can find everything from codices of the period to the personal archives of the former President of the Generalitat in exile, Josep Tarradellas.

As the monastery still has an active community in residence, it can be very enlightening to make a tour of the domestic quarters that are open to visitors, such as the refectory, the dormitories and the cellar.

It opens from Monday to Saturday (10 am to 12.40 pm and 3 pm to 5.50 pm) and Sundays and holidays (10 am to 12.25 pm and 3 pm to 5.25 pm)

• Thanks to a loan by this institution, visitors to the exhibition can admire the following work: Weepers on the Tomb of Ferdinand of Antequera, by Pere Joan.