Description
The Pedralbes Monastery is a 14th-century Gothic convent in the hills above Barcelona, now a museum, with one of the most beautiful cloisters in the city. It was founded in 1326 for the Poor Clares, nuns mostly from noble families, and a few nuns still live in the complex, so parts of it remain a working convent beside the museum.
Its jewel is the cloister: three floors of wide arches around a garden of orange trees and palms, 40 meters long, a fine example of Catalan Gothic. The capitals of its columns carry the emblems of the Kings of Aragon and the House of Montcada.
In one wing lies the alabaster tomb of Queen Elisenda, the monastery's founder, who lived beside it for forty years. The church has a single nave with rib vaults and a polygonal apse, a large rose window on its facade and a Gothic altarpiece by Jaume Huguet.
Don't miss the Chapel of Saint Michael, painted in 1346 by Ferrer Bassa with frescoes that show the lesson of Giotto. It was restored and reopened in 2018.
King James II of Aragon founded the monastery for his wife, Queen Elisenda de Montcada. The queen gave it a series of privileges, including the direct protection of the city of Barcelona. A year later, in 1327, Elisenda was a widow, and she moved in next door.
She built herself a palace beside the convent and lived there for forty years, until her death in 1367. Its remains were found only in the 1970s.
The convent takes its name from the white stones it was built with, petras albas in Latin. It was once defended by a line of walls, of which two towers and one gate remain.
In the 1640s, during the Reapers' War, the nuns were expelled, but later returned. The complex was declared a national monument in 1991.
Its jewel is the cloister: three floors of wide arches around a garden of orange trees and palms, 40 meters long, a fine example of Catalan Gothic. The capitals of its columns carry the emblems of the Kings of Aragon and the House of Montcada.
In one wing lies the alabaster tomb of Queen Elisenda, the monastery's founder, who lived beside it for forty years. The church has a single nave with rib vaults and a polygonal apse, a large rose window on its facade and a Gothic altarpiece by Jaume Huguet.
Don't miss the Chapel of Saint Michael, painted in 1346 by Ferrer Bassa with frescoes that show the lesson of Giotto. It was restored and reopened in 2018.
King James II of Aragon founded the monastery for his wife, Queen Elisenda de Montcada. The queen gave it a series of privileges, including the direct protection of the city of Barcelona. A year later, in 1327, Elisenda was a widow, and she moved in next door.
She built herself a palace beside the convent and lived there for forty years, until her death in 1367. Its remains were found only in the 1970s.
The convent takes its name from the white stones it was built with, petras albas in Latin. It was once defended by a line of walls, of which two towers and one gate remain.
In the 1640s, during the Reapers' War, the nuns were expelled, but later returned. The complex was declared a national monument in 1991.