The aim of the publication is to show the origin, history, life and art surrounding one of the city’s most iconic buildings and one of the best examples of Catalan Gothic architecture, built to house a female religious community. The book, co-published by Triangle Books, will be presented on 22 March at 6.30 pm in the auditorium of the Monastery of Pedralbes (baixada del Monestir, 9).
At the foot of Collserola’s mountain range, beneath the mountain of Sant Pere Màrtir, and close to the old town of Sarrià, stands the impressive silhouette of the Monastery of Santa Maria de Pedralbes, one of the finest examples of Catalan Gothic architecture. It is a haven of tranquillity in the bustling city of Barcelona, which transports us back to the past.
The monastery was founded by a queen, Elisenda de Montcada, the last wife of King James II, known as James the Just, for a community of women who dedicated their earthly lives to prayer, following the rules of the Poor Clares, spiritual sisters of the Franciscans.
The monastery’s links to the city and the Crown have meant it has altered very little over time, both in terms of its architectural configuration and the furniture that the community has accumulated over the centuries. Despite the loss of some of its artistic assets, the Monastery of Pedralbes is today a rare example of, and testament to, the survival of a female religious community in a single monastery for almost seven centuries.
Based on an old pact between the founding queen and the representatives of Barcelona’s old governmental institution, the Concell de Cent, in 1972, the Poor Clares community asked the city council to sign an agreement through which the municipal council would build a new convent for the community in exchange for opening the historical building up to citizens as a museum. Since 1983, the Monastery of Pedralbes has been showing its magnificent interior, featuring one of the largest Gothic cloisters in the world in its style, and all the rooms where the life of the community took place – both those dedicated to worship and those where more day-to-day affairs occurred – together with the collections of artefacts that constitute a tangible expression of the lives and experiences of this community.
In recent years, the monastery museum has been adapting to the challenges of a diverse and plural society. Visitors not only observe but are also invited to take part in numerous activities designed to look at all aspects of the life of the community over the centuries, in dialogue with the outside world, but which, at the same time are fully connected to our present.
Presentation
On Wednesday 22 March at 6.30 pm, the presentation of the book will take place in the auditorium of the Monastery of Pedralbes (baixada del Monestir, 9). Participating in the event will be Anna Castellano-Tresserra, doctor in Medieval History and director of the Monastery of Pedralbes Museum; Carme Aixalà Fàbregas, art historian, who are the authors of the book, accompanied by Josep Liz, editor, and Jaume Muñoz Jofre, director of Memory, History and Heritage.