The monastery "Monestir de Montserrat", known as the holiest place in the region of Catalonia, was founded in 1025 to commemorate visions of the Virgin Mary. Enlarged in the 11th century and in 1409 it became independent of Rome and prospered until the arrival of Napoleon's troops in 1811, when the French attacked Catalonia in the war of Independence. The monastery "Monestir de Montserrat" was destroyed and all the monks killed. It was then rebuilt in 1844. Today, however, a community of 80 monks lives there and pilgrims come to venerate La Loreneta (The Black Virgin), a 12th -century Romanesque wooden sculpture of Mary with the baby Jesus.
If you get to the monastery's church, the basilica, at 1 pm, you'll get to hear the Escolia (the boy's choir) sing. This is a major treat as they give just five concerts a year outside Monserrat.
Near the Monestir de Montserrat you will find restaurants, a small Hotel and a Campsite. On the way up to the monastery at Montserrat you pass another monastery, "The monastery of Sant Benet at Montserrat" where nuns from the two communities St. Pedro's community of

Barcelona and St. Daniel of Gerona joined in 1952 to form the monastery of Sant Benet at Montserrat.

montserrat main page