Sant Pere de les Puel·les Church Medieval monastery
10th Century Romanesque Benedictine monastery. What remains today is the 11th century ground floor church with cross floor plan
About Sant Pere de les Puel·les Church
The Sant Pere de les Puel·les church is what remains of a covenant in the neighbourhood of Sant Pere and can be visited for free.
Sant Pere de les Puel·les church History
A convent was founded by Count Sunyer I and his wife Riquilda Toulouse next to an ancient church dedicated to San Saturnino in 945AD and was Barcelona's first convent of Benedictine nuns. In 985AD, the monastery, which was outside the city walls, was attacked by the arab troops of Almanzor and subsequently restored by Count Borrell II. The monastery grew slowly having a dozen nuns at the end of the 10th century. In the following century, the number rose to 20, most of them daughters of nobles of the time. The powerful religious families were responsible to financially support the monastery. In 1147, a new, larger church, encompassing both the monastery and the old church dedicated to Saint Sadurni, was consecrated.
The community suffered with the 1835 secularization and the monastery became a prison. In 1879, the religious community moved to a new location in the district of Sarria-Sant Gervasi. In 1873, the cloister and other sections was removed. The monastery suffered a fire in 1909 after which it was rebuilt. A new fire ravaged the building during the Spanish Civil War in 1939.
Very little remains of the original building, partly because of destruction and partly because of poor restorations It is known that the cloister contained two floors. The lower style, Romanesque, dates to the 11th century while the upper, Gothic style, was built circa 1322. The original church was constructed in the Greek cross plan. It was bounded by four arches supported by columns and a domed octagonal base. In the area where the present chapel of the Blessed is located, there are remains of the old church of San Saturnino which predates Sant Pere de les Puel·les church. The monastery had a bell tower, known as the Torre dels Ocells (Tower of Birds) which was destroyed during the fire of 1909. A bell dating to 1752 is present in the octagonal bell tower.
Image Gallery for Sant Pere de les Puel·les Church
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