Barcelona Metropolis

Thanks to the tremendous efforts put into rigorous documentation, the exhibition offers a truly immersive experience in the 15^th-century monastery. Using virtual reality glasses, we can step inside the great images that allow us to see what the cloister garden was like and how the gilding of the chapel of Sant Miquel shimmered while it was adorned with frescoes. Despite dating from the 14^th century, it has been included so that visitors can enjoy a veritable jewel created by Ferrer Bassa, Catalonia’s Giotto. We can also recreate the atmosphere of the kitchen and the infirmary, with all their wares and utensils.

The long-term exhibition has been set up in the infirmary, a space renovated in the 16^th century. It features some artistic remains, such as an altar frontal and the Tapís de Mallorca ceramic panel, but, above all, it exhibits furniture that provides an insight into the monastery’s day-to-day life: a 15^th-16^th-century lectern for singing and storing sheet music, medieval wooden boxes with wrought iron, a trunk with a 19^th-century camp bed designed for travel purposes, and a 16^th-century box-bed that was used for both sleeping in and storing bedding. One of the fundamental pieces is the queen’s wardrobe, one of the few remains preserved from the time of Elisenda de Montcada, with Gothic-shaped openings to provide ventilation.

The exhibition is accompanied by an audiovisual that clearly illustrates the power that the female abbesses of Pedralbes held in the Middle Ages and the early Modern Age. The conflicts between lineages are brought to life in the story of Violant de Montcada, who explains her dismissal by Ferdinand the Catholic and her intrepid seven-year journey to get the Pope of Rome to receive her in person and reinstate her to her post. Undoubtedly, a wonderful story of female empowerment that is sure to be a hit on the big screen. And a note to visitors: this is the room where you will find the 3D glasses; it would be a shame to leave without trying them out.

A website to find out all the details

Few medieval monasteries have remained standing and are still in operation to this day. In fact, Santa Maria de Pedralbes is still one of the largest female monasteries in Europe. The digital reconstruction of the complex, the layout of the different rooms and the images of the spaces and the artworks that decorated them constitute a wealth of information that is available to everyone on the website www.monestirpedralbes.barcelona/rereelsmurs. We can see the virtual recreation of the monastery from the 15^th century to the present day, in seven stages of development, so that we can retrace each period of construction and its most salient features, as well as the community’s most noteworthy history, customs and facts.

The exhibition starts with the origins (14^th century), when the church was built, of a remarkable Gothic style, as it was built in just one year. This section contains original documents, such as the monastery’s founding charter and a detailed description of the Gothic stained-glass windows, which are just as impressive as those of the Sainte-Chapelle in Paris.

We discover that the infirmary distilled rose water, so widely used in the Middle Ages; and we see how the spectacular dormitory with its diaphragm arches and wooden ceiling evolved from an empty nave to the construction of small rooms, up to the 20^th century, when the treasure museum was set up. The cloister of Pedralbes is one of the largest in medieval Europe. We can see in detail how it was built in several phases, up to the current three floors.