Logbook · 9 places

What to see and do in Sant Joan de les Abadesses

What to see and do in Sant Joan de les Abadesses (Ripollès, Girona): 9 places across monuments, nature, activities and curiosities, with a photo and a Google Maps location.

1 Villages · 6 Monuments · 2 Historical milestones

How far each place is from the centre of Sant Joan de les Abadesses

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Spain › Catalonia › Girona › Ripollès › Sant Joan de les Abadesses

What to see and do in Sant Joan de les Abadesses

Sant Joan de les Abadesses
Village
Sant Joan de les Abadesses is a town in the Ripollès district, between Camprodon and Ripoll, at the confluence of the Ter river and the Arçamala stream, with 3,393 inhabitants. It grew up around its monastery, founded in 887 by Wifredo el Velloso and his wife Countess Guinedilda as a dowry for their daughter Emma of Barcelona, who became its first abbess. Over the Ter it preserves two historic bridges, the old medieval bridge or Pont Vell, and the Pont Nou, made of concrete and dating from the 20th century. The municipal area extends between the Serra Cavallera to the north and the southern ranges, with the peaks of Colomer and Castelltallat, and reaches the neighbouring district of La Garrotxa, where the hamlet of Santa Llúcia de Puigmal is located; altitude ranges from 720 metres by the Ter to 1,319 metres at the northern edge.
Monastery of Sant Joan de les Abadesses
Monument
The Monestir de Sant Joan de les Abadesses, founded in 887 by Count Guifré the Hairy for Benedictine nuns — the only women's monastery in Catalonia until 945 —, houses a Romanesque church renovated from 1130 and consecrated in 1150, with a Greek-cross plan and an apse with two tiers of arcading. The altar is presided over by the Davallament, a sculptural group carved in 1250 and one of the most outstanding works of Catalan Romanesque art, known as the Santíssim Misteri ever since incorrupt remains were found in 1426 hidden in a reliquary inside the head of Christ. It is completed by a Gothic cloister from 1442, the Baroque chapel dels Dolors, with a Pietat by Josep Viladomat, and the 1345 Gothic tomb of Abbot Miró de Tagamanent, the work of an alabaster workshop active in the town in the 14th century.
Abbey Palace of Sant Joan de les Abadesses
Monument
The 15th-century Palau Abacial forms part of the complex of the Benedictine monastery founded in 887 by Guifré the Hairy and governed by his daughter Emma as its first abbess; the church, Romanesque with Gothic elements, houses the 1250 Davallament, one of the most outstanding carvings of Catalan Romanesque art. An Asset of National Cultural Interest (BIC RI-51-0000565).
Sant Pol de Sant Joan de les Abadesses
Monument
A Romanesque church from the early 12th century, extended in 1728, which ceased to be a parish in 1851 and was destroyed in 1936; its remains were consolidated in the 1960s. Today only the trefoil three-apse chancel and the front survive, with a carved tympanum of Christ between Saint Paul and Saint Peter.
Round Tower of Sant Joan de les Abadesses
Monument
The Torre Rodona (Round Tower) was part of the defensive system that surrounded the monastery and the town of Sant Joan de les Abadesses during the late Middle Ages, of which several stretches of wall still survive around the old town centre. It is a tower with a completely circular plan, built in rubble masonry and roofed with Arab tile, though it retains only a vague trace of its original form after refurbishment works carried out between 1964 and 1966. The strengthening of the walls, fitted with 24 towers and drawbridges at two of their three gates, was promoted by abbot Ramon de la Bisbal between 1230 and 1248 to withstand attacks from rival nobles; in 1697 the town was besieged by the troops of the Duke of Noailles, who after taking it tore down the wall.
Watchtower and Chapel of Sant Antoni de Pàdua
Monument
A 17th- and 18th-century complex located in the municipal district of Sant Joan de les Abadesses (Ripollès, Girona), combining a defensive tower with a chapel dedicated to Sant Antoni de Pàdua. It is an example of Catalan vernacular architecture of that period and is protected as a Bien Cultural de Interés Nacional (Catalonia's highest level of heritage protection).
The Tower of Sant Joan de les Abadesses
Monument
The Torre de Sant Joan de les Abadesses, from the 16th century, is a farmhouse arranged around a square defensive tower that appears to have been the first structure of the complex, with agricultural buildings added later. An Asset of National Cultural Interest since 1988 (BCIN 1478-MH).
The consecration of the monastery of Abbess Emma
Historical milestone
Guifré el Pilós consecrated in 887 the Monasterio de Sant Joan de les Abadesses and placed at its head his daughter Emma, the first abbess of the first Benedictine women's community in Gothia; from there the repopulation of the entire Ter valley was organized.
The expulsion of the abbesses
Historical milestone
A papal bull dissolved the female community in 1017, accusing it of not following the rule, in an episode closely linked to the interests of count Bernat Tallaferro; the monastery later passed to Augustinian canons.