Visit to Montserrat

Montserrat is a mountain chain north of the city of Barcelona, in Catalonia, Spain. The main peaks of Montserrat are Sant Jeroni, Montgrós, and Miranda de les Agulles. It is most famously known as the site of the Benedictine abbey, Santa Maria de Montserrat, which hosts the Virgin of Montserrat sanctuary and which is identified by some as the location of the Holy Grail.

The term "Montserrat” means, "jagged mountain" in Catalan. My journey to Montserrat with the IES field trip was a pleasurable one. We began our day in Montserrat with a 3-hour hike around the mountain. After an hour or so bus ride and a 5-minute funicular ride up the side of the Mountain, we were given a brief lesson about the hermitages in the mountains surround the church. We learned that at one time many religious hermits had retreated to this place but that now there were none. The last one had apparently died at the end of the 1990’s. We were then taken to one of the still intact hermitages up on one side of the mountain. There were carved out steps in the side of the mountain. The most intricate part of the hermitage was the track that had been carved into the side of the mountain wall to catch rain fall as is poured down the side of the mountain and then was captured by a well that had been carved out beneath it.  Our second half of the trip was inside the art gallery and a visit to the Basilica. In the art gallery, we learned the story of the Black Madonna and then got into line to wait to touch the hand of the black Madonna statue, the only part left exposed by the glass case.