Page 225 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide - Spain

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VIsITors’ CheCklIsT
Practical Information
Montserrat, Barcelona province.
Tel 938 77 77 77.
∑ montserratvisita.com
Basilica: open 7:30am–8pm daily.
5 from 7:30am daily. 8
Museum: open 10am–5:45pm
daily. & 7 8
Transport
£ Aeri de Montserrat, then
. Basilica Façade
Agapit Vallmitjana sculpted Christ and the cable car; Monistrol­Enllaç,
apostles on the basilica’s Neo­Renaissance then La Cremallera rack railway.
@ from Barcelona.
façade. It was built in 1900 to replace the
Renais sance façade of the original church,
consecrated in 1592.

Basilica Interior
The sanctuary in the domed
basilica is adorned by a richly
enamelled altar and paintings
by Catalan artists.

. The Virgin of Montserrat
The small wooden statue of La Moreneta (the
dark one) is the soul of Montserrat. It is said to
have been made by St Luke and brought here
by St Peter in AD 50. Centuries later, the statue
is believed to have been hidden from the
Moors in the nearby Santa Cova (Holy Cave).
Carbon dating suggests, however, that the Inner Courtyard
statue was carved around the 12th century. On one side of the courtyard is
In 1881 Montserrat’s Black Virgin became the baptistry (1958), with sculp­
patroness of Catalonia.
tures by Carles Collet. Pilgrims
The blackened Virgin of Montserrat may approach the Virgin through
a door to the right.

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