Monastery of Sant Joan de les Abadesses

Few religious foundations can boast as remarkable a distinction as the one held by the Monastery of Sant Joan de les Abadesses: until the year 945, it was the only monastery for women in Catalonia. During that time, women's monastic life across the whole of Catalan territory had its sole home here, something worth bearing in mind as you approach its walls.

That female legacy is etched into the very name of the place. The town that is home to it is called, fittingly, Sant Joan de les Abadesses, San Juan de las Abadesas in Spanish, so the monastery and the town share both a name and a history. You need only say it aloud to be reminded that it was a line of abbesses who shaped the identity of this corner of the country.

The monastery stands in the Ripollès district, in the province of Girona, a mountainous area in inland Catalonia. Getting there means venturing into this district and discovering a town whose very reason for being is closely tied to the old religious community.

For travellers with an interest in heritage, the visit holds a special appeal: it is not simply a matter of admiring an old monastic complex, but of glimpsing a little-known chapter of Catalan history, that of the first women who chose community life in these lands. A fine reason to linger unhurriedly in Sant Joan de les Abadesses and let its name tell the rest of the story.