File:Monastery of Santa Maria de Vallbona (15990125792).jpg

Monastery of Santa Maria de Vallbona

The Monastery of Santa Maria de Vallbona (Catalan: Santa Maria de Vallbona de les Monges; Spanish: El Real Monasterio de Santa María de Vallbona) is a Cistercian abbey in Vallbona de les Monges, in the comarca of Urgell, Catalonia, Spain. Founded in the early 12th century, it is one of the most important monasteries in Catalonia; its church represents an example of transition between Romanesque and Gothic architecture. The abbey was declared a national monument in 1931.

Initially the monastery consisted in a community of hermits, documented from 1157, which followed the Benedictine rule; in 1175, however, only a small group of nuns remained. In 1163 they had received territories from Ramon Berenguer IV, count of Barcelona, and in that year decided to switch to the Cistercian order. Two years later the abbey received several privileges from King Alfonso I of Aragon, and subsequently it could expand thanks to the numerous donations from noble families.

The cloister is on a quadrangular plan, whose sides, of different lengths, correspond to different, successive ages and construction styles (12th-15th centuries). The oldest sector, on the south, shows the original, sober Romanesque-Cistercian canons: it has three spans formed by three piers, with three rounded arcades supported by columns with undecorated capitals.

The eastern wing is also in Romanesque style (early 13th century), and has five spans divided by four pilasters, The arcades form triple mullioned windows with, in the mullions, small rose windows with decoration in Arabic style. The capitals of the columns have vegetable motifs.

The northern wing is the shortest one; it has wide hollows with ogival traceries in Gothic style, dating to the 14th century. The western side, the most recent one, was built in the 15th century in proto-Renaissance style. The capitals of the columns show the heraldic symbols of the Caldés family, who produced the monastery's abbesses during that period.

The Capitular Hall is accessed from the cloister through a Gothic gate built under abbess Anglesola in the 14th century, and has a cross-vault cover. The pavement features several tomb slabs of abbesses, and there is an alabaster image of the Virgin of Mercy, attributed to the sculptor Pere Johan.