Sant Pere de la Portella is a

Benedictine The Benedictines, officially the Order of Saint Benedict (, abbreviated as O.S.B. or OSB), are a mainly contemplative monastic order of the Catholic Church for men and for women who follow the Rule of Saint Benedict. Initiated in 529, th ...

monastery A monastery is a building or complex of buildings comprising the domestic quarters and workplaces of Monasticism, monastics, monks or nuns, whether living in Cenobitic monasticism, communities or alone (hermits). A monastery generally includes a ...

in the town of

La Quar La Quar (; ) is a small town and municipality located in the comarca of Berguedà, in Catalonia. The area is characterized by its isolated farmhouses and a few small settlements. Historically, the traditional center of La Quar was Santa Maria de l ...

, in the

comarca A ''comarca'' (, , , ) is a traditional region or local administrative division found in Portugal, Spain, and some of their former colonies, like Brazil, Nicaragua, and Panama. The term is derived from the term ''marca'', meaning a "march, mark ...

Berguedà Berguedà () is an inland Comarques of Catalonia, comarca in the Comarques Centrals, central region of Catalonia, Spain. It lies partly in the Pyrenees and Pre-Pyrenees, and partly in the Catalan Central Depression. The capital is the city of Berg ...

Catalonia Catalonia is an autonomous community of Spain, designated as a ''nationalities and regions of Spain, nationality'' by its Statute of Autonomy of Catalonia of 2006, Statute of Autonomy. Most of its territory (except the Val d'Aran) is situate ...

, Spain. The 11th-century building was built in Romanesque style. In 2010, it was declared a

Bien de Interés Cultural (, , , ) is a category of the heritage register in Spain. The term is also used in Colombia and other Spanish-speaking countries. The term literally means a "good of cultural interest" ("goods" in the economic sense). It includes not only mater ...

landmark.

Architecture and furnishings

The main element of the monastery is its church, which consists of a wide nave roofed with a

barrel vault A barrel vault, also known as a tunnel vault, wagon vault or wagonhead vault, is an architectural element formed by the extrusion of a single curve (or pair of curves, in the case of a pointed barrel vault) along a given distance. The curves are ...

and terminated by a slightly narrower

apse In architecture, an apse (: apses; from Latin , 'arch, vault'; from Ancient Greek , , 'arch'; sometimes written apsis; : apsides) is a semicircular recess covered with a hemispherical Vault (architecture), vault or semi-dome, also known as an ' ...

. The apse is also covered by a semicircular vault, and is decorated. There are blind arcades in groups of four between semicircular columns reinforced by brackets. The building's principal entrance is located on the west façade, and is constructed as a door with two arches. On the south wall, another door leads to the adjacent

cloister A cloister (from Latin , "enclosure") is a covered walk, open gallery, or open Arcade (architecture), arcade running along the walls of buildings and forming a quadrangle (architecture), quadrangle or garth. The attachment of a cloister to a cat ...

. Attached to the north elevation is the

bell tower A bell tower is a tower that contains one or more bells, or that is designed to hold bells even if it has none. Such a tower commonly serves as part of a Christian church, and will contain church bells, but there are also many secular bell to ...

, of a square plan, with a single, large arched opening on each of its sides. The cloister, situated to the south, had two floors, both containing typical porched walkways framed by arches. There are monastic rooms designed in the typical style of the Benedictine monasteries, containing a refectory, kitchen, bedroom, and dressing room; though half of this is in ruins.

Bibliography

*Pladevall, Antoni (2001), ''Guies Catalunya Romànica'', El Berguedà, Barcelona, Pòrtic. (in Catalan)

External links

{{Coord, 42.103761, 1.95, display=title Benedictine monasteries in Catalonia Bien de Interés Cultural landmarks in the Province of Barcelona Christian monasteries established in the 1000s Romanesque architecture in Catalonia 1003 establishments in Europe