Tour of Catalunya 1 - Cistercian monasteries and Lleida

There were several places in Catlunya we'd wanted to visit, and with our time in Barcelona running out, we figured it was now or never. The result was a 5 day trip that turned into a tour of Catlunya - west to see monasteries founded in the 12th century, then north into the Catalan Pyrennes to see Romanesque churches and hike, then south and east to the Costa Brava near France before returning to Barcelona.

We began by visiting two large monasteries about an hour west of Barcelona that were founded in the last half of the 12th century, and mostly built in the late 12th and 13th centuries - Monastir de Santes Creus and Monastir de Santa Maria de Poblet. These two Cistercian monasteries, built to conform to that order's concepts of simplicity and austerity, were both very impressive.

We went first to Santes Creus, whose most notable feature is the great cloister.

The traceries of the arches are varied and elaborate.

Interesting carved capitals include these of Adam and Eve; they are being banished from the garden of Eden in the center, and to the right Eve is emerging from Adam's side.
Ribbed vaulting supported by columns create beautiful clean lines in the chapter house, which opens off the cloister.
Similarly clean lines are found in the Dormitory, where the monks slept.
The church is austere, with high, ribbed vaults and little decoration.
But there is a fine rose window on the flat east end, seen here from outside.
Only 5 kilometers away is the Monastir de Poblet. The entry between towers, added in the 14th century entrance, is severe.
Inside is the cloister, with a view of the church.
The chapter house resembles that of Santes Creus, although perhaps the palm vaulting here is not quite so severe. Note the wooden benches and pulpit; there are 30 monks still in residence at Poblet and they meet here every day.
Also still in daily use is the refectory, built about 1200.
The lay brothers refectory, built in the 13th century, is still another space with beautifully clean lines.
The church also is dominated by clean lines - this is a side aisle of the nave.
The unusual features of the church are royal tombs constructed about 1350 that lie atop shallow arches on each side of the crossing. Between 1197 and 1453 the Kings of Aragon were interred at Poblet. The tombs themselves were defaced in an anticlerical revolt in the 1830s and later restored, but the arches themselves are as built.

From Poblet we drove on to Lleida to spend the night. Lleida is dominated by the Seu Vella - old cathedral. Standing on a site high above the city, surrounded by walls, it looks as much a fortress as a cathedral.
Unusually, its cloister is in front of the church - but then there obviously was no place on the sides to build cloisters.

The cathedral was built in the first three quarters of the 13th century (the bell tower was added in the 14th century). Inside are some fine carved capitals.
Most impressive, however, were three elaborately decorated, Romanesque portals. The entry to the main aisle.
The Annunciata portal to the south transept is the oldest of the three; it is thought to have been essentially completed by 1215 (as an inscription records the death in that year of Guillem de Rocques).
The third of the great portals, the Fillois portal, dates from the 3rd quarter of the 13th century, has remarkably detailed carvings around and above the portal.
Altogether, this day was a wonderful feast of 12th and 13th century Catalan art.