Montserrat (mountain)

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Panoramic views of the Montserrat

Montserrat [ munsərat ] ( Catalan for, Sawed mountain ') is a sandstone mountain range that abruptly, 1200 meters high, rises from the hills of the Catalan capital of Barcelona in Spain. It is part of the mountain range Serralada Prelitoral Catalana (, Catalan Vorküstengebirge ').

Below the eastern summit is the Benedictine monastery of Santa Maria de Montserrat with the famous boys' choir l' Escolania de Montserrat. The mountain of Montserrat is one of the landmarks of Catalonia.

The finger-like rocks of the mountains look as if at each point the weight of boulders solidified underground, but erosion has removed the surrounding material. From the monastery (720 meters) from, there are several well-designed way to the highest peak, the Sant Jeronimo 1236 meters.

Apart from the winding road from the valley of the Llobregat also leads one of Adolf Bleichert & Co. Built and opened in 1930 aerial cableway ( aerial tramway ) and since 2003 also again a cog railway ( Cremallera de Montserrat ) of Monistrol de Montserrat directly to the monastery. From there, two funiculars run 250 meters up to the summit of Sant Joan (since 1917) and down to the monumental Rosary (since 1929), whose first Glorious Mystery Antoni Gaudí designed and the Santa Cova, the Holy Cave, leads, the legendary Auffindungsort of the miraculous image of Montserrat, the Romanesque black mother of God, patroness of Catalonia since 1880.

Scattered over the approximately 10 km long and 5 km wide mountain range are also the smaller monasteries of St. Benedict of Nursia and St. Cecilia of Rome. The latter was first documented in 945 and still has a Romanesque church from the 11th century and numerous, mostly dilapidated hermitages.

The Montserrat is not visible from Barcelona, as the Tibidabo and the surrounding mountain range Serra de Collserola block the view.