MONASTERIO DE SANTA MARÍA DE SERRATEIX

The monastery of Santa María de Serrateix, also dedicated to Sant Urbici, is located in the center of a small plateau on the watershed between the Cardener and Llobregat rivers, within the municipality of Viver i Serrateix.

The origins of this monastery are confusing, because, although we have an exceptional founding document from the year 977 that explains how a group of monks, led by Abbot Froilán, had established themselves in that place some time ago, there are several elements that force us to question its authenticity. In any case, there is no doubt that around the year 941 there was already a monastic community in Serrateix which, little by little, became consolidated thanks to the donations of relatively close goods that it received. From 977, it was when Count Oliba Cabreta recognized the existence of the monastery, sanctioned Froilán as abbot and became its main benefactor, probably with the desire to be present in a very important area to control communications with the nearby city. of Cardona.

Thanks to the support of the counts and many other individuals, the monastery of Santa María de Serrateix built an important territorial domain and entered the 11th century at a moment of splendor, building a large part of its current church in that century. From that moment on, his community alternated moments of more and less splendor, although it managed to survive until the confiscations of the 19th century.

The architectural complex of Santa María de Serrateix, made up of the church, the cloister and several rooms of the old Benedictine monastery, is the product of numerous construction phases and presents numerous different artistic styles. Thus, while the church, despite several later modifications, is essentially Romanesque and can date between the 11th and 12th centuries; Most of the community rooms, including the chapter house, are Gothic. The cloister, for its part, is neoclassical in style and was built near the end of the life of the monastery, between the 18th and 19th centuries.

At an archaeological level, in recent years, some elements corresponding to the primitive monastic complex, of pre-Romanesque style, have been located. Among them, the discovery of part of the primitive church of the monastery under the southern arm of the transept stands out, in a space that was first reused as a crypt of the Romanesque church and, later, as a capitular burial ground. The original elements are limited to a few walls and the pavement, cut directly into the rock. However, it allows us to see that it was a temple with a single nave, without a differentiated apse, with a framework of large stones and a gabled roof.

Finally, it is worth noting the existence of a prismatic tower in the south-west corner of the complex that could also correspond to the first phase of the monastery, since it presents a rather rudimentary structure, very different from what we find in the rest of the building. However, without a more in-depth archaeological study, it is impossible to be able to assure it with a minimum security.

Xavier Costa Badía for URBS REGIA

Josep M. Badia Masgrau, El monestir de Santa Maria de Serrateix. Més de mil anys arrelat al territori (Serrateix: Patronat d’Amics de Serrateix; Sant Vicenç de Castellet: El Farell, 2004).
Jordi Bolòs, Diplomatari del monestir de Santa Maria de Serrateix (segles X- XV)(Barcelona: Fundació Noguera, 2006).
Xavier Costa Badia, Paisatges monàstics. El monacat alt-medieval als comtats catalans (segles IX-X) (Barcelona: Tesi doctoral inèdita dipositada a la Universitat de Barcelona, 2019), p. 247-248.
Ignasi Feliu de Travy, El monestir de Santa Maria de Serrateix. Una aproximació a la seva història (Granollers: Editorial Montblanc, 1977)
Eduard Junyent, El comtat de Berga en els segles X i XI (Berga: Edicions del Museu Municipal de Berga, 1969), p. 18
Manuel Riu, «Fundació del monestir de Santa Maria de Serrateix», Urgellia, 15 (2005), 17

Monestir de Santa María de SERRATEIX

Monestir de Santa Maria de Serrateix