Les Corts, Pedralbes and Sarrià-Sant Gervasi - The Rough Guide to Barcelona - page 205

part of the deal, where the Clare nuns still reside. The ensemble now forms part of the Bar-
celona History Museum.
The cloisters and monastery
The cloisters are the finest in the city, built on three levels and adorned by the slenderest of
columns, with the only sound the tinkling water from the fountain. Side rooms and chambers
giveaclearimpressionofmedievalconventlife,fromthechapterhouseandaustererefectory
to a fully equipped kitchen and infirmary. Alcoves and day cells display restored frescoes,
religious artefacts, furniture and utensils, while in the nuns' former dormitory - now given
a black marble floor and soaring oak-beamed ceiling - is a selection of the rarer treasures .
Whilethenunsthemselveseschewedpersonaltrappings,themonasteryacquiredvaluableart
and other possessions over the centuries - including pieces of Gothic furniture, paintings by
Flemish artists, an impressive series of so-called “factitious” altarpieces from the sixteenth
century (made up of sections of different style and provenance), and some outstanding illu-
minated choirbooks.
The church
The monastic church is a simple, single-naved structure, which retains some of its original
fourteenth-century stained glass. In the chancel, to the right of the altar, the foundation's
sponsor, Elisenda de Montcada, wife of Jaume II, lies in a superb carved marble tomb. Wid-
owed in 1327, six months after the inauguration of the monastery, Elisenda retired to an ad-
jacent palace, where she lived until her death in 1364.
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Sarrià
FGC Sarrià (take c/Mare de Deu de Núria exit), or bus #64 from Monestir de Pedralbes/Pl. Universitat
The Sarrià district was once an independent small town and still looks the part, with a nar-
row, traffic-free main street - c/Major de Sarrià - at the top of which stands the much-re-
stored church of Sant Vicenç . The church flanks the main Passeig de la Reina Elisenda de
Montcada, across which lies the neighbourhood market, Mercat Sarrià , housed in a 1911
modernista red-brick building. You'll find a few other surviving old-town squares down the
main street, prettiest of which is PlaçaSantVicençdeSarrià (off c/Mañe i Flaquer), where
there's a statue of the saint. If you make it this way, don't miss the Bar Tomás , just around
the corner on c/Major de Sarrià, for the world's best patatas bravas .
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