Monasterio Poblet

Un magnifique monastère cistercien remanié au cours des siècles avec une église des plus atypique. Un lieu à visiter absolument (les enfants eux aussi ont adoré) !

Un magnifique monastère cistercien bati entre le 12ème et le 18ème siècle à découvrir en visite guidée.
un lieu splendide.

The Royal Monastery of Santa Maria de Poblet is one of the best preserved Cistercian monasteries in Europe and one of the major tourist sites of Catalonia.
Still a working monastery, it contains the tombs of the former kings and queens of Aragón and Catalonia, and is a UNESCO World Heritage site.
It is one of three monasteries on the Catalan ‘Cistercian Trail’, along with Santes Creus and Vallbona.
History
The monastery was founded in 1150 by Count Ramon Berenguer as part of the campaign to repopulate lands recently conquered from the Moors. From the start it was given special privileges as a Royal foundation, and by the 14^th century its jurisdiction reached over 7 baronies.
The kings of Aragón and Catalonia chose to be buried here in the 13^th and 14^th centuries, and the monastery was endowed with immense wealth as a result. This led (perhaps inevitably) to corruption, and the foundation acquired something of a reputation for splendour and decadence among Cistercian houses.
The main parts of the monastery were completed in the 12^th and 13^th centuries, and a strong encircling wall added in the 14^th century. Two further walled enclosures were added later, and an imposing new sacristy was built in the 18^th century.
All this splendour came to an abrupt end in 1835, when the Carlist Wars led to the confiscation of church lands and the expulsion of the monks. Long hated by the local peasantry, they took the opportunity to burn and loot the buildings, and over the years removed the stones for other building projects until much of the site was a picturesque ruin.
In 1940, the monastery was repopulated by Italian Cistercians, and since then a long process of rebuilding and restoration has been undertaken, such that it has now effectively been fully restored. Within the middle courtyard, new monastic buildings house the present monastic community. Just a few buildings in front of the main entrance remain in a delightfully tumbledown state to remind you what it once looked like.
The site
Entrance is through a gate on the main road through Poblet, which itself leads through another courtyard and gateway to the monastery proper. The new buildings (some on old foundations) on the left lead across the main courtyard to the 14^th century walls and the heavily defended Royal Gate. To the right, the walls are also pierced by the main entrance to the church, with a fine baroque façade.
Once inside, the tour takes you through a series of 13^th century domestic rooms, opening onto the north side of the cloisters, including the locutorium or reading room, kitchen, refectory and the calefactorium or warming room. The present day library, in the north east corner, once the monks’ room, has a particularly fine vaulted ceiling supported on a row of Gothic arches.
The cloisters themselves are one of the highlights of the visit, built between the 12^th and 14^th centuries, in a mixture of Romanesque and Gothic styles. The later Gothic tracery is particularly fine, with delicate columns and capitals decorated with foliage. In the centre is a lavabo pavilion with a fountain, built in the late 12^th century.
On the east side of the cloisters lies the 13^th Century Chapterhouse, a wonderfully serene example of Cistercian Gothic architecture. The four columns support a fully-​vaulted ceiling, with the ribs fanning out in the form of palm trees. On the floor are some fine tombs of some of the abbots.
The tour then heads into the chapel, built on a basilical plan in the 12^th and 13^th centuries. It is divided by a metal screen into the lay part, comprising the nave (and is accessed from the courtyard only). This is in the Romanesque style, with aisles and side chapels on the southern side, the architecture spare but serene, and devoid of decoration. In contrast, on the monastic side, the choir, sanctuary and ambulatory are more elaborate and in a mixture of Romanesque and Gothic styles.
The royal tombs rest, for the most part, on two wide arches which span the crossing between the choir and sanctuary. They include eight kings of Catalonia and Aragon, from Alfons «the Chaste» (1157 – 1196) to King Joan (John) II (1397 – 1489), with six of their queens. In a rather unusual arrangement, the effigies are set at an angle across the tops of the arches, in rows. They were fully restored by Frederic Marès in 1946 and are impressive examples of 13^th and 14^th century carving. Across in the transeptal chapels are the smaller tombs of royal children.
Between the arches is the equally impressive early Renaissance reredos, carved by Damià Forment in the 16^th Century. The choir stalls, by contrast, are modern reproductions. Beyond the Chapel is the impressive if slightly clinical expanse of the 18^th Century sacristy, largely devoid of its Baroque decoration.
Those following the tour then ascend a stairway to the cloister roof, to visit the 13^th century lay brothers’ refectory, used as a cellar from the 14^th century