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returned to Barcelona just in time to grab their scuba gear and head off to El Port de la Selva, where Tina Picotes was waiting for them.
Diving in October is a delight: you avoid the crowds, benefit from greater safety -since there are fewer recreational boats around- and get to enjoy the marvelous treasure that is the Mediterranean seabed along this stretch of the Costa Brava.
One of their steadfast traditions before any dive is to go for a walk and get into shape. There's no better way to do this than by hiking up to the monastery of Sant Pere de Rodes via the path through the Vall de la Santa Creu -taking in a unique and spectacular natural setting while wondering, time and again, why that monastery is there and how they ever managed to transport all the materials needed to build it.
To this day, that question remains a mystery. But then again, not every question needs an answer -after all, what would our lives and our history be without a little bit of intrigue?
There are buildings that belong to a landscape, and others that seem to challenge it. The Monastery of Sant Pere de Rodes, standing on the slopes of the Verdera mountains, above the Mediterranean Sea, appears to do both.
At first sight, its location raises an unavoidable question: Why would anyone decide to build such an extraordinary monastery in such a difficult place?
Why carry enormous quantities of stone up a mountain? Why construct walls, vaults, columns and cloisters on steep, rocky terrain? Why choose a site exposed to the wind, far from the comforts of the valleys?
To understand Sant Pere de Rodes, we must temporarily forget our modern ideas of convenience and enter the medieval world, where geography, religion, political authority and architecture were inseparable.
In medieval Christianity, mountains possessed a powerful symbolic meaning. They were places of revelation, contemplation and spiritual encounter.
Moses received the Law on Mount Sinai. The Transfiguration of Christ took place on a mountain. Throughout Christian history, hermits and religious communities sought solitude in elevated and remote places.
A monastery built on a mountainside could therefore express more than a desire for isolation. It could represent the separation of monastic life from worldly distractions and the search for spiritual elevation.
Sant Pere de Rodes fits naturally into this religious tradition. Yet its location was not simply a matter of spirituality. The monastery occupies a commanding position overlooking the northern coast of the Alt Empordà, the Mediterranean and the surrounding mountains. This landscape was not an empty wilderness. It belonged to a region crossed by maritime connections, political interests and religious networks.
From this perspective, its apparent isolation becomes something different: a privileged position from which a religious institution could establish its presence within the territory. The monastery was not merely hidden in the mountains. It was also a monument that proclaimed its existence. Who decided to build it? The origins of Sant Pere de Rodes remain partly mysterious. Archaeological evidence indicates occupation before the great medieval monastery was constructed. By the ninth century, documents already referred to a small monastic establishment in the area.
Its transformation into a powerful Benedictine abbey took place during the tenth century. Two figures were particularly important: Tasi, a nobleman who supported the religious community, and Gausfred, Count of Empúries. Through donations, privileges and political protection, the monastery acquired the resources necessary to undertake an ambitious building programme. The abbey achieved independent status in 944, and the monumental church that survives today was constructed during the tenth and eleventh centuries. This development reflected more than religious devotion.
For the counts of Empúries, supporting a prestigious monastery strengthened their authority, reinforced their territorial influence and associated their dynasty with an important spiritual institution. In the medieval world, building a monastery could be an act of faith and an expression of political power at the same time. Sant Pere de Rodes was both.
Perhaps the most extraordinary aspect of Sant Pere de Rodes is not simply where it stands, but how medieval builders managed to construct it. The terrain offered very little naturally level ground. Instead of forcing the entire complex onto a single horizontal platform, the builders adapted the architecture to the mountain by creating terraces at different levels.
The church, cloisters and monastic buildings were organised around the uneven topography. The mountain was not merely an obstacle to overcome. It became part of the architectural structure. This required an exceptional understanding of the terrain, careful planning and considerable technical skill. Before the walls could rise, the builders had to prepare foundations, adapt the rocky ground, create stable platforms and organise access for workers and materials. Every architectural decision had consequences. The monastery could not simply be designed independently of its location. Its architecture had to emerge from the mountain itself.
Today, we admire the beauty of the monastery's masonry, columns and monumental spaces. But behind that beauty lies another story: the physical labour required to create them. How many hands were needed to transport the stone? How many journeys were made along mountain paths? How many hours were spent cutting, shaping and positioning the building materials?
The surviving architecture reveals the use of stones of different sizes, carefully dressed blocks for important structural elements and reused architectural materials. Local stone would have reduced the need for long-distance transport, although the precise origins and routes of every building material cannot always be established. The construction process would have depended on skilled stonemasons, builders, carpenters and labourers, supported by systems of transport and lifting appropriate to the period. Animal power, human strength, ropes, wooden scaffolding and lifting devices were among the resources available to medieval builders. We cannot reconstruct every movement of every stone at Sant Pere de Rodes, but we can appreciate the immense logistical effort represented by the surviving buildings. A monastery of this scale was not the achievement of one individual. It was the result of organised labour, accumulated knowledge and sustained economic investment over generations. Behind every column and every wall were people whose names history has largely forgotten.
Sant Pere de Rodes was never an entirely isolated monument. Nearby stood the settlement of Santa Creu de Rodes, whose inhabitants supported the religious community through commerce, crafts and other activities. Above the monastery rose the Castle of Sant Salvador de Verdera, associated with the defence and control of this strategically important territory. Together, these three places illustrate the organisation of medieval feudal society: those who prayed, those who worked and those who fought.
The monastery's position therefore had several meanings. It expressed religious devotion, but also political authority. It offered relative separation from ordinary life, while remaining connected to a network of economic activity. It occupied a difficult site, yet one with considerable symbolic and strategic value. Its location was not simply an architectural inconvenience. It was part of its identity.
Perhaps the most remarkable thing about Sant Pere de Rodes is that its builders did not choose the easiest solution. They chose to create something monumental in a landscape that demanded extraordinary effort. And that decision tells us something essential about medieval architecture. Buildings were not always designed primarily to satisfy practical needs. They could also communicate beliefs, ambitions and ideas about the relationship between humanity, nature and the divine.
Sant Pere de Rodes transformed a mountainside into a place of worship, pilgrimage and power. Its stones remind us that architecture is not only the art of constructing buildings. It is also the art of giving meaning to a place. The mountain was there long before the monastery. The achievement of its builders was to make the two seem inseparable.
More information: Museu d'Història de Catalunya (MHCAT)
La natura és indissociable de l’art.
Nature is inseparable from art.
MNAC
