Ripoll - Monastery of Santa Maria

Wilfred the Hairy (aka Guifré el Pilós), whom we just "met" as the founder of the nearby monastery in Sant Joan de les Abadesses, where his daughter Emma of Barcelona was the first abbess, founded the Monastery of Santa Maria in Ripoll in 879. Here his son Radulf de Barcelona was abbot. This was not only Wilfred´s family business, he was very successful in the political power game of that time.

The first church was consecrated in 888, but as the monastery grew it was "reconsecrated" in 935, 977, and 1032. When Oliba de Besalú, as well a descendent of Wilfred, was abbot here (1008 - 1046), this was a cultural center. More than 250 books were on the shelves of the monastery´s library.

The decline started within the 15th century. In 1428 it was severely damaged by an earthquake, the restoration was done in Gothic style.

The church got ruined during the first Carlist War, the library burnt down, and the last monks had left. In 1847 part of the cloister and soon after, the abbot´s palace got demolished.

The Bishop of Vic organized the rebuilding so that the church got consecrated again in 1893. The church of today is vastly a product of the reconstruction of the 19th century, but it may be "near" to the romanesque structure.

The original church had a nave and four aisles, roofed by barrel vaults. Nave and aisle ended in five apses. Later the church had even seven apses, when two were added to the transept. It may have been as impressive as the Basilica of St. Sernin, Toulouse (230kms north), though it was smaller.



The current church dates to the reconstruction undertaken in 1896, when the structure was in ruins. It has (only) one nave and two aisles