Montserrat is a multi-peaked mountain

Mountain

Image:Himalaya_annotated.jpg|thumb|right|The Himalayan mountain range with Mount Everestrect 58 14 160 49 Chomo Lonzorect 200 28 335 52 Makalurect 378 24 566 45 Mount Everestrect 188 581 920 656 Tibetan Plateaurect 250 406 340 427 Rong River...

 located near the city of Barcelona

Barcelona

Barcelona is the second largest city in Spain after Madrid, and the capital of Catalonia, with a population of 1,621,537 within its administrative limits on a land area of...

, in Catalonia

Catalonia

Catalonia is an autonomous community in northeastern Spain, with the official status of a "nationality" of Spain. Catalonia comprises four provinces: Barcelona, Girona, Lleida, and Tarragona. Its capital and largest city is Barcelona. Catalonia covers an area of 32,114 km² and has an...

, Spain

Spain

Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...

. It is part of the Catalan Pre-Coastal Range

Catalan Pre-Coastal Range

The Catalan Pre-Coastal Range is a system of mountain ranges running parallel to the Mediterranean Sea coast in Catalonia. It is part of the Catalan Mediterranean System. Its main axis runs between the Catalan Transversal Range and the Serra de l'Espina, which connects with the Ports de...

. The main peaks are Sant Jeroni (1,236 m), Montgrós (1 ,120 m) and Miranda de les Agulles (903 m). The mountain is the namesake for the Caribbean

Caribbean

The Caribbean is a crescent-shaped group of islands more than 2,000 miles long separating the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea, to the west and south, from the Atlantic Ocean, to the east and north...

 island of Montserrat

Montserrat

Montserrat is a British overseas territory located in the Leeward Islands, part of the chain of islands called the Lesser Antilles in the West Indies. This island measures approximately long and wide, giving of coastline...

.

It is well-known as the site of the Benedictine

Benedictine

Benedictine refers to the spirituality and consecrated life in accordance with the Rule of St Benedict, written by Benedict of Nursia in the sixth century for the cenobitic communities he founded in central Italy. The most notable of these is Monte Cassino, the first monastery founded by Benedict...

 abbey

Abbey

An abbey is a Catholic monastery or convent, under the authority of an Abbot or an Abbess, who serves as the spiritual father or mother of the community.The term can also refer to an establishment which has long ceased to function as an abbey,...

, Santa Maria de Montserrat

Santa Maria de Montserrat

Santa Maria de Montserrat is a Benedictine abbey located on the mountain of Montserrat, in Monistrol de Montserrat, in Catalonia, Spain.It hosts the Virgin of Montserrat, and the Publicacions de l'Abadia de Montserrat, a publishing house, one of the oldest presses in the world still running, with...

, which hosts the Virgin of Montserrat

Virgin of Montserrat

The Virgin of Montserrat is a statue of the Virgin Mary and infant Christ venerated at the Santa Maria de Montserrat monastery in the Montserrat mountain in Catalonia....

 sanctuary and which is identified by some with the location of the Holy Grail

Holy Grail

The Holy Grail is a sacred object figuring in literature and certain Christian traditions, most often identified with the dish, plate, or cup used by Jesus at the Last Supper and said to possess miraculous powers...

 in Arthurian

King Arthur

King Arthur is a legendary British leader of the late 5th and early 6th centuries, who, according to Medieval histories and romances, led the defence of Britain against Saxon invaders in the early 6th century. The details of Arthur's story are mainly composed of folklore and literary invention, and...

 myth

Mythology

The term mythology can refer either to the study of myths, or to a body or collection of myths. As examples, comparative mythology is the study of connections between myths from different cultures, whereas Greek mythology is the body of myths from ancient Greece...

.

"Montserrat" literally means "jagged (serrated) mountain" in Catalan

Catalan language

Catalan is a Romance language, the national and only official language of Andorra and a co-official language in the Spanish autonomous communities of Catalonia, the Balearic Islands and Valencian Community, where it is known as Valencian , as well as in the city of Alghero, on the Italian island...

. It describes the peculiar aspect of the rock formation

Rock formation

This is a list of rock formations that include isolated, scenic, or spectacular surface rock outcrops. These formations are usually the result of weathering and erosion sculpting the existing rock...

, which is visible from a great distance. The mountain is composed of strikingly pink

Pink

Pink is a mixture of red and white. Commonly used for Valentine's Day and Easter, pink is sometimes referred to as "the color of love." The use of the word for the color known today as pink was first recorded in the late 17th century....

 conglomerate

Conglomerate (geology)

A conglomerate is a rock consisting of individual clasts within a finer-grained matrix that have become cemented together. Conglomerates are sedimentary rocks consisting of rounded fragments and are thus differentiated from breccias, which consist of angular clasts...

, a form of sedimentary rock

Sedimentary rock

Sedimentary rock are types of rock that are formed by the deposition of material at the Earth's surface and within bodies of water. Sedimentation is the collective name for processes that cause mineral and/or organic particles to settle and accumulate or minerals to precipitate from a solution....

.

Access

The Benedictine Abbey can be reached by road, or by the Aeri de Montserrat

Aeri de Montserrat

The Aeri de Montserrat is an aerial cable car which provides one of the means of access to the Montserrat mountain and abbey. It can be found near the city of Barcelona, Catalonia....

 cable car, or by the Montserrat Rack Railway

Montserrat Rack Railway

The Montserrat Rack Railway is a mountain railway line north of Barcelona in Catalonia, Spain. The line runs from Monistrol de Montserrat to the mountain-top monastery of Montserrat....

. The lower stations of both the rack railway and the cable car can be reached by Ferrocarrils de la Generalitat de Catalunya

Ferrocarrils de la Generalitat de Catalunya

Ferrocarrils de la Generalitat de Catalunya , or FGC, is a railway company which operates several unconnected lines in Catalonia, Spain....

 train from Barcelona's Plaça d'Espanya station. From the abbey, the Funicular de Sant Joan

Funicular de Sant Joan

The Funicular de Sant Joan is a funicular railway at Montserrat, near Barcelona in Catalonia, Spain. The line connects the monastery, and the upper terminus of the Montserrat Rack Railway, with sacred sites, walking trails and viewpoints higher up the mountain...

 funicular railway

Funicular

A funicular, also known as an inclined plane or cliff railway, is a cable railway in which a cable attached to a pair of tram-like vehicles on rails moves them up and down a steep slope; the ascending and descending vehicles counterbalance each other.-Operation:The basic principle of funicular...

 goes up to the top of the mountain, where there are various abandoned hovels in the cliff faces that were previously the abodes of reclusive monks, whilst the Funicular de Santa Cova

Funicular de Santa Cova

The Funicular de Santa Cova, or Santa Cova funicular railway, is a funicular railway at Montserrat, near Barcelona in Catalonia, Spain. The line descends from the monastery, and the upper terminus of the Montserrat Rack Railway, on a continuous curve to a lower station that gives access, via a...

 descends to a shrine.

Hiking and climbing

The highest summit of Montserrat is called Sant Jeroni (Saint Jerome) and stands at 1,236 meters (4,055 feet) above sea-level. It is accessible by hiking trails which connect from the top entrance to the Sant Joan funicular

Funicular

A funicular, also known as an inclined plane or cliff railway, is a cable railway in which a cable attached to a pair of tram-like vehicles on rails moves them up and down a steep slope; the ascending and descending vehicles counterbalance each other.-Operation:The basic principle of funicular...

, the monastery, or the base of the mountain.

The Cavall Bernat (1 ,111 m) is an important rock feature popular with climbers

Rock climbing

Rock climbing also lightly called 'The Gravity Game', is a sport in which participants climb up, down or across natural rock formations or artificial rock walls. The goal is to reach the summit of a formation or the endpoint of a pre-defined route without falling...

.

External links

• LARSA Montserrat How to arrive, where to eat, general services
• Shrine of Our Lady of Montserrat History, description and photos
• "Patronage and Piety: Montserrat and the Royal House of Medieval Catalonia-Aragon" Detailed history of the abbey (PDF
  Portable Document Format
  Portable Document Format is an open standard for document exchange. This file format, created by Adobe Systems in 1993, is used for representing documents in a manner independent of application software, hardware, and operating systems....
  
  )
• Official website of the Escolania
• Official website of the Abbey