

The Convent of Santa María de Vallbona is Catalonia’s most important Cistercian convent. It has its origins in some mixed groups of hermits who later became Cenobites, organized in the form of a double community under the leadership of its founder, Ramón de Vallbona, and who observe the Rule of St. Benedict. The oldest record dates from 1153. In 1175, the men moved to Montsant and the community, now exclusively female, came to form part of the Cistercian reformation and came under the leadership of the Abbess, Oria Ramírez, who moved there from the Convent of Tulebras (Navarra). Since the 13th century, there has been a monastic school in Vallbona and there is evidence of the existence of a scriptorium, where certain monks engaged in copying and decorating the codices. Grammar, liturgy, calligraphy, miniature modelling and music were taught in its classrooms.