Plana Novella ( ca, La Plana Novella) is an old country estate and village located on a small plain in the middle of the

Garraf Massif The Garraf Massif ( ca, Massís del Garraf, ) is a mountain range of the Catalan Coastal Range, Catalonia, Spain. Its cliffs reach the Mediterranean waters. Its highest point on the coastal side is La Morella, 593 metres above sea level and furth ...

National Park A national park is a nature park, natural park in use for conservation (ethic), conservation purposes, created and protected by national governments. Often it is a reserve of natural, semi-natural, or developed land that a sovereign state dec ...

, about three kilometers to the east of Jafra and within the municipal boundary of the town of

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. It is notable for being in an almost uninhabited rural area, despite being about half an hour's drive from

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. It is also the location of a

Tibetan Buddhist Tibetan Buddhism (also referred to as Indo-Tibetan Buddhism, Lamaism, Lamaistic Buddhism, Himalayan Buddhism, and Northern Buddhism) is the form of Buddhism practiced in Tibet and Bhutan, where it is the dominant religion. It is also in majo ...

retreat.

History

In 1885, the estate was acquired by Pere Domenech i Grau who built a large mansion, ''Palau Novella'' (Novella Palace), on it. Ten years later he went bankrupt and the estate was taken over by the Spanish government and reclassified as an agricultural colony. The architectural style of the mansion is

eclectic Eclectic may refer to: Music * ''Eclectic'' (Eric Johnson and Mike Stern album), 2014 * ''Eclectic'' (Big Country album), 1996 * Eclectic Method, name of an audio-visual remix act * Eclecticism in music, the conscious use of styles alien to th ...

. It can be described as a "castle of props", as if it were the set of a theatre. The most original stylistic building of la Plana Novella is the courtyard in the Gaudi style, but one of the most characteristic and eye-catching elements is the lavatory, known as "the throne". Rural depopulation has left many farmhouses in the area deserted, and the Park is almost uninhabited. However the area has seen a recent growth in second homes, and tourism is growing in importance in the village. Since its foundation in 1996, the ''

Sakya Tashi Ling Sakya Tashi Ling () is a monastery belonging to one of four Buddhist schools from Tibet, the Sakyapa tradition. It is an ancient order that follows the Tibetan spiritual leader and ancient king Sakya Trizin. The monastery is ruled by Lama Jamyan ...

'' Tibetan

Buddhist monastery Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religion or philosophical tradition based on teachings attributed to the Buddha. It originated in northern India as a -movement in the 5th century BCE, and gra ...

and community has been located in Plana Novella.AADD. ''Museus i Centres de Patrimoni Cultural a Catalunya'', Departament de Cultura de la Generalitat de Catalunya, Barcelona 2010,

References

External links

Tibetan Buddhist retreat website
Garraf {{Barcelona-geo-stub