Serrabone Priory (french: Prieuré de Serrabone; ca, Santa Maria de Serrabona) is a former monastery of Canons Regular in the commune of

Boule-d'Amont Boule-d'Amont (; ca, Bula d'Amunt) is a commune in the Pyrénées-Orientales department in southern France. Geography Localisation Boule-d'Amont is located in the canton of Le Canigou and in the arrondissement of Prades. Government an ...

, in

Pyrénées-Orientales Pyrénées-Orientales (; ca, Pirineus Orientals ; oc, Pirenèus Orientals ; ), also known as Northern Catalonia, is a department of the region of Occitania, Southern France, adjacent to the northern Spanish frontier and the Mediterranean Sea. ...

. The priory is located in a wild and beautiful area in the valley of the Boulès in the heart of an oak forest, at the centre of the Aspres mountain range on the eastern foothills of the Canigou, about 30 km from

Perpignan Perpignan (, , ; ca, Perpinyà ; es, Perpiñán ; it, Perpignano ) is the prefecture of the Pyrénées-Orientales department in southern France, in the heart of the plain of Roussillon, at the foot of the Pyrenees a few kilometres from the ...

. It is famous for its splendid marble rostrum from the 12th century, regarded as a masterpiece of

Romanesque art Romanesque art is the art of Europe from approximately 1000 AD to the rise of the Gothic Art, Gothic style in the 12th century, or later depending on region. The preceding period is known as the Pre-Romanesque period. The term was invented by 1 ...

History

The name of the monastery derives from the

Catalan Catalan may refer to: Catalonia From, or related to Catalonia: * Catalan language, a Romance language * Catalans, an ethnic group formed by the people from, or with origins in, Northern or southern Catalonia Places * 13178 Catalan, asteroid #1 ...

"serra bona", meaning "good mountain". The original foundation - of which order if any is unclear - on the site took place in the 10th or 11th century and is recorded in a document of 1069. In 1082, under the patronage of the local lords and the

Count of Conflent The County of Conflent or Confluent ( la, Confluensis) was one of the Catalan counties of the Marca Hispanica in the ninth century. Usually associated with the County of Cerdanya and the county of Razès, and was located to the west of County of R ...

, who gave it property and revenues, it was re-established as an

Augustinian Augustinian may refer to: *Augustinians, members of religious orders following the Rule of St Augustine *Augustinianism, the teachings of Augustine of Hippo and his intellectual heirs *Someone who follows Augustine of Hippo * Canons Regular of Sain ...

priory.

Architecture

The first church at Serrabone had just one nave with a pointed barrel vault. An extensive transformation took place in the 12th century. A transept and three apses replaced the earlier

chevet In architecture, an apse (plural apses; from Latin 'arch, vault' from Ancient Greek 'arch'; sometimes written apsis, plural apsides) is a semicircular recess covered with a hemispherical vault or semi-dome, also known as an ''exedra''. In ...

. The principal apse, protruding on the exterior, is flanked by two absidoles enclosed in the walls. On the north side there is a second nave and a

bell tower A bell tower is a tower that contains one or more bells, or that is designed to hold bells even if it has none. Such a tower commonly serves as part of a Christian church, and will contain church bells, but there are also many secular bell tower ...

, on the south side a cloister, and another building containing three rooms. The thick walls of the nave are built of local schist rubble stone. The second construction was more elaborate and used large blocks of cut schist which were carefully placed. The sculptures in the cloister, the main portal, the window in the apsidole and the gallery, are all worked in pink marble from the

Conflent Conflent () is a historical Catalan comarca of Northern Catalonia, now part of the French department of Pyrénées-Orientales. In the Middle Ages it comprised the County of Conflent. The capital of this ''pays'' is Prades ( ca, Prada de Conf ...

, which makes a startling contrast to the green-grey of the schist.

References

External links

Serrabone Priory official page

On Google map

Visiting information
{{Authority control Christian monasteries established in the 11th century 12th-century churches in France Buildings and structures in Pyrénées-Orientales Augustinian monasteries in France Romanesque architecture in France Churches in Pyrénées-Orientales Monuments historiques of Pyrénées-Orientales