Description
Model of the Monastery of Ripoll, Girona, made of marble reconstituted with resin.
Measurements: 17 x 16 x 10 cm.
Of the primitive monastery, only the church and the cloister remain standing, partly disfigured by a later restoration. Nevertheless, it is one of the finest examples of Catalan Romanesque architecture.
Founded in the 9th century by Count Wilfred the Hairy, it was one of the many small monasteries that arose under the protection of the natural defences of the mountain, although it soon prevailed over all the others. Throughout the 10th and 12th centuries, the monastery grew so much that it had to be extended with new buildings. The result was a church with five naves covered with a wooden roof and a grandiose transept topped by seven apses.
