The Pedralbes monastery will undergo a necessary restoration when it is close to celebrating seven centuries of life. The intervention will focus on the facades and some of the stained glass windows of the church. The tender for the works has been put out to tender and is expected to begin this fall, with a duration of 13 months, according to sources from the Barcelona Institute of Culture (Icub). The rehabilitation will cost 789,666.78 euros and will be borne by the municipal coffers.
The restoration plan for the Pedralbes monastery has its origins in the contract signed in 1972 between Barcelona City Council and the religious community of Poor Clare nuns, owners of the monumental complex, for a period of 99 years. The agreement includes the condition that the City Council is responsible for making the relevant investments to maintain the site in exchange for the transfer of the historic building for museum use.
Specifically, the future intervention contemplates the work necessary for the structural consolidation of the north façade of the church, with various vertical cracks, both inside and outside. This action is considered a “priority” given the danger of falls and degradation of the stained glass. In this part of the wall, a striking rose window from the 14th century stands out, which will also be rehabilitated. With 3.98 meters in diameter, it is made up of 49 pieces of stained glass symbolizing floral shapes and in the center a crucifixion is represented.
On the other hand, cracks have also been detected on the east side façade of the church, the one that faces Baixada del Monestir street, so action will be taken at this point. Additionally, in this area a set of stained glass windows that had not been completely restored since their installation in the 19th century will be repaired. These elements will be dismantled one by one, numbered and cataloged for rehabilitation. The project highlights that the Pedralbes stained glass windows constitute the only set of medieval stained glass windows preserved within a convent building in Barcelona, which "gives it exceptional value."
The total scope of the intervention covers 1,025 square meters of façade. The affected parts of the walls will be rebuilt with stones from Montjuïc, from municipal warehouses, and traditional lime mortars will be used. This restoration in the monastery, having the maximum heritage protection with a level A, has had to have the approval of the Territorial Commission of Cultural Heritage of the city of Barcelona.
To launch the tender, an executive project has been prepared, drawn up by the technical architect Modest Mor Paris, commissioned by Icub, with the guidelines and monitoring carried out by the architect Josep M. Julià i Capdevila, architect in charge of the restoration of the Pedralbes monastery.
Future works must allow the regular use of the monastery complex, where a community of Poor Clare nuns has resided since Queen Elisenda de Montcada founded the monastery in 1327.
