Chapel and mountain of Montserrat

Photograph of a tall, multi-storeyed building with windows set at regular intervals standing within a rocky landscape in Montserrat, Catalonia. A narrower building stands on the right of the first building and in the background on slightly higher ground, stands a smaller building. These may have formed part of the Abbey of Santa Maria de Montserrat. Adjacent to the main building and on the left are a series of tents or marquees pitched on scrubland whilst in the foreground stand wagons covered with tarpaulins.  

Montserrat, which means serrated mountain, has been a spiritual base for hundreds of years. In a sanctuary alongside the abbey is located the Virgin of Montserrat, the patron saint of Catalonia who is believed to have been resident in the rocky outcrops since the 8th century when originally placed there for safe keeping during the Moorish invasion of Catalonia.