MONASTERY SANT FELIU DE GUIXOLS ENG.

Monastery . It was founded as a Benedictine monastery, dedicated to the martyr Saint Feliu the African. This is the most important architectural collection in town and, therefore, that which identifies it more. The documentation found is dated from the first half of the X Century. The fortified precinct had thirteen towers and five doors. Only two towers and one door remain today.

1. The baroque building of the monastery, which dates from the XVIII Century, is only a part of the millennial fortified ensemble, where all architectural styles are mixed, from the pre-romanesque to the baroque. The function of each one of its elements is now difficult to figure out. At present, the Town’s History Museum.

2. The “Horseshoe Door”, from the IX-X Century, is the only architectural element which remains of one of the wings of the church. It consists of three horseshoe-shaped arches sustained by four cylindrical columns, of around one metre high.

3. The Saint Benedict Arch (1747) is the door located in front of the monastery and was the entrance to the Benedictine precinct.

4. The Smoke (X-XI Centuries) and Horn (XI Century) towers are at both sides of the church façade. The Smoke tower is semicircular and smoke signs were made from here to warn people when the watchman saw enemies approaching by sea. The Horn tower is rectangular. A horn was also sounded here to warn people of the enemy’s presence.

5. The monks had their monastic church (IX-XV Centuries) built on top of some old constructions. The first phase is of Romanesque style (IX-XIV Centuries). This corresponds to the façade and the first portion of the nave. The Crucifix, although coming from Navarra, is also Romanesque. The church was enlarged during the XIV and XV Centuries. This is the gothic part that includes the rest of the nave, the crossing, the three apses with ogival windows, the vaults and the decorated pendants. The church is consecrated to Saint Feliu and to ‘la Mare de Déu del Àngels’.