At Montserrat, a mountain in the northwestern Barcelona province of Catalonia, Spain

 “I would sooner be a foreigner in Spain than in most countries. How easy it is to make friends in Spain!” -- George Orwell, Homage to Catalonia

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(in Catalonia, Spain) Montserrat, a mountain in the northwestern Barcelona province of Catalonia, is found just west of the Llobregat River -- northwest of Barcelona city. Known to the Romans as Mons Serratus (“Saw-Toothed Mountain”) and to the Catalans as Montsagrat (“Sacred Mountain”), it is famous for its unusual appearance and the Benedictine monastery of Santa María de Montserrat. Jagged, barren pinnacles of reddish sandstone and conglomerate, formed by erosion, rise from the mountain’s base, and it is cloven by ravines; the monastery stands on the edge of the widest of these, the Malo valley, at 730 meters. Christian hermits of Santa María were residing on Montserrat when the Benedictine monastery of Ripoll was granted jurisdiction over them, in the year 888. From the 11th to the early 15th century, a regular priory flourished here, and it obtained independence as an abbey in 1410, the status of which it has held almost continuously ever since. The present basilica was begun in 1560 and the monastery in 1755, though these were extensively rebuilt after their destruction by French troops during the Peninsular Campaign, in 1812. Catalonia's most renowned monastery, Monestir de Montserrat, was established in 1025 to commemorate local shepherds' visions of the Virgin Mary, accompanied by celestial light and a chorus of holy music. (In 880, a group of the shepherds' children allegedly saw a bright light descending from the sky in the Montserrat mountains.) Today, a community of 55 monks lives here. The monastery complex encompasses two blocks: on one side, the basilica and monastery buildings, and on the other, tourist and pilgrim facilities. Admirable monastery architecture lining the main Plaça de Santa Maria includes elegant 15th-century cloisters and a gleaming late-19th-century facade, depicting St George and St Benedict in relief. This mountain is still home to one of the most important religious sites in Spain, which houses an ancient wooden statue of the Virgin and Child that was supposedly carved by St. Luke, taken to Spain by St. Peter, and hidden in a cave during the Moorish occupation. The statue was first found in 880 and has since been venerated by numerous pilgrims, who attribute many miracles to the intercession of the Virgin Mary.