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This photographic report for Las Fotos de los Lectores de La Vanguardia arises from a peculiar encounter in the middle of Priorat with the Cartoixa de Santa Maria d’Escaladei, a magnificent environment in full rehabilitation, very interesting and recommended to enjoy an easily accessible excursion.
The old monastery of the Carthusian de Santa Maria d’Escaladei transports us to La Morera de Montsant. It was founded in the 12th century by Alfonso el Casto and is considered the first charterhouse in the Iberian Peninsula.
The Escaladei convent is located at the bottom of a valley, protected by the Montsant mountain range. It is a place where silence reigns.
Not in vain, in this quiet space, the Carthusian monks followed a model of life marked by silence and prayer, combining hermitic solitude with the protection of community life.
The monks of the Carthusian Order of Provence came to this place in the 12th century to build this monastery. The charterhouse was founded in 1194. They chose a unique spot, framed by the Montsant mountain range, where a shepherd had dreamed of angels ascending to heaven by a ladder leaning on the trunk of a pine tree, hence the name Escaladei or “ladder of God”.
