Why do we recommend Montserrat monastery? The monastery played an important role in the political and cultural life of Catalonia. Since 1918 the monastery’s own publishing company have published not only religious but also secular writings. The Escolanía, or the boys’ choir from the monastery’s boarding school, has produced quality Catalan musicians. The monastery has a broad façade, by F. Folguera (1939) with reliefs by J. Rebull. On the right is the ‘Abbot’s Tower’ and, on the left, are the remains of the Gothic cloister, which Giuliano della Rovere, Abbot of Montserrat and later Pope Julius II, had built