Sant Joan de les Abadesses

The monastery was founded in 885 by count Wilfred the Hairy, who destined it to the education of his daughter Emma, who later became the first abbess. Wilfred had previously founded the monastery of Santa Maria de Ripoll for his son Radulf.The church was consecrated on 24 June 887 by the bishop of Vic. In 1017, by request of Bernard I of Besalú, a papal bull suppressed the nunnery; Bernard acquired them, and brought into the monastery (now part of the bishopric of Besalú) a community of monks. From 1083 to 1114 it was under the Monastery of St. Victor of Marseille, who sent here a community of nuns of Greek origin. In 1114 the intervention of the Pope allowed a community of Augustinian canons to take possession of the monastery in a definitive way. Ruled by local abbots until 1484, later it was under commendatory abbots. In 1592 the monastery was secularised and converted into a simple collegiate, suppressed in 1856. It was declared a Historical Monument in 1931.

The bridge was built between 1128 and 1138 by order of Abbot Berenguer Arnau thanks to the financial and personal help of the nobility and peasantry of the valley. During the 14th century, several repair works were carried out, and the earthquake of 1428 certainly affected its structure. On February 8, 1939, it was dynamited, and on July 4, 1976, the rebuilt Pont Vell was inaugurated.

Step into the story of Vila Nova, whose roots reach back to the early 1200s. Imagine visionary abbots—Pere de Soler and Ramon de Blanes—transforming old monastic fields into a bustling medieval settlement. Rather than winding, haphazard streets typical of the era, Vila Nova was cleverly designed in the image of ancient Roman cities, with broad, straight roads crossing each other in neat grids. At its heart lies the Main Square, which for centuries has been the lively center of everyday life. Here, traders mingled and neighbors exchanged news, while the nearby streets—like the bustling Tints Street—welcomed craftsmen and artisans whose handiwork shaped the town’s reputation.As visitors wander the Old Town today, they encounter the silent sentinels of Vila Nova’s past: the remnants of its sturdy medieval walls. First raised in the 12th century and strengthened over generations, these fortifications once boasted 24 watchful towers and six prominent gates, shielding the townspeople within. Exploring these ancient remains, one can almost hear echoes of vibrant market days and see glimpses of medieval life playing out within the safety of the walls. Every corner invites you to imagine life in Vila Nova, where history breathes from the stones underfoot and every street tells a story.

including two extant towers, and parts of the wall itself. In the 13th century, construction began on the wall that would surround the entire Vila Vella, along with the monastery and its outbuildings. In order to protect the city from pillage, Abbot Ramon de la Bisbal (1230-1248) had the walls of the monastic houses reinforced with two towers and began construction of the wall, with twenty-four towers and drawbridges at two of its three gates: one next to the Ter bridge and the other at the Malconsell spring; one of the gates connected with the monastery enclosure, south of the church's head. The wall was reinforced on several occasions and came to have up to six access gates.

A trail along the former railway bed. Starts in Ripoll ang goes until Ogassa, a small village in the nearby mountains, where the mines were.

In 1980, the section of the Ripoll-Sant Joan de les Abadesses railway line was closed, and as a result, the buildings that were part of the complex began to deteriorate. For this reason, between 1998 and 1999, the City Council carried out the urban planning of the area, characterised by the conservation of some emblematic buildings and elements of the railway past of Sant Joan de les Abadesses. Some of these buildings, such as the station or the warehouse, have been converted, the first into a restaurant and the second into a hostel (rehabilitated in 2006).