montserrat park

The 27^th of April is the feast day of the Mare de Déu deMontserrat,Our Lady of Montserrat, or as she is more affectionately called in Catalonia, la Moreneta, "the little dark-skinned one". One of the only black images of the Virgin Mary in Europe, the Virgin of Montserrat is the patron saint of all dioceses in Catalonia and together with St. George (Sant Jordi) is considered the patron saint of the territory. In recent history, she has also become a symbol for Catalan national identity and Catholic Catalan nationalism. Up in the mountains of Montserrat, the Santa María abbey celebrated on Monday with a mass dedicated to the Virgin, and outside in the main square there were numerous traditional activities including people making human towers (castells), music bands and food stalls, as well as groups dancing the traditional Catalan dance, La Sardana.

The Catalan multi-peaked mountain, which displays unique rock rounded shapes, received 3.7% less visitors than last year, due to a drop of local tourists as a consequence of the economic crisis. However, there has been an increase in the number of visitors to the Natural Park surrounding Montserrat. The mountain is the Catalan spiritual centre, and apart from the Benedictine abbey, it is a place where visitors can go hiking and climbing.