A summer among cloisters: what attracts us, today, to monasteries?

In recent months, references to convents, liturgies, religious symbols, and spiritual experiences have found a place in films, novels, podcasts, and albums. Rosalía's Lux Tour is perhaps the most obvious example. Songs like Dios es un stalker or Mio Cristo piange diamanti have reopened the debate about the renewed interest in religious imagery in popular culture. But her new album is not the only cultural product that has turned its gaze towards the monastic universe and mystical experience. Alauda Ruiz de Azúa has also done so with Los domingos, about the decision of a teenager to enter a cloistered convent, or Carmen Urbita and Ana Garriga with Instrucción de novicias, the book that originated from the podcast Las hijas de Felipe, which recovers the voices of nuns from the 16th and 17th centuries to demonstrate that, as they themselves say, "everything that happens to you has already happened to a nun". For the anthropologist Joan Prat i Carós, however, it is not a completely new phenomenon, but rather a change of perspective. "The possibility of meditating, being silent, and finding yourself has always existed. There are moments when these ideals emerge and others when they remain more hidden," he explains. According to him, spiritual needs have not disappeared, they simply adopt new forms and languages. Things shed their skin, but what lies beneath the skin is the same. Far from idealizing convent life, Urbita and Garriga acknowledge that it is not surprising that, in a world saturated with screens and noise, the idea of the convent – with its own rhythms and its promise of tranquility – can be aspirational. A perception also shared by Anna Castellano i Tresserra, director of the Royal Monastery Museum of Santa Maria de Pedralbes (ICUB). "Current society has undergone accelerated changes in the way we live and relate to each other, and this has caused a feeling of unease and the need to stop and think about where we want to go," she states. In this context, she adds, "the silence of the cloisters and the architecture of the monasteries offer an experience that contrasts with the acceleration and anxiety of current life".Perhaps that is why the new luxury consists of walking through these uncrowded spaces where it is still possible to stop and listen to the stories that their walls preserve and tell. "Monasteries are no longer sought only as cultural resources, but as spaces that allow for a more complete experience, linked to the territory, history, and this current need to pause," explains Mireia Bonet Sendra, head of the Tourism Service and coordinator of the Cister Route Management Office.In fact, the extensive network of monasteries in Catalonia has known how to interpret this interest and today not only preserves its legacy, but also opens its doors to the public with an extensive cultural program: guided tours, exhibitions, and music festivals that this summer will once again fill the cloisters of some of the most important cenobiums in the territory with life.

For those who want to experience it firsthand, the Ruta del Cister (Cistercian Route) is a good option for a two or three-day getaway. The route connects the three great Cistercian monasteries in Catalonia – Poblet, Santes Creus, and Vallbona de les Monges – and can be done on foot, by mountain bike, or by electric bicycle following the GR-175. Founded between the 12th and 13th centuries, the three monasteries were key in the expansion of the Cistercian order in the Crown of Aragon. Beyond the heritage, the route crosses vineyards, cultivated fields, and natural spaces, while also allowing you to discover small towns and local producers. A different way to travel, without haste, mixing culture, gastronomy, and landscape.Guardians of memory and heritage

As is evident, not everyone who arrives at a monastery today is looking for a religious experience. The cultural programming that these spaces host has long attracted visitors with very diverse interests. According to the director of the Pedralbes Museum, many go simply to enjoy the beauty of the space, its architecture, or the silence that is breathed in a heritage building that has maintained the presence of a monastic community for almost seven hundred years. "I would not dare to say if this increase has been motivated solely by the desire for a new spirituality or if it also responds to the search for tranquility and beauty, which are already part of this same experience," she points out.The royal monastery of Santa Maria de Pedralbes, a place of calm on the outskirts of Barcelona, was founded in 1327 by Queen Elisenda de Montcada and, even today, from the solidity of its structures, it bears witness to the political, social, and environmental changes that have transformed society over the centuries. It is precisely this ability to connect past and present that, according to Castellano, makes them "stabilizing elements", because they "bring serenity and stability at a time when these values are scarce and difficult to find".

However, if we look at who visits these spaces today, another trend is confirmed: young people continue to be the most difficult audience to attract. In fact, data from the Barometer on Religion and Beliefs in Spain (BREC 2025) suggest that we are not witnessing a return to Catholicism, but rather a transformation in the ways spirituality is experienced. Although 51% of the population does not identify with any religion, one in five considers themselves a spiritual person and more than a third believe in some form of transcendence or life force.We saw it with Rosalía: the habit, the cross, and rituals continue to fascinate, albeit often from a more cultural interpretation than one linked to faith. For Joan Prat i Carós, this transformation does not imply a return to traditional forms of religiosity, but rather the persistence of a much deeper human need. "Traditional forms of religion have disappeared, but others have emerged," he summarizes. After all, he concludes, "the need for transcendence is a fundamental element." The image of Rosalía walking through the streets of central Madrid in a nun's habit, as followers approached her, was one of the first signs of this renewed interest in the Christian imaginary, later culminating in a Lux Tour that many fans described as an almost mystical experience. However, for the moment it seems to have been mainly a powerful image of pop culture rather than a symptom of a return to religious practices. A reading that is also shared by the director of the Pedralbes Museum, Anna Castellano i Tresserra, who observes a change in the way younger generations relate to this imaginary: "New generations no longer have the same prejudices nor do they feel the same aversion towards certain religious manifestations. Many young people do not relate these symbols to their original meaning, but rather to values or an idea of the past that they find attractive." As has already been made clear, this does not, however, mean idealizing convent life. As the authors of Instrucción de novicias recall, for many women in the 16th and 17th centuries, the convent was one of the few avenues for access to reading, writing, or a certain autonomy. Today, this context has changed radically, and what seems to truly arouse interest is not so much that way of life, often closed and restrictive, as the spaces that have remained and the cultural experience they offer.