The Monastery of Santa Maria de Ripoll, a Benedictine monastery in Ripoll, Catalonia, Spain, was founded in 888 by Count Wilfred the Hairy who used it as a centre to bring about the repopulation of the region after conquering it. The monastery quickly gained renown, with its scriptorium and monastic school becoming significant. By the year 1046, the library numbered 246 manuscripts, many of which were translations of Arabic works on mathematics or astronomy.
However, the monastery was later damaged by an earthquake in 1428 and a fire in 1835 that destroyed much of the library and archives. During the 12th century, monks at Ripoll were responsible for the copying and likely the creation of a number of other important literary and historical texts, including the earliest version of the dynastic history of the counts of Barcelona. Today, the monastery continues to serve as a testament to the power of the written word through its history as a great centre of learning.
Sources: Wikipedia, OpenStreetMap, Wikidata, Wikimedia Commons
Written by Nik Frost
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