The Broken Bell of Sant Miquel del Fai

Sant Miquel del Fai has been featured in this blog in the past. I recommend you follow the previous link for more information about this natural park. In fact the bell was included in yet another post titled Sant Miquel del Fai Church. I really love this broken bell standing still, enduring the passing of time, right in front of a church built under a cave, in a place that seems to have held acts of pagan cult a long, long time ago and that later became l'Església de Sant Miquel (the church of Sant Miquel) around the 10th century. There is nothing like the charm of an ancient object such as this beautiful bell to blow your mind and embark you on a voyage towards a time of faith, self sacrifice and devotion when monks decided to seclude themselves in the most incredible places to carry the word of their god.

Update: Sant Miquel del Fai, up to now (2017) a private estate,  has been bought by local Barcelona authorities by 1.3 M eur and remains close now. It will be opened to the public in 2018. Entrance will be free.

Sant Miquel del Fai Church near Barcelona: Bell Detail

How many times have this old bell tolled since medieval times?...Located at one of the walls along the corridor where the cloister of Sant Miquel del Fai Romanic church used to be, the bells (there are two) are silent witnesses of centuries of quietness and meditation under the cliffs that overlook river Tenes and neighbouring towns of Bigues and Riells.

Check my previous post for more Sant Miquel del Fai information.

Sant Miquel del Fai near Barcelona: Priory House

Sant Miquel del Fai is a natural park situated in a valley basin about 35 kms away from Barcelona. You can go there by bus or by car, and you have to pay for the entrance (6€ more or less). Besides the incredible view of caves, small waterfalls falling at river Tenes and the imposing sedimentary rock cliffs, it features the Romanic hermitage of Sant Martí already important by the IVth Century, the Sant Miquel Church buried inside a grotto and a monastery known as the Priory House (closer look), built upon an enormous legde in the mountain walls at the beginnings of the XVth Century. Because of the geological nature of the park, this zone is rich in Neolithic archeological findings, mainly remnants of Iberian settlements.

Google Earth Satellite Picture of Sant Miquel del Fai near Barcelona.