The cave of Sant Ignasi
According to tradition, Saint Ignatius of Loyola went off to meditate and write the Spiritual Exercises in one of the caves characteristic of the landscape of Manresa, sunken but with a frontal view of the Montserrat mountain and the Cardener river valley. As the years have passed, that simple little cave has turned into the most monumental and lavish building of the city of Manresa. Over the natural rock, an imposing sanctuary has been raised, which has undeniably become in the main Ignatian place of the city and in one of the most universal referents of the Jesuit world.
At the Santuari de la Cova de Sant Ignasi (Sanctuary of the Cave of Saint Ignatius), landscape and architecture fuse in a surprising way, creating an artificial façade over the hill of Sant Bartomeu (Saint Bartholomew), one of the most visible elements upon entering Manresa. Its decoration, with a mix of styles that unites the Baroque of the sculptural school of Manresa with Josep Llimona’s Modernism, becomes an hallmark that sets this sanctuary apart from the rest of heritage sites of the capital of Bages.
