Sant Pere de les Puelles (St. Peter of the Novices)

Sant Pere de les Puelles (St. Peter of the Novices) Review

One of the oldest medieval churches in Barcelona has been destroyed and restored so many times that there is little left to see except the beautiful stained-glass window that allows illumination of the stark interior. The word puelles is from the Latin puella (girl)—the convent here was known for the beauty and nobility of its young women, and was the setting for some of medieval Barcelona's most tragic stories of impossible love. Legend has it that the puellae, when threatened with rape and murder by the invading Moors under Al-Mansur in 986, disfigured themselves by slicing off their own ears and noses in an (apparently futile) attempt to save themselves.