Scriptorium – Abadia de Montserrat

History

Scriptorium, was the area in some monasteries where, for centuries, the monks copied the books from the past, and composed the books of the present times. The scriptorium Biblicum et Orientale of Montserrat is the place dedicated to the study of the Holy Scriptures, to the research of history and culture of Middle East and to the compilation of archaeological objects from Mesopotamia, Egypt and Palestine , and housed in the museum.It is the place where various volumes of the Bible of Montserrat's edition have been issued, the place where many biblical works have been concluded and published by the monks, and where of Father Bonaventura Ubach - the patriarch monk of biblical studies in Montserrat - has been written.

Besides the strictly biblical research, ancient manuscripts of the Roca-Puig legacy are being studied at the Scriptorium, as well as ancient books in Hebrew and Arabic contained in the library. The Scriptorium is the ideal space for study and for the preparation of cultural activities, especially historical or humanist subjects.

Archaeaology of the Biblical Lands

The arqueology of the Bible lands is represented by an important collection of pieces connected to countries in the Bible (Mesopotamia, Egypt, Cyprus and Palestine). The monk Bonaventure Ubach (who died in 1960) gathered these pieces together and began studies of the Bible at Montserrat, which were continued by his followers. In addition to the most important pieces which are on permanent display, the Museum has an alternating show for visitors and scholars of its reserve.

Important pieces from Mesopotamia are the numerous cuneiform tablets in Akkadian, Hittite and Sumerian dating from 3400 BC to 600 BC. There is also a sizeable collection of stone cylinders, with their seals, which provide evidence of the different periods of Mesopotamian history.

The collection of objects from Palestine includes ceramics from a number of biblical epochs, some dating from 4000 BC; coins, statues of Greek and Caananite gods, Roman and Byzantine glasses, an extensive collection of lamps, etc. The collection of Cypriot ceramics is also interesting, with the earliest pieces dating from the twentieth century.

Papyrus

The papyrus' collection of the Montserrat Abbey was donated to the monastery by Dr. Ramon Roca-Puig, after his death in 2001. It consists of more than 1.500 pieces (papyrus and parchments) from Egypt and dated from the Ptolemaic period to 10th century.

Most of them written in Greek and in Coptic, but also a significant number written in Latin, Arabic and Demotic.

Anteriormente a su donación, el P. Bonaventura Ubach, monje de Montserrat, había ya adquirido para el monasterio, en el año 1928, una pequeña colección de papiros, unas 200 piezas, la mayor parte en griego, para la ilustración de la Bíblia de Montserrat. From 2010, the team of DVCTVS (http://dvctvs.upf.edu/es/) is in charge of managing the study and the edition of the papyrus' collection of Montserrat's.

From 2010, the team of DVCTVS DVCTVS is in charge of managing the study and the edition of the papyrus' collection of Montserrat's.

Coptic Textiles

Scriptorium of Montserrat has a collection of 217 fragments of Coptic textiles, collected by Dr. Ramon Roca-Puig and donated to the monastery in 2001, when he died.

The career of Dr. Ramon Roca-Puig is closely linked to the papyrology. But, this collection of Coptic textiles shows his will to expand his collection from the linguistic field to other materials related with the origins of Christianity.

All of them were bought in an antique shop in Cairo in 1954.

Tafetà. Lli i llana.

Franja de mànigues

s. V-VI dC
Període romà-bizantí

Tafetà. Lli, cotó i seda

Franja decorativa de túnica

s. XI dC
Període àrab

Tafetà. Lli i llana
s. VIII-X dC
Període bizantí

Franja decorativa

Tafetà. Lli i llana
s. XI dC
Període àrab

Franja decorativa de xal

Ancient Numismatics

Father Bonaventura Ubach bought, in his several travels, ancient coins in order to illustrate and contextualize the origin and history of the Jewish people.

For this reason, among the objects bought, we can find Greek coins, roman coins from the colonies of Egypt and Palestine and Jewish coins, coined during the second Jewish-Roman war, in the years 132-136.

Later, in 2014, Dr. Albert Anguera i Bosqué donated to the Abbey a great part of his extraordinary collection of Roman republic period and Roman imperial period coins, expanding the ancient numismatic collection of the monastery.

Bust de Tiberi amb corona de llorer.
Anvers.
27-28 dC
Alexandria, Egipte

Tetradracma de Tiberi

Atena asseguda sobre un escut,
portant una Niké i un ceptre. Revers.
238 dC.
Alexandria, Egipte

Tetradracma de Balbí

Òliba de peu, amb una branca
d’olivera i una mitja lluna. Revers.
27-28 dC
Alexandria, Egipte

Tetradracma d’Atenes

Júpiter sobre una quadriga,
amb una corona de llorer i un fuet. Revers.
130 aC - Roma, Itàlia
Donació del Dr. Albert Anguera i Bosqué

Denari de Marc Varguntei

Photographic Archive

During the travels made by Father Ubach for illustrating the Bible of Montserrat, the monk took pictures to anything that attracted his attention: buildings, monuments, sanctuaries, people, but also scenes from everyday life in the towns and cities that he visited. The Archive has more than 6.000 pictures in different supports and formats.

Recently, and thanks to an agreement with the European Mediterranean Institute, the Father Ubach's archive has been catalogued, digitalized and documented to be accessible.