TeamNun on the road in Catalonia in 2025!

Did you know that there were women within the military Order of St John, also known as the Order of Knights Hospitaller? There were! One of these communities, Santa Maria d'Alguaire (Province of Lleida) was founded in the thirteenth century for women of the highest Catalan nobility. The community operated on this site under the direction of a prioress until 1699.

In 2016, a team of archaeologists from the University of Barcelona led by Prof. Maria Sola Saler opened ongoing excavations at the long-abandonned site. In addition to documenting the monastery church, the team discovered the burials of more than ten nuns. Most notably, the team excavated the grave of Prioress Jerónima de Gort (d. 1699), buried in a fine wool veil. The veil, recovered intact, has now been restored.

In 2025, the TeamNun Traveling Team will head to Barcelona to join forces with Soler and her colleagues, sampling dental calculus and material for stable isotope analysis. We are excited to learn what the osteobiograpies of Prioress Jerónima and her sisters will reaveal!