In the former infirmary of the Monastery of Pedralbes, a small display of furniture preserved by the religious community has been on view since 12 January 2021. The collection stands out more for its historical value than for its artistic merit. It comprises pieces of basic, simple, and austere construction, in which usefulness and functionality prevail over any aesthetic consideration. Their origins are diverse: alongside commissioned pieces and dowries, the collection includes donations of heritage objects from Queen Elisenda—the founder of the monastery—and from the noblewomen who accompanied her in her life of enclosure. For this reason, the selection of furniture from the fourteenth to the nineteenth centuries presented here, while prioritising storage furniture suited to the needs of the convent (worship, singing, archiving, infirmary use, clothing, and reading), also bears witness—albeit discreetly—to items more closely associated with the female courtly sphere, which entered the monastery as part of the trousseau and dowries of women from noble families and the well-to-do classes. Given that very few examples of this type of furniture have survived to the present day, the collection shown in the exhibition offers a unique opportunity to explore the history of the convent through its most everyday objects, endowing them with considerable cultural and heritage value. Within the former infirmary, time seems to stand still as one observes the basic construction and lack of decoration of the community’s storage furniture. Their design is governed by function, expressed through simplicity and austerity—qualities that evoke the vow of poverty. They return us to what is essential, demonstrating the value of eliminating the superfluous. Construction was usually the responsibility of the convent’s carpenter, while wrought iron elements were supplied by the blacksmith and, given their cost, were often reused. Over the centuries, three main types of storage furniture we
