Santes Creus

However, it was in the thirteenth century when Peter III of Aragon expressed his desire to be buried in the monastery and a royal crypt was built for himself and his son, King James II that many of the local nobility established the custom to choose this place for burial.

[2] Santes Creus along with Vallbona de les Monges and Poblet Monastery are known as the Cistercian triangle, that helped consolidate power in Catalonia in the 12th century.

King Peter III of Aragon chose to be buried in the Monastery of Santes Creus, and so did his son James II (1276–1285) and his wife, Blanche of Anjou.

James II had a section of the abbey turned into royal rooms, the original Romanesque cloister rebuilt in the Gothic style of the 13th century, and a dome added to the church's crossing.

The sepulchre of King Peter III was executed from 1291 to 1307 by Bartomeu de Girona, and looks richer than those of his son (and commissioner of the work), James II, and of the latter's wife, Blanche of Naples.

It consists of an urn surrounded by the images of saints, placed over a red porphyry Roman bath brought here by admiral Roger de Lauria.

The chapter house follows the typical design of the Cistercian monasteries, being located in the center of the cloister's eastern wing and separated from the sacristy by the end of the church's transept.

The entrance from the cloister is through a Romanesque portal framed on either side by a large mullioned window of equal height, the three openings forming a triple arcade.