The Royal Convent of Santa Maria  de Pedralbes, founded in 1326 by Queen Elisenda de Montcada, the third wife of Jaume II, is a unique cultural and historical reference to the Poor Clare community, who lived there almost uninterruptedly from 1327 to 1982. The building is one of the best examples of Catalan Gothic architecture, by virtue both of its church and its three-storey cloister, one of the most spacious and harmonious examples of this style. Its artistic heritage is a point of reference for the study of customs, fashions and religious and secular life models, and helps us understand what life was like for the enclosed community until 1983, the year in which the convent was converted into a museum. The exhibitions ’Petras albas’ (from the  Latin meaning white stones), ’The treasures of the convent’, ’Plants, remedies and apothecaries’ and ‘“Murals under the magnifying glass: the paintings in the Saint Michael Chapel’ illustrate the museum complex.