This small town of Ripollès region grew around a monastery founded back in 887 by the Count Wilfred the Hairy. Those were times of repopulation of the land, and monasteries were very important to make people feel safe in the mountains.
Emma, daughter of Wilfred, became the abbess of the first women's monastery in Catalonia that still keeps pieces of great artistical value from different periods, specially outstanding a Romanesque sculpture set.
Sant Joan de les Abadesses is a picturesque town that keeps its medieval pattern, with narrow winding streets.