Archaeologists Open a Queen’s 700-Year-Old Tomb — and Uncover a Mystery

When archaeologists opened the tomb of Queen Elisenda of Montcada in Barcelona’s Royal Monastery of Santa Maria de Pedralbes, they expected history to become clearer. The monastery was founded by Elisenda in 1327, and she was buried there after her death in 1364, making her tomb one of the site’s most important medieval spaces.

But the investigation, carried out around the monastery’s 700th anniversary, did more than confirm the queen’s remains. Across eight early tombs, researchers found 25 individuals, reused graves, unexpected identities, possible knife wounds, and burial evidence that has turned a royal excavation into a much larger medieval mystery.