The Cellnex Foundation and the Montserrat Abbey Foundation 2025 sign a patronage agreement as part of the Monastery’s Millennium celebrations, through which the infrastructure operator will improve mobile voice and data coverage.
The Sanctuary and its surroundings will have a comprehensive Internet of Things (IoT) system for smart capacity, parking, intrusion and air quality control management.
Barcelona, 30 March 2022. The Cellnex Foundation and the telecommunications infrastructure operator will provide the Sanctuary of Saint Mary of Montserrat and its surrounding area with the technology and connectivity services of a Smart City. This will be made possible under the patronage agreement signed between the Cellnex Foundation and the Montserrat Abbey Foundation 2025 as part of the Monastery’s Millennium celebrations to be held in 2025, which will make it possible to roll out a comprehensive Internet of Things (IoT) system comprising sensors, a data transmission network and a computer platform for the real-time remote collection, monitoring and proactive management of data. Among other things, this will lead to more efficient capacity, parking, intrusion and air quality control management. The aim is to offer a better service, both to the Benedictine community and to visitors and pilgrims visiting the Sanctuary.
The system as a whole will allow automatic real-time control and management of the capacity of spaces such as the Basilica of Saint Mary, the Path of the Ave Maria and the Monastery Museum as well as the joint occupancy level of the car parks located on the access road and the Monastery’s new underground car park. The system will also help to prevent and detect any type of intrusion in the isolated and remote buildings of the Abbey.
Furthermore, CO2, temperature and humidity sensors will be installed in places with the largest numbers of visitors –including shops and restaurants– to monitor the level of air quality at all times and activate the necessary and appropriate resources to ensure proper ventilation of these spaces.
Likewise, under the agreement between both entities, Cellnex will start operating the Monastery’s telecommunications infrastructure set up to provide voice and data coverage to the area of the Sanctuary by mobile operators.
A step forward in the digital transformation of the Sanctuary
Father Bernat Juliol, prior of the Monastery and commissioner of the 2025 Millennium, stated that this agreement “represents a very important step forward in what we call the ‘Smart Sanctuary’ project, bringing a clear improvement in connectivity in Montserrat. This collaboration with the Cellnex Foundation means a quantum leap in the quality of services currently on offer to pilgrims and visitors to Montserrat, who will be able to enjoy their stay with currently accepted needs properly met. We at the abbey are very satisfied to be working hand in hand with an organisation so committed to its local area as the Cellnex Foundation”.
Cellnex Foundation Chairman, Lluís Deulofeu underlined that “the ‘Smart Sanctuary’ project fits in perfectly with the Foundation’s goal of working towards digital, social and territorial inclusion through
projects that improve access to connectivity, bringing technology closer to people and promoting improved connections in areas and sites of particular heritage and historical relevance as Montserrat; and we are especially excited to make it coincide with the celebration of the Millennium of the Monastery”.
Albert Cuatrecasas, CEO of Cellnex in Spain, highlighted that “in this connection we are very happy to be able to provide our experience in rolling out, maintaining and operating Internet of Things (IoT) networks to Montserrat Abbey. Every day, more than 3 million objects and the many services derived from them are connected to the IoT networks that we manage at Cellnex. This type of network stands out for its low bandwidth, its long range and its robustness, and its high energy efficiency. In addition, they have a direct impact on everyday situations like those that we will put into practice in these first use cases that we will roll out in the Sanctuary and its surrounding area, linked mainly to the efficient management of spaces and the comfort of both the Community and the visitors”.
