Photography by Minerva Bloom. Black Madonnas for sale at the shops in Montserrat. Santa Maria de Montserrat, in the region of Catalonia, Spain hosts the Virgin of Montserrat sanctuary which is identified by some with the location of the Holy Grail in Arthurian myth. Believed by some to have been carved in Jerusalem in the early days of the church, it is a Romanesque sculpture in wood from the late 12th century. Legend has it that the Benedictine monks could not move the statue to construct their monastery, choosing to instead build around it. The statue's sanctuary is located at the rear of the chapel, where an altar of gold surrounds the icon, and is now a site of pilgrimage.