Description
Barcelona Cathedral, the Cathedral of the Holy Cross and Saint Eulalia, is the Gothic seat of the city's archbishop, in the heart of the Gothic Quarter. Spires and gargoyles crown its neo-Gothic front, and a palm-shaded cloister hides a flock of white geese.
Thirteen geese live there. Why thirteen? Because, tradition says, Saint Eulalia was thirteen when the Romans martyred her. Her legend is a cruel one: exposed naked in the public square, she was covered by a sudden snowfall in spring, then rolled down a street in a barrel studded with knives.
Her relics lie in the crypt, which can be seen from the nave because the high altar is raised. The cloister, finished in 1448, encloses the Well of the Geese, and it is among the quietest corners of the old town.
Christians have prayed on this spot since late Roman times: remains of a 4th-century baptistery survive underground. A Romanesque cathedral was consecrated in 1058, and the present Gothic one began in 1298, built from the east end westward.
For centuries the front was a bare wall, as in many Catalan churches. The neo-Gothic façade came only at the end of the 19th century, when a wealthy Barcelonan, Miguel Girona, offered to pay for it. His children completed it in 1913.
Inside, the nave is 93 meters long and 28 meters high. In a side chapel hangs the Christ of Lepanto, a crucifix said to have leaned aside to dodge a cannonball in the battle of 1571, and to have stayed bent ever since.
In 1519 the young Charles V held a chapter of his Order of the Golden Fleece here. The coats of arms of the knights are still on the choir stalls.
The cathedral also holds the tombs of Count Ramon Berenguer I and his wife Almodis, and of Saint Raymond of Penyafort. A windowed gallery above the chapels of the aisles brings in indirect light.
The style is Catalan Gothic, which does not chase height. It balances the dimensions of the building, with wide, open naves, and that gives the interior a calm rather than a soaring feel.
Don't miss
• The cloister and its geese.
• The crypt of Saint Eulalia.
• The Christ of Lepanto.
• The choir stalls.
Did you know?
• On Corpus Christi an egg "dances" on the jet of a fountain, an old Barcelona tradition.
• Each bell tower is 54 meters high.
• The cathedral took about 150 years to build, from 1298 to 1448.
Thirteen geese live there. Why thirteen? Because, tradition says, Saint Eulalia was thirteen when the Romans martyred her. Her legend is a cruel one: exposed naked in the public square, she was covered by a sudden snowfall in spring, then rolled down a street in a barrel studded with knives.
Her relics lie in the crypt, which can be seen from the nave because the high altar is raised. The cloister, finished in 1448, encloses the Well of the Geese, and it is among the quietest corners of the old town.
Christians have prayed on this spot since late Roman times: remains of a 4th-century baptistery survive underground. A Romanesque cathedral was consecrated in 1058, and the present Gothic one began in 1298, built from the east end westward.
For centuries the front was a bare wall, as in many Catalan churches. The neo-Gothic façade came only at the end of the 19th century, when a wealthy Barcelonan, Miguel Girona, offered to pay for it. His children completed it in 1913.
Inside, the nave is 93 meters long and 28 meters high. In a side chapel hangs the Christ of Lepanto, a crucifix said to have leaned aside to dodge a cannonball in the battle of 1571, and to have stayed bent ever since.
In 1519 the young Charles V held a chapter of his Order of the Golden Fleece here. The coats of arms of the knights are still on the choir stalls.
The cathedral also holds the tombs of Count Ramon Berenguer I and his wife Almodis, and of Saint Raymond of Penyafort. A windowed gallery above the chapels of the aisles brings in indirect light.
The style is Catalan Gothic, which does not chase height. It balances the dimensions of the building, with wide, open naves, and that gives the interior a calm rather than a soaring feel.
Don't miss
• The cloister and its geese.
• The crypt of Saint Eulalia.
• The Christ of Lepanto.
• The choir stalls.
Did you know?
• On Corpus Christi an egg "dances" on the jet of a fountain, an old Barcelona tradition.
• Each bell tower is 54 meters high.
• The cathedral took about 150 years to build, from 1298 to 1448.