Barcelona Guide
Barri Gòtic
La Seu
Website: www.catedralbcn.org
Opening time: Cathedral and cloister daily 8am–12.45pm & 5.15–7.30pm; other sections daily 1–5pm; roof Mon– Fri 10.30am–12.30pm & 5.15–6.30pm, Sat 10.30am–12.30pm
Price: Cathedral and cloister free; other sections €5; roof €2.20
Barcelona's cathedral, La Seu, is one of the great Gothic buildings of Spain. Located on a site previously occupied by a Roman temple and then an early Christian basilica, it was begun in 1298 and finished in 1448, save for the neo-Gothic principal facade, which was completed in the 1880s.
The cathedral is dedicated to the city's second patroness, Santa Eulàlia (known as Laia in Barcelona), a young girl martyred by the Romans in 304 AD. Her remains were first placed in the portside church of Santa María del Mar in La Ribera, so she's also patron saint of local sailors and seafarers. In 874 Laia was re-interred in the cathedral and her ornate alabaster tomb rests in a crypt beneath the high altar.
Among the finest of the carved and painted tombs of the 29 side-chapels are those reputedly belonging to Ramon Berenguer I (Count of Barcelona from 1035 to 1076) and his wife Almodis; however, the tombs actually hold the remains of an earlier count and Petronila, the Aragonese princess whose betrothal to Ramon Berenguer IV united Aragon and Barcelona.
The most renowned part of the cathedral, its magnificent fourteenth-century cloister, looks over a lush tropical garden complete with soaring palm trees and – more unusually – a gaggle of honking geese. If they disturb the tranquillity of the scene, they do so for a purpose: white geese have been kept here for over five hundred years, either (depending on which story you believe) to reflect the virginity of Santa Eulàlia, or as a reminder of the erstwhile Roman splendour of Barcelona, as geese were kept on the Capitoline Hill in Rome.
Finally, don't leave the cathedral without ascending to the roof – the lift (ascensor als terrats) is left of the crypt steps – which provides intimate views of the cathedral towers and surrounding Gothic buildings and spires. It's by no means the highest view in town, but nowhere else do you feel so at the heart of medieval Barcelona.