Spain Guide
Catalunya
The Catedral
Opening time: April– Oct Mon– Fri 8am–8pm; Nov– March Mon– Fri 10am–7pm, Sat 10am–4.30pm, Sun 2–7/8pm
Price: €5 includes cloister & treasury, free Sun
Balanced on a steep slope scaled by a majestic Baroque staircase, the Catedral is an outstanding example of Catalan Gothic. There has been a place of worship here since Roman times, and a mosque stood on the site before the foundation of the cathedral in 1038. Most of the building dates from the fifteenth century, though parts are four hundred years older, notably the five-storey Torre de Carlemany and the Romanesque cloister.
The main Rococo facade, remodelled in the eighteenth century, writhes with exuberant ornamentation: floral motifs, coats of arms, and niche statues (mostly 1960s copies) in three tiers. The aisle-less interior overwhelms with its single nave spanning 22.5m, the second-widest Gothic vault in the world after St Peter's in Rome. Contemporary sceptics deemed the proposed design unsafe, and the vault was raised in 1417 only after an appeal by the architect, Guillermo Bofill, to an independent panel of experts. The walls rise past stained-glass windows, the only objects interrupting the sweep of space being freestanding piers at the apsidal end forming an ambulatory around the choir.
From the main body of the cathedral, there's access to the irregularly shaped, late twelfth-century cloister, which features minutely carved figures and scenes on double column capitals. Finally, the tour route leads to the Tresor Capitular (Chapter Treasury), four overstuffed rooms of religious art whose highlights include (in the third room) Beatus' Commentary on the Apocalypse, illuminated in 975 by Mozarabic miniaturists, and (in the last room) a magnificent twelfth-century Italian tapestry, the Creation, the finest surviving specimen of Romanesque textile, depicting in strong colours the forces of light and darkness, Adam naming the animals and the creation of Eve, plus seasonal rural activities.