Barcelona Cathedral

Barcelona Cathedral is a cool sanctuary on a hot summer’s day but, much more than that, it is a building containing wonderful Gothic detail, immense scale and yet still retaining a pervading atmosphere of peace and spirituality.

Considerably more ornate than much of Catalonia’s customary austere Gothic architecture, most of Barcelona’s Cathedral of Santa Eulalia – the city’s co-patron saint whose bones are entombed in the crypt – was built between the very end of the thirteenth and the middle of the fifteenth centuries.

Located in the centre of the atmospheric Barri Gòtic, the cathedral is arguably the most impressive Gothic building in Barcelona and while many visitors arrive in Barcelona believing that Sagrada Família is the city’s cathedral, the imposing medieval church which looms above the old town is formidable enough to generate its own band of admirers and it is perhaps unique among cathedrals in having its own flock of geese; they can be found in a delightful courtyard of trees and fountains near the south west transept.

Its most famous and impressive frontage is that approaching from the Plaça de la Seu, Cathedral Square. The majestically towering north-western entrance, actually added as recently as the nineteenth century, is an imposing façade, although largely covered in scaffolding during recent refurbishment.

Once you enter the cathedral it proves to be a wide, tall church with golden pillars rising all the way to the ceiling. With a phenomenal sense of space and grandeur. One other notable aspect to observe is the number of chapels dedicated to the saints, including Santa Eulalia. One of the most poignant cloister chapels is that dedicated to almost one thousand priests and nuns who were martyred during the Spanish Civil War.

The tower of the cathedral is well worth climbing – although if you are very fortunate the lift, located near the Chapel of the Animals in Purgatory, might be operating. From the top of the tower, the views out across the Gothic Quarter towards the Sagrada Família completely justify the climb.

If you’re lucky enough to be strolling around on a Sunday morning, a Saturday evening or a during a Fiesta you’ll almost certainly see hoards of people in the square in front of the building taking part in a gigantic Sardana, the folk dance which is a symbol of Catalan unity. Expect to be invited to participate – and then sit and have lunch or dinner in the quarter afterwards!

The cathedral is open to visitors daily from 8am until 1.15 and again from 4.30 until 7pm but there are some restrictions during services. Visitors are also requested not to have bare shoulders or very brief shorts. The nearest Metro station is at Jaume 1 (Yellow Line, 4).

Previous: Santa Maria del Mar

Next: Plaça Sant Jaume