When she was just a little over 30 years old, the Queen Elisenda de Montcada withdrew from the world, remaining a widow. And she did it in the Monastery of Pedralbes, which she had founded in 1326 in the mountains of Sant Pere Màrtir (Barcelona). She lived there 37 years, with only the claretian nuns and the Gothic architecture for company.
The Monastery of Santa Maria de Pedralbes was built in just 13 months and is noted for its great architectural homogeneity in the Gothic style. The white stones (petras albas), used to build the complex, gave their name to the area: Pedralbes.
Among the jewels of the monastery there is the small chapel of Sant Miquel, which is noted for the fresco and oil paintings (14th century), an exceptional testimony of the Catalan Gothic painting; the Gothic stained-glass windows of the interior of the church (considered the most important in Catalonia both for their antiquity and their good state of preservation) and the cloister. This is one of the largest and most impressive in the world.
Also noteworthy is the tomb of Queen Elisenda. Located between the Church and the cloister, it is a bi-frontal tomb representing her two sides: from the Church she is seen dressed and crowned as a Queen and, from the cloister, she appears as a widow and nun, with the simple Franciscan habit.
Located in the heart of the Gothic quarter in Barcelona, the Cathedral building was constructed over a period of 150 years, between the 13th and 15th centuries. The place chosen was the same on which a Romanesque cathedral and, before that, an early paleochristian temple had previously existed. The church is dedicated to the Santa Creu and Santa Eulàlia, the patron saint of the city.
The Cathedral of Barcelona is a beautiful example of Catalan Gothicstyle, far removed from the verticality of the French style. A curiosity of this building is that it has the dome at the foot of the nave, almost in touching distance of the main façade. This was so that the Gallery Royal would be lit equally with the altar.
This dome and façade date from the late 19th century and early 20th century. The façade was built on the occasion of the Universal Exposition of 1888 in the neo-Gothic style.
It is one of the most significant elements of the church along with theGothic cloister (don’t miss the ‘dancing egg' on the day of Corpus Christi, when an empty egg is made to dance on the jet of water in the fountain) and the crypt of Santa Eulalia with the richly sculpted alabaster sarcophagus.
Equally remarkable is the collection of altarpieces, which occupy the inner chapels, among which there is the Altarpiece of the Transfiguration, by Bernat Martorell.
Then there is the choir which is one of the most remarkable sculptural ensembles of the International Gothic style in Catalonia. Begun in the 14th century, in the 16th century it was completed with screens depicting scenes from the Old Testament and the Passion and the heraldic paintings of the choir stall.
At the foot of the Cathedral of Girona, a small dome peeks above a stone building. It is the lantern of the city’s Arab baths which identifies the silhouette of this little jewel.
The building is captivating for the simplicity of its forms and, once inside, to the beauty of the play between light and darkness. The building is in the Romanesque style but follows the model of Roman baths, the Arab baths and the Jewish mikvahs from a tradition that was restored during the 11th century, with the development of the urban areas and the need to improve hygiene.
The building is divided into several rooms that allow one to move from the areas with the coldest water to those with the hottest. Visitors enter through a small vestibule that leads up to the apodyterium (the 'undressing room’);it is without doubt the most emblematic space in the baths, with a central pool of 8 sides and 8 columns crowned with beautiful decorated capitals.
Until the 14th century, the building maintained its activity as public baths. In the 20th century, the Arab baths were restored to return them to their original appearance.
To stroll through the old town centre of Besalú is to automatically take a trip to the Middle Ages. The current layout of the town doesn’t correspond faithfully to its original state but, to a large extent, it does allow one to read the urban development of the middle ages with the important buildings present: the Church of the Monastery of Sant Pere of Besalú, the old pilgrims' hospital, the Casa Cornellà, the Church of Sant Vicenç or the Gothic Hall of la Cúria Reial palace. In the ‘Call’, the Jewish quarter, the main attraction is the Mikvah, one of the few remaining Jewish ritual baths and one of the best views of the river Fluvià.
But, without doubt, the symbol of the city is the Pont Vell the ‘Old Bridge’ of Besalú: a construction that is notable both for its dimensions and its appearance forming a right angle over the river. The oldest document in which the bridge is mentioned is from 1075, the likely date of its original construction. But the floods, the river surges and the defensive needs of the city made its reconstruction necessary in the 14th century, and it remained standing until the Civil War. The appearance of the current bridge is a reconstruction from the early 1960s.
The monumental importance of Besalú comes mainly from the great value of the whole complex, from its unity which makes it one of the most important and unique samples of medieval complexes in Catalonia.
To visit the ducal town of Montblanc is to make a tour of an open-air museum. The city was noted as an important trading centre during the middle ages and reached its highest point with the creation of the Duchy of Montblanc in 1387. This success is reflected in the wealth of monuments in the town.
In the 14th century, Montblanc enjoyed its time in the sun: it was the seventh largest city in Catalonia thanks to its political and economic weight. Proof of this was the holding of the Corts Generals the Spanish parliament, in the town four times and the creation of the Duchy. At this time the most emblematic works of Montblanc were begun, starting with its walled enclosure. Formed by an imposing set of towers, portals and ramparts crowned with battlements, the walls were taken advantage of throughout the modern age to build homes. It was not until the 20th century that the walls were restored and the additional buildings removed.
The Gothic church of Santa Maria, also known as the Cathedral of the Mountain due to its large size and its location at the top of a promontory, is another testimony to the medieval power of Montblanc. In the interior there is the altarpiece of Sant Bernat and Sant Bernabé, in polychrome stone from the 14th-century, which shows beautifully carved scenes from the life of the Saints.
For its part, the church-hospital of Sant Marçal is notable for the mural painting of Sant Cristòfol (15th century) and a Gothic sculpted window. The Alenyà Palace is the last major work which reflects the prosperous past of Montblanc; it is a Gothic-style building with a large main, round-arched portal and slender windows. The building, however, has been much modified over the years and is currently the headquarters of the Consell Comarcal de la Conca de Barberà (the County Council of Conca de Barberà).
Girona has many testimonies to its medieval past, a period of growth in which it became the second largest city in Catalonia with a population of 10,000 inhabitants (15th century). The old Roman walled town remained small and the city spread out on both sides of the Onyar.
Among the monumental heritage that reflects this growth is the Cathedral (11th – 18th century) which, with its large vaulted nave, is the widest vaulted Gothic space in the world. However, the first cathedral in Girona was the Basilica of Sant Feliu, which is currently one of the most representative Gothic buildings of the city, especially its slender bell tower (14th -16th century). Inside it preserves remarkable works of art, such as the eight pagan and Early-Christian sarcophagi (4th century) and the Recumbent Christ (14th century) by Master Aloi.
With regard to the monastery of Sant Daniel it is located in a wide green area close to the city and currently houses a community of Benedictine nuns. The Church contains the tomb of the Saint and the cloister is a beautiful example of Romanesque construction with Gothic additions.
Two kilometres along the River Galligants, stands another monastery: Sant Pere de Galligants, currently the Girona headquarters of the Museu d'Arqueologia de Catalunya (Archaeological Museum of Catalonia). An example of Catalan Romanesque architecture, it is noted for the iconography of the capitals in the central nave and cloister.
Close to Sant Pere de Galligants are the Arab baths, public baths that also bear witness to the demographic growth and development of medieval Girona. They follow the model of the Roman baths, the Islamic baths and the Jewish mikvahs.
However, one of the greatest symbols of medieval Girona is the Call. Its formation began in the 12th century, starting from the Carrer de la Força, when Jewish families, who had previously lived around the Cathedral, were settled there. Major thinkers, such as the poet-philosopher, doctor and exegete Mosse ben Nahman, better known as Bonastruc ça Porta or Nahmanides, lived here. Up to 800 people came to live in the Girona Call and today it is one of the busiest areas of the city.
In the shadow of the Lleida Pyrenees, the Cathedral of Santa Maria de la Seu d'Urgell is the only Romanesque cathedral that has survived until today and is the best example of the power of the Bishopric of Urgell. Its dimensions and the Italianised style of construction also provide a unique testimony to Romanesque Catalonia.
The current building of the Cathedral of Santa Maria de la Seu d'Urgell is the fourth to be built on the same site. It is a reconstruction commissioned by the Bishop Ot in 1090 and was finished at the end of the 12th century. Even so, for three centuries it was hidden beneath layers of plaster that had been applied during the Baroque period and it was Josep Puig i Cadafalch who, from 1918, began the restoration of its original appearance.
The result is a stone construction devoid of ornamentation. A polychrome carving of the Mare de Déu d’Urgell (Virgin Mary of Urgell), patron Saint of the city, breaks up the austerity of the interior and focuses the viewer’s gaze. It is a wooden figure from the 13th century and is hidden inside a small apsidal. Above, a 15th-century rose window illuminates the altar.
The majestic cloister has more than 50 capitals decorated with vegetative elements, men and common beasts.
Apart from the architecture, the Cathedral of Seu d’Urgell is noted for keeping one of the best copies of the famous Beatus of Liébana and a copy of the Beatus of Urgell, exhibited at the Diocesan Museum.
The Benedictine Abbey of Sant Quirze stands in the old county of Empúries. Isolated from the population, the building survived within the Albera Natural Area of National Interest. After a long process of restoration, Sant Quirze still conveys what its builders set down in the 10th century, with solid stone architecture in the Romanesque style bearing influences from Roussillon and Lombard decoration.
The monastery church is the best preserved part of the architectural complex. Its construction is very austere and ornamentation is scarce. Only the main apse is decorated: a high podium holds 5 small arches supported by semi-columns with plain capitals. But one must focus one’s view on the south apse of the Church. it was here that, during the restoration in 2006, the remains of wall paintings were discovered. Even though they are in a state of degradation, a mandorla, two angels, the sun and the moon have been discerned.
Only a part of the cloister has been preserved but, given that it is a very primitive (10th century) construction, it has great value. From here one can reach a large chamber, which could have been the refectory or the dormitory, and the Abbot's Palace. The monastery, fortified in the 14th century, retains a defence tower and the remains of the ramparts.
Outside the monastery enclosure there is the the parish church of Santa Maria, dating from the 12th century, open to the inhabitants of the area.
The ‘cradle’ of Catalonia. This is how the monastery of Santa Maria de Ripoll is known and no wonder. Founded by Comte Guifré el Pelós (Count Wilfred the Hairy) in the year 879, under the direction of the Abbot Oliba, it became a major religious and cultural centre, with a large and majestic Romanesque church and a scriptorium with great literary production, on a level with other abbeys in Europe during this period
The monastery’s 12th century portalada is the most outstanding feature of the complex. This doorway that welcomed the faithful and curious, is one of the great sculptures of European Romanesque. It is completely sculpted with scenes from the Old Testament and allegories. This is why it became known as "the Bible of stone". Its monumentality bears witness to Ripoll’s years of splendor. It is with good reason that for many years the monastery was also the pantheon of the counts of Besalú and Girona.
The building underwent several stages of enlargement and reconstruction due to the lack of space, fires, an earthquake and plunder.In 1886, the Bishop of Vic, Josep Morgades, commissioned the reconstruction of the monastery to the architect Elies Rogent. Ripoll recovered the church and the cloister of the 11th century monastery with a Romanesque Revival interpretation.
Today, you can visit Santa Maria de Ripoll and a Visitors’ Information Centre has been opened as well as a permanent exhibition focusing on the scriptorium, in which its importance is explained.
The history of Sant Feliu de Guíxols can be summarised based on this Benedictine monastery, which combines architectural styles from the 5th to the 18th century. The first monastery built here on top of former Roman structures dates back to the 10th century and retains the Porta Ferrada, which was integrated as a portico entrance. Later, other elements and constructions were incorporated, including the Gothic church and the new convent from the 18th century.
Today you can visit part of the building along with the Torre del Fum" (Smoke Tower) and the "Torre del Corn" (The Horn tower), located on each side of the church. In its day, these acted as defense towers. From the first of them, smoke signals were emitted using wet straw. From the second, a shell horn was sounded in times of danger.
The municipality of Sant Feliu de Guixols was established and grew up around the monastic complex. For this reason, this significant building was chosen to house the Museu d’Història de la Ciutat, the town’s history museum along with the permanent exhibition on health and the rural doctor.
Today, the history of the monastery is still being written. And in the rooms of the old Palau de l’Abat (Abbot's Palace) you will now find the Espai Carmen Thyssen dedicated to temporary exhibitions.
