Barcelona Cathedral

Like most large cities in Europe, Barcelona has a cathedral. This one is called the Cathedral of the Holy Cross and Saint Eulalia (Catedral de la Santa Creu i Santa Eulàlia in Catalan). Saint Eulalia of Barcelona was a 13-year-old girl who was martyred by Roman soldiers early in the 4th Century A.D. for not recanting her Christianity. It is said she was subjected to 13 tortures, the last of which (decapitation) proved to be fatal. The cathedral is also commonly referred to as La Seu, which is a reference to its status as the seat of the Archbishop of Barcelona. There is a website for the cathedral, but you'll need to be multilingual to make sense of it (or have decent translation software), as the text is only in Catalan and Spanish.

Cathedral Façade
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Left Tower
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Principal construction of the current cathedral took place between 1298 and 1460. The façade and main tower were covered in scaffolding during our visit, but looked to be in remarkably good shape for such an old building. But this is because the façade wasn’t installed until the late 19th and early 20th Centuries, as neo-gothic ornamentation covering what had been a rather plain wall.

There was a small admission fee to enter the cathedral (which probably helps pay for the restoration work), but the investment is more than worthwhile. The interior is gothic in design and is 305 feet long by 131 feet wide. There are 28 side chapels and a large enclosed choir area in the middle. Here’s some of that:

The Nave
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St. Severus Altarpiece (1683) Med Lrg Xlg	St. Severus Altarpiece (1683) Med Lrg Xlg
Chapel of St. Mark (1683-92) Med Lrg Xlg	Chapel of St. Mark (1683-92) Med Lrg Xlg
Vaulting Med Lrg Xlg	Altarpiece of Saint Bernhard of Siena (1783-85) Med Lrg
Altarpiece of Our Lady of the Rosebush (1617-29) Med Lrg Xlg	Stained Glass and Vaulting MP4-Sml MP4-Med WMV-HD
Organ Med Lrg Xlg	Altarpiece of Saint Sebastian and Saint Tecla (1486-98) Med Lrg
Vaulting and Stained Glass Med Lrg Xlg	Virgin Mary of Montserrat Statue Med Lrg
Apse Med Lrg Xlg	Cross, High Altar Med Lrg Xlg
Altar with Painting Med Lrg Xlg	Altarpiece of the Foundation of the Mercedarian Order (1688) Med Lrg Xlg
Altarpiece of Saint John the Baptist (1577) Med Lrg Xlg	Altarpiece of Saint John the Baptist (1577) Med Lrg Xlg
Cathedral Interior MP4-Sml MP4-Med WMV-HD	Coffins of Count of Barcelona, Ramón Berenguer I, and his Wife (11th C.) Med Lrg Xlg
St. Anthony Abbot Altarpiece (1722) Med Lrg Xlg	St. Anthony Abbot Altarpiece (1722) Med Lrg Xlg
Organ Med Lrg Xlg	Stained Glass Med Lrg Xlg

There is also a cloister area outside the main building. The cloister has a nice fountain, and geese. By custom, there are always 13 white geese maintained in the cloister area, symbolic of the age of Saint Eulalia when she was martyred. There is also a small museum.

Archway, Fountain and Geese MP4-Sml MP4-Med WMV-HD	Figure, Fountain of the Geese Med Lrg Xlg
A Goose Med Lrg Xlg	Cloister Vaulting MP4-Sml MP4-Med WMV-HD
Palm Trees Med Lrg Xlg	Museum Entrance Med Lrg

On reentering the cathedral, we paid a visit to the Saint herself – a crypt under the main altar holds a sarcophagus containing her remains.

Crypt of St. Eulalia
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Nella Approaching Crypt
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We exited the cathedral and explored the general area, which held some points of interest for wandering tourists. The Hotel Colón across from the cathedral has a name Beavis and Butt-Head would love, but Colón is just the Spanish version of Columbus.

Hotel Colón Med Lrg Xlg	Bridge Between Palau de la Generalitat and Casa dels Canonges Med Lrg Xlg
Street Vendors Med Lrg Xlg	Bookstore Merchandise Med Lrg Xlg

We then headed back to our hotel on La Rambla. As mentioned earlier, La Rambla is the main drag for tourists in Barcelona. It is pleasantly shaded and somewhat pedestrianized – there are streets on which automotive traffic can move in both directions, but the median is wider than either of them, and is constantly filled with people. During the day, it is crowded with people wanting to see the vendors and street performers, or to just people-watch. During the night, it is filled with partakers of all the night life Barcelona has to offer, which is a considerable amount. At all hours it is home to an army of pickpockets. I recall seeing a survey naming La Rambla as the single spot in all of Europe where you’re most likely to get your pocket picked. So if you find yourself on La Rambla, try not to get too engrossed in the street performers – you might find yourself contributing more to the local economy than you’d planned.

La Rambla
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Gran Teatre del Liceu, La Rambla
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Our plans for the next day were ambitious, so we made an early evening of it. Our first stop was to be a visit to the famous Sagrada Família.