Catedral de la Santa Creu i Santa Eulàlia

Catedral de la Santa Creu i Santa Eulàlia rises in Barcelona’s Gothic Quarter as a Gothic cathedral and the archbishop’s seat. Its balanced Catalan Gothic proportions favour broad vaulted spaces over extreme height. A neo-Gothic façade, added in the late nineteenth century, covers the earlier, simpler exterior. Gargoyles, mythical creatures and large stained-glass windows fill the building with detail and light.

Construction of the present cathedral began in 1298 and continued for about 150 years. The fourteenth-century interior includes twenty-five side chapels, choir stalls and a raised high altar above Saint Eulalia’s crypt. Her relics rest beneath the altar, while the choir stalls preserve coats-of-arms linked to the Order of the Golden Fleece. The Chapel of Lepanto contains a cross traditionally associated with the 1571 battle.

The fourteenth-century cloister surrounds a garden, the Well of the Geese and thirteen white geese. Palm trees, magnolias and an orange tree soften this Gothic space. On the Corpus Christi festival, an egg balances on the cloister fountain’s water jet in the celebrated dancing-egg tradition. A rooftop lift brings the bell towers and architectural details close to view.