Santa Maria del Mar

The oldest documentary reference to Santa Maria del Mar found so far dates back to the year 998. The church we see today is the work of the architect Berenguer de Montagut. Building did not start until 1329, and continued for more than half a century. In 1428, as a result of an earthquake that shook Barcelona, a large rose window was broken. It was quickly replaced by another in the "flaming" Gothic style popular at the time, which was completed in 1460. The reason for building the church seems to have been the conquest of Sardinia, which completed the Catalan domination of the Mediterranean that had begun 100 years previously with the conquest of Mallorca. At its height, Sicily and Greece were also ruled by the House of Barcelona. Santa Maria would have been the place of worship for the workers in the Ribera neighbourhood, as the ruling class and the well-off had the cathedral.

Externally, it is the only complete Catalan Gothic church. On its façades there are Catalan Gothic features, very different from those of European Gothic. In the Catalan style, there is a predominance of horizontal lines, of solid panels over empty spaces, of flat terraces without roofs, and a preference for large bare surfaces. The huge buttresses are in contrast to the flying buttresses that can be seen on European Gothic cathedrals, while the towers are octagonal and flat-topped.

The interior of the church is extraordinarily beautiful. It has exceptional acoustics which make this religious building an ideal place for concerts of classical music, jazz or music from Oriental countries.