(And no, this has nothing to do with getting ripped off on Las Ramblas).
Imagine that your favorite person in the whole wide world had lied to you. Even worse, you had to find out from someone else. Even WORSE, they’d been lying for ages. That’s pretty much what the Barcelona Cathedral has been doing for years.
OK, so I am being a bit dramatic. But it is true that the Barcelona Cathedral is not exactly as it seems, and it starts with the name of the neighborhood it’s in – the Gothic Quarter.
There’s no question that the cathedral is very beautiful, and when you pop out of one of the little stone streets in the Gothic Quarter to the wide-open plaza in front of it is definitely a “wow” moment. The inside is lined with intensely colored stained glass windows, and its cloister is a calming space in the middle of the busy city center.
That’s all good and well…but if you thought that was all Gothic Barcelona, you’re mistaken, just like I was until I was recently mildly outraged to discover otherwise.
Now, the inside is actually Gothic. But the outside? This beautiful façade with its intricate stonework and detailed towers wasn’t even finished until 1913, when the middle spire was completed. Why was it added? Apparently it was in the original designs from the 15th century, and it also had the added bonus of jazzing up an otherwise fairly plain-looking church.
Here’s the old cathedral façade:
Photo retrieved via Monestirs.cat
Pretty different, eh?
And to ruin all your Barcelona Gothic fun even more, here’s another little fact. A lot of the iconic “Gothic” architecture in the Barri Gòtic (you know, the postcard stuff) was actually added in the early 20th century to make the city more interesting-looking for visitors. Shocking!
So when I see graffiti saying that Barcelona is turning into a theme park for tourists built on capitalist greed, I laugh. It’s nothing new. It’s been happily, shamelessly gussying itself up for tourists for about a century.
Did you know that Barcelona’s Gothic Quarter isn’t all actually Gothic?
Besos!
-Jess
I had no idea there is such a story behind this Cathedral. I love Gothic styled churches!
Agness recently posted…A Beginner’s Guide To The Singapore Hawker Center
Me too! This one is gorgeous, especially the cloister.
This is very interesting indeed!
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Gracias, Rajiv!
Oh wow—I had no idea Barcelona’s cathedral had a Gothic Revival façade. Interesting stuff. I ran into some similar churches in December when I was in Italy: Florence’s cathedral went without a façade for the entire length of the Renaissance, and there are quite a few historic churches that still don’t have façades.
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That’s really interesting! It must happen a lot, but you’d never know from looking at them.
Hahahaha! O_o and the tapas places don’t serve real tapas neither… My favorite Cathedral moment is when I hear tourist looking at it and saying “this Gaudí’s Sagrada Familia church is truly amazing”.
Fran Gonçalves recently posted…#SosVenezuela Cadena Humana “Denunciémos a los Cómplices”
Haha yes, it’s all lies in the Gothic Quarter, even the food! 🙂
A LOT of visitors confuse the cathedral with the Sagrada Familia. I’m not sure how! They must have never seen a picture of the Sagrada Familia.
Very interesting article, I guess it’s the same with most European churches where the “founding date” is about a previous construction of the church that we see now.
Raphael Alexander Zoren recently posted…The Uxmal Light and Sound Show: Is it worh the hassle?
Yes, I bet you’re probably right. They must change quite a lot over the centuries.
The site of the cathedral has an *amazing* history that likely spans all the way back to the Roman era… The site started as a temple to their main god Jupiter. Not the same building you see today though (3 others came before it). I wrote an article about it (but I didn’t come here to hijack traffic, so no link!)
Jess, totally agree. They need to rename the entire area. I suggest The Neo-Gothic Quarter.
Haha hijack away, you always have interesting articles! 🙂
I’m not sure why they didn’t call it the Neo-Gothic area, now that you say it. But some of the stuff really IS Gothic, and I read that some of it is Gothic but has been re-arranged. Either way, it’s a very pretty area to stroll around.
Hah, your post title immediately made me laugh and I thought, I’m going to comment with the quote from Elf…only to scroll down and discover that you already included it 🙂
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Haha it’s one of my favorite quotes. He’s just so serious when he says it!
Haha I love the title! You know what? I don’t actually mind that the cathedral’s facade is relatively ‘new’. They’ve done a much better job than than they did half a century or so later when they were ‘rebuilding’ cities in northern and central Europe after WWII. I’m pretty glad that Barcelona council knew what would be pretty in the long run!
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Haha thanks! I felt the need for a bit of hyperbole this week. 🙂
I don’t mind either, I actually think it’s pretty fascinating to see how cities evolve over the years and centuries. It’s funny that a lot of the stuff they market as being the genuine Gothic Quarter is actually not Gothic at all. But as long as it’s pretty, I don’t really care which century it came from!
I had no idea! Thanks for sharing! Even if it is Gothic Revival instead of just Gothic, I’m still planning on checking it out when I’m in Barcelona.
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You definitely should! It’s all still beautiful, after all.
I wouldn’t know the difference because architecture terms go right over my head! I like a building if I think is pretty which I guess is very vague criteria. Victorian, Gothic, Greek Revival, Brutalist (actually those are really ugly just look at our poor FBI building in DC)… what does it all mean anyways? And when you think about it, a ton of names don’t apply anymore. The South End of Boston isn’t actually in the south. What is Jewish about the Jewish neighborhood in Paris? The Meatpacking District in NYC hardly has any slaughterhouses anymore and no one is really sure how Hell’s Kitchen got its name (really bad restaurants??).
I hardly recognize the church in that old picture compared to the super elaborate one in the picture you took. Even if it looks nothing like the original, I’m glad they changed up the facade because it looks so much prettier!
That’s true, things definitely change and evolve! It makes things more interesting. I agree that the new version of the cathedral is much prettier too.
I really don’t have idea. If without this post, i will not know it. Thanks! 🙂
ben recently posted…Jamestown, Virginia – A City Filled With Historic Places
Ha! That’s an interesting bit of information. Especially about the non Gothic decorations.
Good thing I just make up explanations when playing the tour guide to friends and family.
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I believe the cathedral is still not finished anyway, with quite a lot more to do to complete it. Interesting post there.