Church of Santa Maria

From Romanesque to Gothic,
surrounded by fantastic gargoyles,
modernist sculptures
and a majestic organ.

The Church of Santa Maria was the first parish church in Catalonia built in the Gothic style and it follows the construction patterns of the Catalan single-nave churches: roof with ribbed vaults, but with a large five-section nave with five side chapels separated by exceptionally thick buttresses. It is a Gothic building constructed on an old Romanesque chapel. The main façade was begun in the 15th century following Gothic lines, but it has suffered different interventions over the course of its history, the most recent of which took place at the start of the 20th century. 

The gate of Santa Maria, on the side façade, was the original door of the church and still conserves remains of mural paintings from the 14th century situated on the arch stones of the semicircular arches. It is or late Romanesque tradition and dates from the late 13th century.

The building has certain striking singularities, such as the large variety of gargoyles, situated among the buttresses and that adopt forms of fantastic and real animals. Also notable are the numerous sculptures around the exterior, just under the line of the roof, in the form of human heads, both male and female, which possibly represent the people who protected the new church.

Plaça Jaume I
Post code: 
08720
Telephone: 
93 818 12 54
Perfils: 
Family, Couples, Senior citizens