Barcelona Cathedral and Pla de la Seu
Chapter 1/11 · Barcelona
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Welcome to Barcelona, capital of Catalonia and the second most populous municipality in Spain: according to the INE population register, it had 1,731,649 inhabitants on 1 January 2025! We start at the Pla de la Seu, the open square in front of the cathedral. This is a circular walk of about four kilometres through the Barri Gòtic, La Rambla and the Ribera district, almost all on the flat. We will finish right here.
You are standing in the heart of ancient Barcino, the Roman colony from which the city grew. Next to the square, stretches of the first Roman wall survive, and beside it, in Plaça Nova, you will see the big letters “Barcino”, a visual poem by Joan Brossa. Until the early 20th century this area was called the “Cathedral quarter”; the name “Barri Gòtic” (Gothic Quarter) came later as a tourist slogan.
The cathedral is dedicated to the Holy Cross and to Saint Eulalia. Gothic building work began in May 1298, on top of a Romanesque cathedral and the remains of an early Christian basilica, and lasted about 150 years. The neo-Gothic façade in front of you, however, is from the 19th century: a competition was held in 1882, Josep Oriol Mestres designed it based on drawings from 1408, and it went ahead thanks to the backing of Manuel Girona and his sons. The 70-metre lantern tower was finished in 1913.
In the crypt, beneath the high altar, lie the remains of Saint Eulalia, patron saint of the city. According to tradition, she was a girl martyred in Roman times at the age of thirteen; that is why thirteen white geese live in the Gothic cloister. If you go inside, look out for them.
Now we enter Carrer del Bisbe, between two towers of the Roman wall, and soon turn right along Carrer de Montjuïc del Bisbe to the Plaça de Sant Felip Neri.
Start · Barcelona