THE SPANISH SERIES
CATALONIA
& THE BALEARIC ISLES
THE SPANISH SERIES
_EDITED BY ALBERT F. CALVERT_
GOYA
TOLEDO
MADRID
SEVILLE
MURILLO
CORDOVA
EL GRECO
VELAZQUEZ
THE PRADO
THE ESCORIAL
VALENCIA AND MURCIA
SCULPTURE IN SPAIN
ROYAL PALACES OF SPAIN
GRANADA AND ALHAMBRA
SPANISH ARMS AND ARMOUR
LEON, BURGOS AND SALAMANCA
CATALONIA AND THE BALEARIC ISLES
VALLADOLID, OVIEDO, SEGOVIA,
ZAMORA, AVILA AND ZARAGOZA
CATALONIA
& THE BALEARIC ISLES
AN HISTORICAL AND DESCRIPTIVE
ACCOUNT BY ALBERT
F. CALVERT, WITH 250 PLATES
LONDON: JOHN LANE, THE BODLEY HEAD
NEW YORK: JOHN LANE COMPANY: MCMX
PRINTED BY
BALLANTYNE & COMPANY LTD
TAVISTOCK STREET COVENT GARDEN
LONDON
CONTENTS
PAGE
THE PRINCIPALITY OF CATALONIA 1
BARCELONA 8
GERONA 23
THE VALLEY OF THE TER 36
LERIDA 40
TARRAGONA 52
POBLET 63
SANTA CREUS 69
VALLBONA 72
MONTSERRAT 73
CARDONA 83
TORTOSA 84
THE BALEARIC ISLANDS 86
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
TITLE PLATE
General View of Barcelona 1
General View of Barcelona 2
Barcelona: View from the Funicular Railway Station 3
Barcelona: Panorama from Monjuich 4
Barcelona: Panorama from Monjuich 5
Barcelona: Panorama from Monjuich 6
Barcelona: The Docks 7
Barcelona: General View of the Port 8
Barcelona: Detail of the Port 9
Barcelona: View from Miramar 10
Barcelona: Rambla del Centro 11
Barcelona: Rambla del Centro 12
Barcelona: Rambla de las Flóres 13
Barcelona: Rambla de las Flóres 14
Barcelona: Paseo de Colón 15
Barcelona: Paseo de Colón and Hotel 16
Barcelona: Paseo de Colón and Statue of Lopez 17
Barcelona: Rambla de los Estudiantes 18
Barcelona: Paseo de Gracia 19
Barcelona: Paseo de Gracia 20
Barcelona: Rambla de Cataluña 21
Barcelona: Plaza de Cataluña 22
Barcelona: Rambla de Santa Monica and the Bank 23
Barcelona: La Gran Via and Statue of Güel y Ferrer 24
Barcelona: Plaza de Cataluña 25
Barcelona: Plaza de Cataluña 26
Barcelona: Plaza de la Paz 27
Barcelona: Plaza del Palacio 28
Barcelona: Plaza del Palacio 29
Barcelona: Plaza Real 30
Barcelona: Plaza del Rey 31
Barcelona: Plaza Antonio López 32
Barcelona: Calle de Ferdinand VII. 33
Barcelona: Calle de Balmes 34
Barcelona: Calle de Aragón 35
Barcelona: Güell Park 36
Barcelona: Entrance to the Güell Park 37
Barcelona: Entrance to the Park 38
Barcelona: Lake in the Park 39
Barcelona: Lake in the Park 40
Barcelona: The “Cascada” in the Park 41
Barcelona Park: Details of the “Cascada” 42
Barcelona: Fountain in the Park 43
Barcelona: The Cathedral 44
Barcelona: The Cathedral 45
Barcelona Cathedral: Principal Entrance 46
Barcelona Cathedral: Right-hand Side Door 47
Barcelona Cathedral: Door of the Piedad 48
Barcelona Cathedral: Door of Santa Eulalia 49
Barcelona Cathedral: Exterior Door of Santa Lucia 50
Barcelona Cathedral: Interior Door of Santa Lucia
and Sepulchre of Mossen Borra 51
Barcelona: Interior of the Cathedral 52
Barcelona: Interior of the Cathedral 53
Barcelona Cathedral: Detail of the Choir 54
Barcelona Cathedral: The High Altar 55
Barcelona: The Archive of the Cathedral 56
Barcelona Cathedral: Cloisters and Principal Interior Door 57
Barcelona: Chapel in the Cloisters of the Cathedral 58
Barcelona: Cloisters of the Cathedral 59
Barcelona: Cloisters and Door of the Cathedral 60
Barcelona: Cloisters of the Cathedral 61
Barcelona: Cloisters of the Cathedral 62
Barcelona: Chapel in the Cloisters of the Cathedral 63
Barcelona Cathedral: Fountain in the Cloisters 64
Barcelona Cathedral: Fountain in the Cloisters 65
Barcelona: Fountain in the Cloisters of the Cathedral 66
Barcelona: Fountain in the Cloisters of the Cathedral 67
Barcelona Cathedral: Door in the Cloisters 68
Barcelona Cathedral: Iron Grating in the Cloisters 69
Barcelona Cathedral: Grating in the Cloisters 70
Barcelona Cathedral: Door in the Cloisters 71
Barcelona: Santa Maria del Mar 72
Barcelona: Church of Santa Maria del Mar 73
Barcelona: Church of Santa Maria del Mar. Gate of the Immaculada 74
Barcelona: Church of Santa Maria del Mar. Detail of Left Door 75
Barcelona: Detail of the Door of the Church of Santa Maria del Mar 76
Barcelona: Church of Santa Maria del Pino 77
Barcelona: Byzantine Doorway in the Church of San Pablo 78
Barcelona: Cloisters of San Pablo 79
Barcelona: Cloisters of San Pablo 80
Barcelona: Façade of the Church of Santa Ana 81
Barcelona: Cloisters of the Church of Santa Ana 82
Barcelona: Cloisters of the Church of Santa Ana 83
Barcelona: Church of the Sagrada Familia 84
Barcelona: Church of Las Salesas 85
Barcelona: Church of Las Salesas 86
Barcelona: Church of the Conception 87
Barcelona: Church of Santa Agueda 88
Barcelona: The Town Hall 89
Barcelona: The Town Hall 90
Barcelona: Old Façade of the Town Hall 91
Barcelona: Exterior Detail of the Town Hall 92
Barcelona: Chapel of San Jorge in the Town Hall 93
Barcelona: Courtyard of the Town Hall 94
Barcelona: Entrance to the Courtyard of the Audiencia 95
Barcelona: Upper Part of the Courtyard of the Town Hall 96
Barcelona: The University 97
Barcelona: Cloisters of the University 98
Barcelona: Cloisters of the University, Upper Part 99
Barcelona: Palacio de Justicia 100
Barcelona: Diputacion Provincial 101
Barcelona: Diputacion Provincial 102
Barcelona: The Exchange 103
Barcelona: The Custom House 104
Barcelona: Clinical Hospital 105
Barcelona: Municipal School of Music 106
Barcelona: Catalana del Gas 107
Barcelona: La Maison Dorée 108
Barcelona: Casa de la Canongia 109
Barcelona: Private House of the Eighteenth Century 110
Barcelona: A Shop in the Calle Fernando 111
Barcelona: New Building in the Paseo de Gracia 112
Barcelona: House of the Shoemakers 113
Barcelona: House in the Calle de Caspe 114
Barcelona: Arco de Triunfo 115
Barcelona: Teatro Principal 116
Barcelona: Old Towers in the Plaza Nueva 117
Barcelona: Tower of Santa Agueda 118
Barcelona: Convent of Santa Clara. Old Palace of
the Kings of Aragon 119
Barcelona: Apeadero de la Calle de Aragon 120
Barcelona: Hotel Colón 121
Barcelona: Staircase in a Private House in the Calle de Moncada 122
Barcelona: Staircase in a Private House in the Calle de Moncada 123
Barcelona: Frontón 124
Barcelona: The Bull-Ring 125
Barcelona: Monument to Columbus 126
Barcelona: Monument to Columbus 127
Barcelona: Detail of the Monument to Columbus 128
Barcelona: Monument to Columbus 129
Barcelona: Monument to Güell 130
Barcelona: Fountain in the Plaza de Palacio 131
Barcelona: Statue of General Prim 132
Barcelona: Rambla de Cataluña, Monument to Clavé 133
Barcelona: Statue of Lopez, and Paseo de Colón 134
Barcelona: Plaza del Duque de Medinacelli 135
Barcelona: Monument to Ruis and Toulet 136
Barcelona: View of Tibidabo 137
Barcelona: Funicular Railway Station, Tibidabo 138
Barcelona: Tibidabo Station and Casa Arnus 139
Barcelona: The Devil’s Bridge at Martorell 140
Barcelona: Interior Court of the Convent of Montesion 141
Barcelona: Exterior of the Convent of Montesion 142
Barcelona: Convent of Montesion Cloisters 143
Monastery of Pedralves, near Barcelona 144
Barcelona: Rambla de Canaletas during the Fêtes of 1888 145
Barcelona: The Fêtes of 1888. Inauguration of the Monument
to Columbus 146
Barcelona: Exhibition of 1888. H.M. the Queen leaving
the Exhibition 147
Barcelona: Exhibition of 1888. Palace of Beaux-Arts 148
General View of Tarragona 149
Tarragona: General View from the Cathedral, looking South 150
Tarragona: General View from the Cathedral, looking East 151
Tarragona: General View 152
Tarragona: General View from the Pier 153
Tarragona: Panoramic View 154
Tarragona: View of the Port 155
Tarragona: View of the Harbour from the Town 156
Tarragona: General View of the Cathedral 157
Tarragona: Façade of the Cathedral 158
Tarragona: Façade of the Cathedral 159
Tarragona: Tower and Side of the Cathedral 160
Tarragona: Façade of the Cathedral 161
Tarragona Cathedral: Centre of the Portal 162
Tarragona: Left-hand Side Door of the Cathedral 163
Tarragona Cathedral: Statues of the Portico 164
Tarragona Cathedral: Detail of the Portico 165
Tarragona: Byzantine Door of the Cathedral 166
Tarragona: Right-hand Side Door of the Cathedral 167
Tarragona Cathedral: The Principal Nave 168
Tarragona Cathedral: Tomb of Jaime de Aragon 169
Tarragona: Cloisters of the Cathedral 170
Tarragona: Door of the Chapel of San Pablo 171
Tarragona: La Muralla Ciclopea 172
Tarragona: Puerta de San Antonio and Roman Walls 173
Tarragona: Roman Walls and Tower 174
Tarragona: Tower of the Scipiones 175
Tarragona: Gate of San Antonio and the Roman Wall 176
Tarragona: Palace of Pilatos, now the Prison 177
Tarragona: La Portella, A Cyclopean Doorway 178
Tarragona: A Cyclopean Doorway 179
Tarragona: A Roman House 180
Tarragona: Arco de Bará 181
Tarragona: The Roman Aqueduct 182
Tarragona: The Roman Aqueduct 183
Tarragona: The Seminary 184
Tarragona: Cross of San Antonio (sixteenth century) 185
Tarragona: Ancient Roman Convent 186
Poblet (Tarragona): General View of the Monastery 187
Poblet (Tarragona): Church of the Monastery 188
Poblet (Tarragona): Door of the Monastery 189
Poblet (Tarragona): Chapel of San Jorge 190
Poblet (Tarragona): Temple in the Cloisters 191
Poblet (Tarragona): Cloisters and Palace of King Martin 192
Poblet (Tarragona): Interior View of the Cloisters 193
Poblet (Tarragona): Interior View of the Cloisters 194
Santa Creus (Tarragona): General View of the Church
of the Monastery 195
Santa Creus (Tarragona): Door of the Cloisters 196
Santa Creus (Tarragona): Interior of the Cloisters 197
Santa Creus (Tarragona): Interior Side View of the Cloisters 198
Montserrat: View of the Monastery 199
Monastery of Montserrat 200
View of the Monastery of Montserrat, taken from St. Michael 201
Montserrat: General View of Monastery from the South 202
Montserrat: View of the Monastery from the South 203
Montserrat: General View 204
Montserrat: View of the Monastery from the West 205
Montserrat: The Monastery 206
Montserrat: Grotto of the Virgin 207
Montserrat: The Virgin’s Cave 208
Montserrat: View from the Grotto of the Virgin 209
Montserrat: The Cave of Juan Guarin the Hermit 210
Montserrat: Remains of the Ancient Monastery 211
Montserrat: Door of the Church 212
Montserrat: Interior of the Church 213
Montserrat: View of the Peaks 214
Montserrat: The Devil’s Rock 215
Montserrat: Miranda Peak 216
View of Montserrat, taken from Monistol Station 217
View of Monistol, taken from Montserrat 218
Tortosa: General View 219
Tortosa: Courtyard in the Institute 220
The Court, San Francisco, Palma, Mallorca 221
Gran Hotel, Palma, Mallorca 221
Palace of the Almudaina, Palma, Mallorca 222
Windmill and Electrical Works, Palma, Mallorca 223
View of the “Real Club de Regatas,” Palma, Mallorca 224
Market and Church of San Nicolas, Palma, Mallorca 225
San Francisco, Palma, Mallorca 225
View from the Harbour, Palma, Mallorca 226
View of the Bay, Palma, Mallorca 227
The Almudaina and Cathedral, Palma, Mallorca 228
Puerta de Santa Margarita, Palma, Mallorca 229
The Cathedral, Palma, Mallorca 229
Paseo del Borne, Palma, Mallorca 230
Arabian Baths, Palma, Mallorca 230
View of the Gorch Blau, Mallorca 231
The Gorch Blau, Mallorca 231
Interior of San Francisco, Palma, Mallorca 232
Arab Baths, Palma, Mallorca 233
The Quay, Palma, Mallorca 234
Mills, Palma, Mallorca 235
The River, Seller, Mallorca 236
General View of Alcudia, Mallorca 237
The Cathedral, Palma, Mallorca 238
The Church of the Monastery, Lluch, Mallorca 238
La Cartuja, Valldemosa, Mallorca 239
Puerta del Muelle, Alcudia, Mallorca 239
Interior of the Church, Lluch, Mallorca 240
Transport of Musts, Balearic Islands 241
General View of Deya, Mallorca 242
Castle of Bellver, Mallorca 243
General View of San Antonio (Pityusae Isles) 244
Ruins of the Torre d’ea Galines, Alazor, Menorca 245
Villa Carlos, Mahon, Menorca 246
View of the Port, Mahon, Menorca 246
The Harbour, Mahon, Menorca 247
A View in the Town, Mahon, Menorca 247
The Quay, Mahon, Menorca 248
Paseo del Borne, Ciudadela, Menorca 249
View of the Port, Mahon, Menorca 250
The Port and Town, Ciudadela, Menorca 251
Threshing, San Antonio (Pityusae Isles) 252
A Street in Algendar, Ferrerias, Menorca 252
A View showing the Arabian Towers, Ibiza (Pityusae Isles) 253
River Pareys 254
Portal of d’alt or d’en Servera, Mahon, Menorca 255
Monument to the French Prisoners who died in 1808,
Island of Cabrera, Menorca 256
CATALONIA
THE PRINCIPALITY OF CATALONIA
Every stranger who crosses the Pyrenees knows that Catalonia differs in
many important respects from every other province in the kingdom. He has
heard that the natives speak of going into Spain as if they lived
outside of it; he knows that they speak a tongue different from the
Castilian; that their enterprise and activity distinguish them
favourably among King Alfonso’s subjects, and they have kept well
abreast of every other European community. All this is true, and it
would be easy to enumerate many other peculiarities. The tendency,
however, is to exaggerate the points of difference between Spaniard and
Catalan, and to lose sight of their fundamental affinity. The language
of Catalonia, though not a mere dialect as some suppose, is as
essentially Spanish as the Castilian. It was spoken by those Hispani who
were driven out of Spain by the Saracens and returned in the ninth
century to settle in the north-east corner of the country. Thus Catalan
language and people were born in the very heart of the Peninsula and
have since been confined to a portion of it only by political causes.
There is, of course, no such essential difference between Catalans and
Castilians as between Welsh and English, Bretons and French. Both are
branches of the great Iberian family. If Catalonia were an independent
State, it would be its affinity to Spain that would impress us most, and
set us wondering, as we do in Portugal, how two countries so much alike
could continue politically distinct.
The superior enterprise and energy of the Catalans may be attributed
less, I think, to racial differences than to historical and geographical
causes. Far removed from the scene of the secular struggle with the
Moor, and dwelling on the marge of the sea which was the principal
commercial arena of the ancient and mediæval world, the people of
Catalonia had from a very remote period opportunities for development
denied to the inhabitants of every other part of Spain. The Moors were
expelled from Barcelona at the beginning of the ninth century. Catalonia
had thus a start of more than four centuries over Seville, and of six
over Malaga--to say nothing further of the incontestable advantages of
her geographical position.
Without wishing, it need hardly be said, to depreciate the progressive
tendencies of the Catalans, I confess I am inclined to attribute them,
not to any racial superiority over other Spaniards, but mainly to the
causes I have indicated.
Catalonia thus bears witness to the aptitude of the Spaniard, for the
most active forms of commercial and industrial life, to his ability to
keep in the van of progress. The lead given by Barcelona will inevitably
be followed by all the other towns in the kingdom, now that the special
circumstances which retarded their development have been removed. In the
most populous city of Spain I fail to recognise a miracle or the work of
another people than the Spanish. I see instead the results of Spanish
enterprise and capacity singular only in having had the opportunity to
assert itself.
From the day--it was in the year 813--that the fleet of the Count of
Ampurias gloriously defeated a Saracen squadron off the Balearic Isles,
Catalonia has looked seaward. It was on the wave that the men of
Barcelona found glory and riches. They were the rivals of the Pisans,
Genoese and Venetians, and can boast a maritime history far longer and
hardly less glorious than our own. It is recorded in one of the best
historical works ever written, the “Memorias sobre la Marina de
Barcelona,” by Don Antonio de Capmany y Palau, published in 1779. The
learned author contrasts the naval eminence of Barcelona with that of
other powers, and assigns the city a higher rank than England and
Portugal. In the middle of the Eleventh century, laws regulating and
favouring commerce and providing for the suppression of piracy were
decreed by Count Ramon Berenguer II. In the year 1114, the third Count
of that name assisted, with his own fleet, the Pisans in the reduction
of the Island of Majorca; in 1147 Almeria was attacked and plundered by
the allied fleets of Barcelona and Genoa; and in the following year
another naval victory added Tortosa to the principality.
The conquests of the great King James of Aragon gave a great impetus to
the commerce of Barcelona as well as to the development of arts and
letters. The extension of the city’s relations to the Levant and Egypt
led to the appointment of consuls in all the parts frequented by
Catalans. A Maritime Code was promulgated in 1258, and soon became very
generally adopted throughout the Mediterranean. A second time the hardy
sailors of Barcelona drove the pirates from their nest in the Balearics,
the islands this time remaining definitely annexed to the crown of
Aragon. All the ships were furnished by the city on this occasion, and
the King named as commander Ramon de Plegarnoás, a rich citizen, expert
in naval affairs.
In the thirteenth century, Aragon (or in other words, as regards the
sea, Barcelona) was the most formidable power in the Mediterranean. Her
merchant princes competed successfully with the traders of Genoa and
Venice, at the farthest ports of Egypt and Syria. King James when
appealing to the States of Aragon for a subsidy to carry on the war
against the infidel, reminded them that if Majorca were lost, Catalonia
would lose the dominion and absolute power she exercised over the sea.
Montaner, the Froissart of his nation, has bequeathed to us a stirring
chronicle of the expedition (in which he took part) of the Catalans to
Greece under the leadership of Roger de Flor. In the year 1332, Philip
of France, when about to embark on the Crusades, was advised to entrust
the management of the expedition exclusively to the Genoese and
Catalans, these being provided with the best ships and seamen, and the
most experienced in naval matters. As late as the year 1467, the Grand
Signior found it expedient to pay an indemnity to the King of Aragon to
secure immunity for his coasts from the persistent attacks of the
dreaded privateers of Barcelona. It is with reason that Capmany
attributes to the seamanship of the Barcelonese the extension of the
power of Aragon over the kingdoms of Naples, Sicily and Sardinia. Upon
the consolidation of Spain at the beginning of the sixteenth century and
the rise of the great modern States, the city was eclipsed as a sea
power. Its merchants looked with little favour on the discovery of
America, an enterprise promoted by Castile. Of the reception of Columbus
here by the Catholic Kings, not one word is said in the archives of the
city.
Soon after, Barcelona just escaped becoming the scene of a discovery
almost as important as that of the New World. Here, says O’Shea, on
January 17, 1543, a ship of 200 tons was launched, propelled by two
wheels driven by steam. The inventor was Blasco de Garay, and the trial
was successfully made in the presence of a royal commission. The King’s
treasurer, one Ráongo, for some personal motive it is said, drew up a
report unfavourable to the invention, declaring the ship made only six
miles in two hours, and that the boiler was likely to burst. Perhaps
this report was not ill-founded, for though Garay received a grant of
200,000 maravedis in addition to his expenses, he made no further
progress with his invention. The fate of this and many other experiments
with steam in the sixteenth, seventeenth and eighteenth centuries seems
to prove that our ancestors rather failed to recognise the necessity of
any improvement in the means of locomotion, than wanted the skill to
effect it. It will be remembered that Mr. Shandy thought that on
economical grounds alone the inventors of mechanical means of transport
should be discouraged. A useful invention with which the Barcelonese may
fairly be credited, is marine insurance.
BARCELONA
Barcelona has remained true to her traditions. She is still, as of old,
a city of merchant princes, a hive of industry, at once the Liverpool
and Manchester of Spain. To those who visit the capital of Catalonia
after an acquaintance only with the moribund cities of Old Castile, this
vision of España Moderna comes as a shock and a revelation. The first
impression is not pleasing. You approach the city through a vast
wilderness of suburbs, teeming with life, and breathing apparently
through grimy factory chimneys. We realise that we have returned to the
civilised twentieth century. But the brighter side of modernity is soon
revealed. In its heart Barcelona is clean, bright, and spacious. The
boulevards are unequalled in Europe--except perhaps by Budapest--and the
street prospects are worthy of Washington. The Rambla is the most
delightful of promenades; in the Calle Fernando the contents of every
shop window tempt the unthrifty. A noble, beautiful modern metropolis,
still worthy of Cervantes’ encomium: “Flor de las bellas ciudades del
mundo, honra de España, reglo y delicia de sus moradores, y
satisfacción de todo aquello que de una grande famosa, rica, y bien
fundada ciudad, puede pedir un discreto y curioso deseo.”
Barcelona is richer in monuments of the past than many a more
ancient-looking city. Foremost among these is the Cathedral in the very
heart of the town, one of the grandest examples of Gothic architecture
in Spain. Its extreme sombreness and apparently massive character
produce a similar impression to that created by the much larger
Cathedral of Seville.
Street thinks very highly of this church, and remarks on the skill with
which the architect has contrived to make it appear much larger than it
really is. He observes “the architecture of Cataluña had many
peculiarities, and in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, when most
of the great buildings of Barcelona were being erected, they were so
marked as to justify me, I think, in calling the style as exclusively
national or provincial, as ... was our own Norfolk middle-pointed....
Besides this, there was one great problem which I may venture to say
that the Catalan architects satisfactorily solved, the erection of
churches of enormous and almost unequalled internal width.”
The primitive Cathedral was built by Count Ramón Berenguer between 1046
and 1058, and considerably enlarged in the year 1173. The building, not
yet satisfying the needs of the thriving city, was entirely rebuilt at
the beginning of the fourteenth century. The design is attributed by
Street to Jaime Fabre, a native of Majorca, who was succeeded as master
of the works in 1388 by Master Roque. The last stone of the vault was
placed on September 26, 1448.
In plan the church is externally a parallelogram, semicircular at the
east end. The transepts do not project beyond the line of chapels
opening off the aisles, and form each the basis of a tower, 170 feet
high. The old timber roofs of these towers have been removed (as from
our castles) laying bare simply the vaulting covered with tiles. Over
the Puerta de San Ivo by which you enter the north transept, a series of
reliefs illustrates a combat between a knight and a dragon. The former
is not St. George, the patron of Aragon, but a legendary hero, one
Villardell, who by Divine favour was armed with a miraculous sword. With
this he slew the monster which had been let loose by the Saracens, and
exultingly cried, “Well done, good sword, and stout arm of Villardell!”
But at that instant some drops of the dragon’s blood fell on his arm,
and he at once expired. He was thus punished for taking the credit of
the victory to himself.
The west front, only finished ten years ago, compares very unfavourably
with the older portions. The dome over the first or westernmost bay of
the nave is also modern. Little else of the exterior can be seen.
Inside, as I have said, the church is extremely sombre, and very
conducive to what an eminent divine called Gothic devotion. This is due
partly to the dark colour of the stone, and partly to the smallness of
the windows, which are filled with beautiful fifteenth-century stained
glass. The windows of the chapels in the south aisle open into a
corresponding row of chapels in the adjacent cloister. Everything, in
fact, has been done to keep out the torrid rays. The chapels are
continued all round the church, there being no fewer than twenty-seven.
The choir is, as usual, in the middle of the nave, being separated by
the crossing from the chancel. Twenty massive and somewhat inelegant
clustered columns separate the nave from the aisles and the chancel from
the ambulatory, and from their capitals spring the nineteen arches
forming the vaulted roof. Nave and aisles are alike 83 feet high. The
cathedral is dedicated to a local martyr, Santa Eulalia, whose body
since the year 1339 has reposed in the crypt beneath the chancel. The
shrine of the saint was the work of Fabre and is in Italian Gothic
style. The ark is sculptured with scenes from the saint’s life.
There is little remarkable about the High Altar. The choir-stalls are
richly carved, and date from the late fifteenth century. Like the stalls
of St. George’s Chapel at Windsor, they are decorated with coats of
arms--those of the knights of the Order of the Golden Fleece, in
commemoration of the chapter held here by Charles V. (then only King of
Spain) in 1519. Among the Knights present were the Kings of Denmark and
Poland, the Prince of Orange, and the Duke of Alva. The rear wall of the
choir is beautifully adorned with columns, and reliefs of Bartolomé
Ordonez, and Pedro Vilar of Zaragoza, representing scenes from the life
of the titular. It is a fine example of the Spanish Renaissance style.
Before beginning an examination of the chapels, attention may be called
to the huge Saracen’s head hanging from the organ in the north
transept--a common feature in Catalan churches, and symbolising the
reconquest of their sites from the infidel.
A floor runs round the church above the side chapels and is carried
across the west front. The upper rooms were never used as places of
worship. The chapels are closed by mediæval grilles of wrought iron.
They date mostly from the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, and
present no very interesting features. This is fortunate for the
painstaking sightseer, as the obscurity renders an examination
difficult. A crucifix in the uppermost chapel in the chevet is a
memorial of the battle of Lepanto, where it was carried on the prow of
Don Juan’s flagship. The image is believed by some to have bent its head
to avoid the Turkish bullets. In the chapels of San Miguel Arcángel and
Nuestra Señora del Patrocinio, close by, are the fine Gothic tombs of
Bishop Berenguer de Palau (died 1240) and of one of his successors,
Poncio de Gualba (died 1334). Leaving the ambulatory by the north, the
chapel on the right contains another good Gothic monument to Bishop
Escaler. The finest tomb, on the whole, is that of Doña Sancha de
Cabrera, lady of Noalles, in the chapel of San Clemente, in the south
aisle; and three chapels farther on is the sarcophagus of the great
Catalan saint, Ramon de Penafort. The two wooden urns covered with
crimson velvet in the wall between the south transept and the sacristy
enshrine the ashes of Count Ramon Berenguer the Old, and his consort,
Almodis (died 1070). Opening off the south aisle, close to the main
entrance, is the large square chapel of the Holy Sacrament, or of St.
Olegarius, with a fine star-vaulting, the seventeenth-century monument
of the titular, and some paintings of Villadomat, a local artist of some
repute, who lived in the first half of the eighteenth century. There are
also some paintings of merit by the Tramullas, father and son, of
Perpignan, but generally speaking this fine cathedral is poor in
painting and statuary.
Cloisters are nearly always charming, and those adjoining the Cathedral
on the south side are certainly so, with their palms and fruit trees and
fountains. One of these last is adorned with a statue of St. George, a
jet of water serving as a tail to the horse. In one corner is a
goose-pond. I saw nothing of the cats who, Street says, were prowling
about the cloisters and church, and contrived to get into the
choir-stalls just before service, whence they were forthwith chased by
the choristers and such of the clergy as happened to be there. I have
witnessed such scenes in French churches, where they are very
distracting to the devout. The cloister was begun by Master Roque and
finished in 1448. The architecture has been variously criticised, and
the tombs for the most part are poor. On these the profession of the
deceased is indicated by the implements of his trade lightly graven. The
resting-place of Mosém (Monseigneur) Borrà, the jester of Alfonso V. of
Aragon, is distinguished by the cap and bells. In the Chapel of the
Conception there used to be, says O’Shea, a picture painted by order of
the municipality in gratitude for the cessation of the plague in 1651,
at the intercession of the Virgin. The keys of the city, made in
silver, were presented to her on that occasion. In the chapel of Santa
Lucia, at the south-west angle of the cloister, Street recognised a
fragment of the old cathedral. The entrance into the south transept is
of the same date. By the graceful Puerta Santa Eulalia we pass into the
street.
We presently pass the Bishop’s Palace, an eighteenth-century structure
incorporating some late Romanesque arcading. But leaving other
interesting buildings in this the oldest quarter of Barcelona for the
moment, we will seek the next most notable church in the town, that of
Santa Maria del Mar. It occupies the site of the earliest shrine of
Santa Eulalia, over which Bishop Aetius built a temple in the thousandth
year of our era. This modest church was replaced by another in the year
1329, which was restored and reconsecrated after a disastrous fire in
1383 under the reign of Pedro the Ceremonious. All classes of the
community assisted in the work. Those who could not give money gave
their labour, and in commemoration of this two small bronze figures
carrying stone and timber adorn the principal door. The edifice is a
good example of the Catalan church in its breadth and height of nave and
simplicity of plan. Like the cathedral, it forms a parallelogram rounded
at the east end, and presents an unbroken line of wall to the exterior.
Churches of this type usually consist of nave only, but Santa Maria del
Mar has two aisles. Enormous octagonal columns carry the main arches and
the groining ribs which all spring from their capitals. The wall rib
towards the nave is carried up higher than the main arches, so as to
allow space between them for a small circular and traceried clerestory
window in each bay. The arches of the apse are very narrow, and
enormously stilted. There are small windows above them, but they are
modernised. The aisles are groined on the same level as the main arches,
a few feet, therefore, below the vault of the nave, and they are lighted
by a four-light traceried window in each bay, the sill of which is above
the string-course formed by continuing the abacus of the capitals of the
groining shafts. Below this are three arches in each bay, opening into
side chapels between the main buttresses. Each of these chapels is
lighted by a traceried window of two lights, and the outer wall presents
a long unbroken line, until above the chapels, when the buttresses rise
boldly up to support the great vaults of the nave and aisles.[A] The
interior, though still simple and dignified, has been marred by modern
restorations. Another peculiarity remains to be noted: the choir is
placed behind the high altar. Of this latter, a costly but
churrigueresque erection, the less said the better. The royal pew in the
south aisle, recalling the days when Barcelona was a capital, was
connected with the palace by a gallery now destroyed. The church
contains some good glass and examples of the art of Villadomat, a
painter of whom Catalonia can boast. His fate was extremely sad: for the
last seventeen years of his long life, he was paralysed in both hands.
[A] Street, “Gothic Architecture in Spain.”
Standing on the sinister spot where, twelve years ago, twelve people
were killed and fifty others injured by a miscreant’s bomb, we survey
the fine west front. This is flanked by two octagonal towers, of the
telescope kind, and has a magnificent rose-window, above which I rather
felt that an attic or story gable was wanted. The portal is richly
moulded, and adorned with sculpture. The doors are faced with iron.
The churches of Santa Maria del Pino and of Santos Justo and Pastor are
on the same plan, with slight modifications. Adjoining the former is a
tall detached belfry, producing a fine effect. The church was
consecrated in 1453, and derived its name according to one account from
an image of the Virgin found in the trunk of a pine. The west front,
Street considers to have been designed by the architect of the north
transept door of the cathedral. Unlike Santa Maria del Mar, there are
no chapels in the apse, though they are found between the buttresses of
the nave. There is no aisle. In this church Villadomat is buried.
Santos Justo-y-Pastor is another single-nave church, founded in 1345, on
the oldest church site in the city. It has been modernised inside and
out. In the days of the ordeal by combat the parties, fully armed, made
oath in this church, on the altar of San Felio, as to the justice of
their cause and to use no “constellated or enchanted weapons.” We read
that James I. declared null and void the issue of an encounter between
Arnuldo de Cabrera and Bernardo de Cantellas on the ground that the one
had worn certain jewels believed to be enchanted, and that the other had
been invested with a shirt rendered impenetrable by a spell. To-day, I
understand, an oath taken in this church as to the last wishes of a
citizen who has died intestate, will be sufficient grounds for the issue
of letters of administration accordingly. Here also Jews were sworn with
both hands placed on the Decalogue, and according to a long and terrific
formula. This is given at length by Don Pablo Piferrer in the original
Catalan, and is calculated to appal the most hardened perjurer.
Barcelona, it will have been seen, abounds in ancient and interesting
churches. San Pablo del Campo was founded in the first decades of the
tenth century by Count Wilfred II., who was buried in it, as his epitaph
on a Roman tablet attests. Destroyed by Al Mansûr, the church was
rebuilt on the same plan in 1117 by Jinbert Jintardo and his wife
Rotlandis. The west front has retained much of its primitive Romanesque
character. The symbolical sculpture is crude and curious. The interval
is very striking in its simplicity. The cloister is more ornate and the
decoration is considered by some to mark the transition from the
Romanesque to the Moorish style. More eastern in character is the
venerable church of San Pere de las Puellas, believed to date from the
tenth century. It is so called from the nuns who formerly inhabited the
adjoining convent and who, at the time of Al Mansûr’s invasion, cut off
their lips and noses to avoid the amorous attentions of the Moors.
There remain to be visited the old chapel royal of Santa Agueda, now
converted into an archæological museum, where Alfonso el Casto was
baptized, where the order of Montesa was established, and where the
claims of the candidates to the crown of Aragon were discussed in 1410.
Santa Ana, built in 1146 in imitation of the church of the Holy
Sepulchre (as it was then), with a curious fourteenth-century cloister
placed at an angle to the main building, and the simple graceful arches
of the chapel of Montesion, where are hung the Turkish ensigns won by
Spanish valour at Lepanto.
One instinctively searches at Barcelona for monuments of civic state
befitting a city of such antiquity and dignity. Happily such are not
lacking and have been preserved to us. The noble Gothic façade of the
Town Hall (Casa Consistorial), erected in 1373, has been recently
restored, fortunately with good taste. The Council Chamber (Salon de
Ciento), formed of two bays which support an artesonado roof, is lined
by a collection of portraits of Catalan worthies, among whom we
distinguish Capmany, Villadomat and Montaner. A finer building and
preserving more of its primitive character is the Diputacion, the old
Parliament House of Catalonia, and now the seat of the Provincial Court.
This monument, declares Piferrer, “is the admiration of foreigners and
the honour of Barcelona. He who seeks for originality of style, let him
examine all its parts and be convinced that many are of a character
entirely new.” Built in the early fifteenth century, it underwent
frequent restorations and enlargements, and was rebuilt in great part in
1609 by Maestre Pere Blai, who spared the best portions of the old work.
The principal façade is cold and devoid of interest, except for the
figure of St. George above the entrance. To that saint is dedicated the
chapel, with its fine ogival portal, and the adjoining wall damascened
(to quote Piferrer) with reliefs. The chapel is the repository of an
exquisite altar frontal, worked with the design of St. George and the
Dragon, and designed by Antonio Sadarni, in 1458. The pillars sustaining
the galleries of the patio, at one time much admired for their daring
and ingenious execution, were bending and giving way under the strain
till restored and strengthened a few years ago by Don Miguel Garriga y
Roca, a local architect.
The halls breathe the dignity and gravity of a great corporation. The
majestic Salon del Tribunal with its dome and hangings is adorned with
portraits of the Kings of Spain, and paintings by Fortuny, one
representing the victory of Marshal Prim over the Moors at Tetuan.
Catalonia keeps ever green the memory of her heroes.
The rapid extension of the most populous city of Spain has fortunately
spared several noble monuments of bygone ages and beliefs. About an
hour’s walk from the Tibidabo brings one to the Romanesque monastery of
San Cucufat (or Cugat) del Valles, founded by Charlemagne on the site of
a Roman camp, and rebuilt between 1009 and 1014. The exterior is
fortified with battlements and flanking towers, the main entrance being
pierced through a tall square gatehouse, and having been defended by a
drawbridge. The Abbey Church is in the finest Romanesque style, with an
octagonal lantern, apse, nave, and aisles. The interior is plain and
sombre, despite the abominable baroque chapels which have been added to
the right aisle. The church contains but one tomb of importance--that of
the builder or founder, the Abbot Otho, who was also Bishop of Gerona,
and flourished at the dawn of the eleventh century.
The cloister of San Cugat has afforded the Romanesque sculptors the
opportunity of gratifying their most exuberant fancy in stone. The
capitals reveal an extraordinary profusion and variety of
designs--Biblical scenes being associated with fables, conventional
designs, and animals’ heads. Examples of the quaint and more childlike
conceptions of a rather later age (fourteenth century) may be found in
some curious paintings, set in retablos, still adorning the church. They
are specimens of a style peculiar to Catalonia, Valencia, and the
Balearic Islands, at the period “which analogies [says one authority]
with the early Tuscan and old Cologne schools.”
GERONA
Gerona deserves to be, but through some freak of fortune is not, as
famous as Saragossa. Its many sieges, especially those that took place
in the Peninsular War, are among the many proofs of the Spaniard’s
extraordinary tenacity in the defence of positions. Numantia, Saguntum,
Saragossa, Gerona, and Cartagena--can any other country boast so many
and such glorious instances of heroism and resistance to an overwhelming
foe? These five names should be inscribed on the national escutcheon.
They might even one day have more than a sentimental value, and cause
potential invaders to think twice before violating Spanish soil.
Gerona, then, has covered itself with glory, not once, but repeatedly.
The very paynim Moors were invigorated by the heroic atmosphere, for we
read that as long ago as 785 they defied the arms of Louis the Pious,
till the Christian townsfolk, thinking that enough had been done for the
renown of Gerona, arose and expelled them. In the succeeding centuries
the Geronese grew used to this business of sieges, and their assailants
grew more wary. In 1285 the French King, Philippe le Hardi, sat down
before the town and contentedly starved it into submission. Gerona
yielded under protest, and took care to place it on record that she was
not taken by force but by hunger, as the inscription not “per forsa, mes
per fam” over the Puerta de la Cárcel to this day testifies. More than
four centuries later came another Philippe from beyond the Pyrenees,
welcomed by all Spaniards except Catalans. Gerona stubbornly held out
for Austrian Charles, and her garrison of 2000 men bade defiance to
Philippe’s 9000. The Bourbon won; and to punish the recalcitrant city
abolished her University. But a hundred years after, Gerona recovered
her laurels. Her garrison of three hundred men, commanded by Colonel
O’Daly, withstood successfully the repeated assaults of 6000 French
under Duhesme, and beheld in August 1808 the hurried and inglorious
flight of the besiegers. Of the great siege of 1809 you may read in the
pages of Napier. The commander and hero of the defence was Mariano
Alvarez--a much finer fellow than Palafox; and had he not been stricken
with fever and rendered unconscious, the town might not have
surrendered, as it ultimately did after a seven months’ siege. It had
cost Napoleon 15,000 men. Here, as at Saragossa, the women fought beside
the men and worked the guns, under the banner of St. Barbara.
Unconquerable Gerona! Well might the heirs to the crown of haughty
Aragon have been proud to bear the title of your prince.
Towns with such stories invariably reflect them in their physiognomies.
Gerona’s aspect is eloquent of history and legend. Her balconied
houses--yellow and white--seem to rise out of the waters of the river
Oñar, reminding one at moments of a Venetian canal. But to dispel such
an illusion you have but to lift your eyes to the castled hill of
Montjuich, in which the defensive power of the town resides and whose
sides have borne the brunt of every battle that has raged round Gerona.
Penetrating into the labyrinth of streets behind the river front, we
find them dark, narrow, and silent enough to be haunts of the muse of
history; but here and there--often, indeed--we find animated squares and
thoroughfares that show us that Gerona is not outside the brisk
Catalonian current.
The vast cathedral lifts its towers near the river’s marge. It was
founded, after the expulsion of the Moors, by Louis the Pious, in 786,
and was rebuilt in the year 1016. It was consecrated by the Archbishop
of Narbonne, on the French side, assisted by bishops both Cispyrenean
and Transpyrenean. Extensive alteration and restoration went on in the
fourteenth century, among the architects being two from Narbonne.
Perhaps I may be pardoned the digression when I remark that natural
boundaries seem to have been of less importance in the Middle Ages than
now; a fact which may, it seems to me, be partly attributed to the
relative facility with which great mountain barriers could be passed by
the usual means of conveyance in those days. If you travel only on
horseback, a mountain pass presents little more difficulty than a high
road. Street, who extracted these particulars of the cathedral’s history
from various Spanish works, tells us of the deliberations as to the
adoption of the architect Guillermo Boffy’s plan for a nave of a single
span. Fortunately the twelve architects composing the jury (Pascasio de
Xulbe, Juan de Xulbe, Pedro de Valfogona, Guillermo de la Mota,
Bartolomé Gual, Antonio Canet, Guillermo Abiell, Arnaldo de Valleras,
Antonio Antigoni, Guillermo Sagrera, Jehan de Guinguamps, and Boffy
himself) pronounced in favour of the plan, and the work was put in hand
that same year, 1417. The first stone of the campanile was not laid till
1581, and the west front was begun as lately as 1607.
This grand church consists, then, of a single nave 73 feet wide, four
bays in length, and terminating in the usual semicircular east end. The
west front, in the poor style of the seventeenth century, calls for no
remark, and gives no promise of the grandeur of the interior. Street
thinks the exterior could never have looked very well. Even the south
door, executed in 1458, does not merit praise, though its terra-cotta
statues are curious and well preserved.
The vast nave is blocked and greatly marred by the central choir, moved
into this ill-chosen position long after the completion of Boffy’s work.
Three arches separate the east end from the nave. Above them are three
large round windows. Street praises this arrangement and says that it
enhances this effect of vastness. “In short, had this nave been longer
by one bay, I believe that scarcely any interior in Europe could have
surpassed it in effect.”
The high altar is of alabaster with a silver frontal, and belonged to
the old cathedral. It was the gift of Ermesindes, the wife of Count
Ramon Borel (1038). The reredos is a very rich and interesting work
plated with silver. It was completed in 1348. The subjects in the three
tiers of niches relate respectively to the lives of the saints, the life
of the Blessed Virgin, and the life of Our Lord. The work is crowned by
the figures of Christ and His Mother, and the saints Narcissus and
Feliu. Of the same period is the baldachin, the vault of which is
covered with sacred subjects, while the shafts are adorned with
heraldic achievements. Behind the reredos is the bishop’s throne, formed
of a single piece of marble. “Here, when the bishop celebrated
pontifically, he sat till the oblation and returned to it again to give
the benediction to the people.”
In addition to the objects of interest to which the architect of our Law
Courts calls attention--the wooden wheel of bells, &c.--the cathedral
contains several tombs worthy of examination. In the choir is buried
Count Ramon Berenguer, surnamed Cap d’Estopa; in the presbytery, on the
gospel side, is the tomb of Bishop Berenguer de Anglesola; Doña
Ermesindes lies between the chapels of Corpus and San Juan; Bishop
Bernardo de Pau in the chapel of San Pablo.
Adjoining the church is the dark gloomy cloister, which existed in the
early twelfth century, and in which Street recognised “one of the main
branches of the stream by which Romanesque art was introduced into
Spain” from south-eastern France. The galleries, with marble columns and
stone roofs, enclose a court with tall trees and a cistern in the
centre. Numerous black memorial tablets let into the walls have failed
to keep alive the memory of the dead.
The archives of the cathedral contain a Bible, at one time believed to
have been the gift of Charlemagne, and enriched with the signature of
Charles V. of France. Another treasure is an illuminated code dating
from the tenth century, and relating to the Apocalypse--a chapter in
Holy Writ which at that period, when the end of the world was believed
to be at hand, greatly occupied the minds of men.