Basílica de Santa Maria del Mar
برشلونة
Santa Maria del Mar is a basilica in the Catalan Gothic style, built in just over 50 years. It was built by the people of the Ribera district.
The church of the harbour district
The first stone was laid in 1329; the last keystone in 1383. The design is by Berenguer de Montagut, with Ramon Despuig.
The Ribera was the district of shipowners, merchants and dockworkers. Everyone helped: some with money, some with their labour. The bastaixos carried the stones on their shoulders.
A single space
From outside the church is compact and smooth, almost without decoration. The façade has two eight-sided towers, the same shape as the columns inside.
Inside, the three naves are almost the same height and the columns stand very far apart. So the church looks like one single great space. It is considered a masterpiece of Catalan Gothic.
Destruction and rebirth
In 1936, at the start of the civil war, a fire destroyed the Baroque altar and almost all the decorations. The walls held and the church was restored.
Today the church is also very famous thanks to a novel by Ildefonso Falcones. The story is set while the church was being built.
