Barcelona Cathedral (La Seu)

Barcelona Cathedral, formally the Cathedral of the Holy Cross and Saint Eulalia and known locally as La Seu, dominates the Gothic Quarter from the site of earlier Roman and Visigothic churches. Construction of the current Gothic structure began in 1298 under King James II and continued through the 15th century, though the neo-Gothic main facade facing Pla de la Seu was not completed until 1913, using a design based on a 15th-century drawing. Inside, the cathedral preserves a crypt beneath the main altar holding the alabaster tomb of Saint Eulalia, Barcelona's co-patron saint martyred under Roman rule, whose relics were transferred here in the 13th century. The cloister, reached from the nave, is one of the cathedral's most distinctive features: a Gothic garden courtyard planted with palm and medlar trees where thirteen white geese are traditionally kept, said to represent Eulalia's age at her martyrdom. The choir stalls in the central nave display the painted coats of arms of the knights of the Order of the Golden Fleece, whose 1519 meeting was held here under Charles V. Side chapels along the nave hold Gothic and Baroque altarpieces, and the crypt and treasury display liturgical objects spanning several centuries. Restoration campaigns over the 19th and 20th centuries stabilized the vaulting and facade while conserving the medieval stonework of the nave and cloister. As both an active place of worship and one of Barcelona's principal Gothic monuments, the cathedral anchors the religious and architectural identity of the old city, with its rooftop terraces offering close-up views of the spires and flying buttresses that define Barcelona's Gothic skyline.