The History of Barcelona Cathedral

La Catedral de la Santa Creu i Santa Eulàlia

The History of Barcelona Cathedral, as it stands today, is a record of well over 1,500 years of Christian devotion and construction, but the area, roughly the peak of Mont Tàber, has been a place of worship since, at least, the times of Roman Barcino.

The first Christian temple was built in the heart of the Roman Forum in the 4th century and probably dedicated to the cult of Saint Severus, a bishop martyred by the Romans in Trajan’s time.

With the Moorish threat finally vanquished, this construction was replaced by a Romanesque basilica on the same site in the 11th century.

The current Gothic Cathedral was begun in the 13th century and took 150 years to complete and even so, the Neo-Gothic facade wasn’t added until the 19th century.

The History of Barcelona Cathedral is intimately entwined with the veneration of the Santa Creu or Holy Cross but the building is also dedicated to Santa Eulàlia, a Christian virgin, who was born in 290 AD and submitted to 13 martyrdoms, one for each year of her short life, by Roman Emperor Diocletian in 303 AD.