The Plaça del Rei, or King's Square, is a medieval courtyard enclosed by the tall stone walls of the Palau Reial Major, the former residence of the Counts of Barcelona and kings of Aragon. You can identify the square by the staircase…
Gothic Quarter Medieval History
This walking route takes you through the atmospheric stone alleys and towering monuments of Barcelona's oldest neighborhood, where the dark-stone architecture of the medieval Crown of Aragon still stands strong.
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1. Plaça del Rei
2. Temple d'August
Four towering stone columns, each topped with Corinthian capitals and rising over nine meters high, define the remains of the Temple d'August. These massive pillars date to the first century before Christ, when they formed part of a grand…
3. Plaça de Sant Just
Plaça de Sant Just is defined by the asymmetrical silhouette of the Basílica dels Sants Màrtirs Just i Pastor and the narrow, medieval character of the square itself. The basilica, which dates in its current Gothic form from thirteen…
4. Plaça de Sant Jaume
Plaça de Sant Jaume is defined by two grand, opposing buildings that anchor the administrative life of Barcelona and Catalonia. Across a wide, open expanse of polished flagstones, the Casa de la Ciutat, which serves as the Barcelona City…
5. Pont del Bisbe
The Pont del Bisbe, or Bishop's Bridge, is an ornate, marble-clad span that stretches across the narrow Carrer del Bisbe. It connects the Palau de la Generalitat to the Casa dels Canonges, two historic buildings in the heart of the Gothic…
6. Cathedral of Barcelona
The Cathedral of the Holy Cross and Saint Eulalia rises above the narrow stone alleys of the Gothic Quarter with a towering, ornate neo-Gothic façade and two large bell towers. While construction of the current church began in twelve…
7. Plaça de Sant Felip Neri
The Plaça de Sant Felip Neri is defined by the pockmarked stone walls of the baroque church that sits at its edge. These scars are not from time or weather, but are shrapnel marks left by bombs dropped during the Spanish Civil War.
8. MUHBA El Call
MUHBA El Call is a small museum housed in a fourteenth-century stone building that once belonged to a Jewish veil weaver named Jucef Bonhiac. This site is located in the heart of what was the medieval Jewish quarter of Barcelona, a…
9. Basílica de Santa Maria del Pi
The Basílica de Santa Maria del Pi is defined by its massive rose window, which spans ten meters and remains the largest of its kind in Catalonia. This Catalan Gothic basilica stands in the heart of the city, built between thirteen…