Barri Gòtic - The Rough Guide to Barcelona - page 76

the richness of its 29 side-chapels , many of which contain beautifully carved and painted
tombs. Perhaps the finest are those reputedly belonging toRamon Berenguer I(count ofBar-
celona from 1035 to 1076) and his wife Almodis; however, the tombs actually hold the re-
mains of an earlier count and Petronila, the Aragónese princess whose betrothal to Ramon
Berenguer IV united the crowns of Aragón and Barcelona.
The cloister
Themostrenownedpartofthecathedralisitsmagnificentfourteenth-century cloister ,which
looks over a lush tropical garden complete with soaring palm trees and - more unusually - a
gaggleofhonking geese .Iftheydisturbthetranquillityofthescene,theydosoforapurpose:
white geese have been kept here for over five hundred years, either (depending on which
story you believe) to reflect the virginity of Santa Eulàlia, or as a reminder of the erstwhile
Roman splendour of Barcelona, as geese were kept on the Capitoline Hill in Rome.
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Plaça de la Seu
Jaume I
The large cathedral square, Plaça de la Seu , is flanked by tourist cafés and generally awash
with a milling crowd. The square is a regular weekly venue for the dancing of the sardana ,
the Catalan national dance (usually Sun at noon, plus Easter to Nov every Sat at 6pm) - any-
onecanjoinin,thoughyou'dbestreadthefeatureonthe sardana (see CorpusChristiandthe
dancing egg ) first. Meanwhile, in front of the cathedral, the wide, pedestrianized Avinguda
de la Catedral hosts an antiques market every Thursday, and a Christmas craft fair .
Museu Diocesà
Av. de la Catedral 4 • Tues-Sat 10am-2pm & 5-8pm, Sun & hols 11am-2pm • €6 • 933 152 213 •
www.cultura.arqbcn.cat/museu_cat.php • Jaume I
Stand back to look at the cathedral buildings and it's easy to see the line of fortified Roman
towers that stood originally on this spot, before being incorporated into the later medieval
buildings.Onesuchtowerformedpartofthecathedralalmshouse(LaPiaAlmoina),nowthe
Museu Diocesà , whose soaring spaces have been beautifully adapted to show an impressive
collection of religious art and church treasures from around Barcelona. Most notably there's
a series of frescoes of the Apocalypse (1122 AD) from Sant Salvador in Polinyà and several
graphic retables, including one of St Bartholomew being skinned alive.
Casa de l'Ardiaca and Palau Episcopal
On the other flank of the cathedral are two more late-medieval buildings closely associated
with it. The Casa de l'Ardiaca (once the archdeacon's residence, now the city archives) en-
closes a tiny cloistered and tiled courtyard with a small fountain. To the right of the badly