Santa Maria Del Mar

The second church we saw today was strikingly different from the first one.  It was constructed at about the same time frame, but took a much shorter time to construct (50 years instead of 150).  This was largely because of the wealthy merchant funding that went into it.  The church was in the dock district where the merchants and workers from all the different guilds lived and worked,  The city was the center of the Kingdom of Argon with trading relations across the Mediteranean.  The merchants were eager to show their success and devotion by building the church in the water front district.  The Catedral de Barcelona went up at the same time but was built largely by the nobles in the center of the city and took much longer.

Because the church went up so quickly, it is based on a single architectural style instead of a combination of different styles that emerged over time.  It is classic Southern Gothic.  This means it differs from northern Gothic churches in several ways:  1) the side aisles are nearly as tall as the central nave (in northern churches the side aisles can be half the height of the central nave.  This gives the southern church a much more airy open feeling.  

2)  The church is laid out in a rectangle, not as a cross shape.  

3). The church did not need flying buttresses on the exterior to support the high central nave because the high side aisles essentially did that already, so the exterior looks pretty simple.

Another legacy of all of the merchants and guilds who paid for the church were all the side chapels - a total of 35!  More than even the Catedral of Barcelona (which as 21).   Each guild paid for the decoration of their own chapel where their members especially could pray.  Access to the chapels is open without stepping into the main nave at all.  The closer to the main alter, the more expensive the chapel was.  This was true of those who were buried in the vaults under the church floor too.  Those who couldn't afford burial in the church were placed in anonymous graves in the area outside the church.  Eventually the city forbid burials inside the city and they were moved to a cemetery in Montjuic. 

Many churches in Europe have been built and rebuilt due to fires, but this one had a particularly interesting story.  The fire occurred in 1936 during an anarchist revolt in the city.  They piled all the pews and everything that would burn in the center of the church and set it on fire with fuel.  The blaze burned for 11 days and destroyed all of the elaborate decorations that are common to most catholic cathedrals.  This included the organ, all must the highest stained glass windows, the decorations in the side chapels, the main alter, the paint on the walls.   Everything.  At that point, the congregation had a choice to decide whether they wanted to redecorate as it was, or to leave it much more simple.  They opted for simple.  The walls are now simply grey stone, which was quarried from nearby Montjuic.

I found the simpler style very attractive (probably my Protestant roots).  I was particularly surprised by the cross about the high alter that did not contain Jesus Crucified.   This is the norm in Protestant church where the focus is on the Resurection, but not at all common in Catholic Churches.

The organ was replaced, new stained glass windows were added, with the newest one being in 1995 to commemorate the 1992 Barcelona Olympics.

The church had five keystones supporting the ceiling vaults.  They were repainted recently.  This one has the seal of the city of Barcelona.

The church also faced a devastating event with an earthquake in the 1400s that was estimated to be about 6.5 on the richer scale.   It created large cracks in the back wall of the nave around the Rosette window (second largest in Barcelona) and shattered the glass.  It was during worship and the glass fell into the sanctuary and killed over 20 people.  

The vent holes are pretty small.  You can look down them into the floor of the church.

The small bumps are more ventilation covers.

We got to tour the upper levels and the roof.  When the cathedral was built, there were 200 ventilation holes in the roof that were used to let the hot air escape the sanctuary.  They were simply capped with domed covers that had to be placed when it rained.

You can see the darkened stone around the Windows from where all the smoke came out during the fire.  They did some restoration in the inside on the ceilings, but the discoloration is still visible. 

I felt like a bit of a peeping Tom(as) looking down on people's roofs and laundry.