Barcelona, Santa Maria del Mar

Santa Maria del Mar is one of the most beautiful churches in Spain, and the purest example of the distinctive Catalan Gothic style, characterised by undecorated wall masses, clear and minimally decorated articulation, and unified space. Together with the Cathedral and Santa Maria del Pi, Santa Maria del Mar one of the monuments of Gothic ecclesiastical architecture in the old quarter of Barcelona. To them we can add the church and monastery of Pedralbes. Santa Maria del Mar (Our Lady of the Sea) seems to turn its back on the modern city and communicates through its pure, spacious and simple style something of the devotion which inspired its creation. Anyway, below are some less rhapsodic and more factual notes. They are derived pretty much entirely from the Spanish Wikipedia page.

In Brief

·         SMM is a Catalan Gothic Church.

·         It is situated in the seafront area called the ‘Ribera’.

·         Built 1329 – 1383

·         The two masters of works were Berenguer de Montagut (principal designer) and Ramón Despuig

History

·         There is some evidence that it is built on the site of a Roman amphitheatre

·         The stones of the Portal of ‘las Moreras’ indicate that construction began in 1329

·         Local ties were very important: the work was undertaken by the faithful of the area of the port and the Ribera, who supported it with both money and labour. Thus it was a church for the common people, in contrast to the contemporary Cathedral, which was patronised by the monarchy, nobility and eminent ecclesiastics.

·         All the local population appear to have contributed to the construction, especially the ‘bastaixos’ – the stevedores who offloaded the huge stones at the port and then carried them on their shoulders to the church. A carving on the main door of the church pays homage to the ‘bastaixos’.

·         Walls, side chapels and façade were finished c.1350

·         In 1379, when the vaulting of the 4^th bay was nearing completion, the scaffolding caught fire and the stonework was damaged.

·       In 1383 the final section of vaulting was completed, and the first Mass was said in 1384.

·         In 1428 an earthquake caused the rose window  to collapse, causing some deaths.

·         In 1936 baroque and later work was destroyed when the church was attacked by anarchists and communists [making it look a lot less cluttered than the Cathedral]

Exterior. General Effect is one of massiveness and strength

·       Horizontality is emphasised. Walls have mouldings, cornices and smooth surfaces. Although it is a high building, the design of the exterior makes us see it as heavy and grounded (in great contrast to French Gothic).

·         Building as a whole forms a compact block.

·         The uniform height creates an even lighting effect inside (again distinct from the play of light and shadow in French Gothic churches)

·        Façade is framed by two octagonal towers. The columns on the inside take up this octagonal form.

·         Two pronounced buttresses frame the West rose window and emphasise the width of the vault.

·         Façade is clearly divided into three sections. Horizontality is again stressed in the towers, which have layered galleries rather than pinnacles or spires.

·         The lower level has the West portal at its centre; the second level is centred on the rose window

·         The West façade is particularly austere in the aisles, where there are large areas of undecorated and uninterrupted wall.

·         The light and elegant finials and other decorations of French Gothic are entirely absent from this typical example of Catalan Gothic.

·         On N and S walls the lower level corresponds to the side chapels, each of which is marked by a thin window. Windows and grouped into three between buttresses, creating a rhythm.

Interior

·         Plan: Nave, aisles leading directly to presbytery with ambulatory. No transept.

·         Nave and aisles formed of four bays

·         Presbytery formed of a half bay + seven-sided polygon.

·         Ribbed vaulting throughout, with bosses marking the intersection of the ribs (also a feature of the Cathedral).

·         Although the formal division is nave + aisles, the architect seems to want to create the same sensation as a single nave. This effect is achieved by:

o   Leaving a lengthy space (15 metres) between the columns

o   Making nave and aisles almost the same height: the aisles are only ⅛ lower than the nave.

o   This leads to a ‘diaphonous space’, quite different from the divisions of European Gothic

·         Nave lit by high clerestory windows.

·         Windows between presbytery columns create effect of a hemisphere of light

·         Aisles lit by small low windows

·         Spacious design allows light to illuminate the nave.

·         General effect of austerity created by:

o   Smooth walls without sculpted decoration

o   Undecorated, slender octagonal columns

o   Ribs springing from capitals (not following to the floor as engaged shafts) means columns retain pure form

o   Arches in nave and aisles have the same springing point (ie they start from the same height) further emphasising the effect of uniformity.

Other Sources
Santa Maria del Mar is one of a select group of churches that has inspired a novel (like Salisbury inspiring Golding's The Spire). Ildefonso Falcones' The Cathedral of the Sea  depicts fourteenth-century Barcelona in vivid detail, and keeps us reading with an adventure story typical of the genre. There is a huge amount to be learned from it about the city when Santa Maria del Mar was being built. Well worth checking out.

There is a brief description on the Sacred Destinations site, and a thumbnail sketch by the City council.

Description on Catholic Barcelona blog

Generalitat Catalan Gothic guide

Edward Steese, 'The Great Churches of Catalonia', Parnassus (7:3, March 1935), pp 9-12.

Robert Hughes, Barcelona, ch.3 ('If not, not') section v has a beautiful description of this church and other examples of Catalan Gothic in Barcelona.

To see how Gothic fits into the whole story of architecture in Barcelona (and Catalonia) see the Generalitat handy outline.