Old Cathedral (Lleida)
Seu Vella (Catalan for “Old Bishopric” or “Old Cathedral”) is the former cathedral of the city of Lleida in the province of the same name in the autonomous community of Spain, Catalonia .
location
The church hill ( Turó de la Seu Vella ) above the river El Segre is secured by several rings of fortifications from the 18th century, within these are both the remains of the castle ( Suda de Lleida or Castell del Rei ) and the old cathedral, each of which was built on previous Moorish buildings. The ensemble of fortress, castle and cathedral forms a national cultural asset.
Fortress gate and entrance to the ensemble
View from the bell tower over the fortifications
View of the city from the bell tower
The royal castle (Suda)
View from the west
history
Before the Moors invaded the hill, there was already an early Christian Visigoth church, which was converted into a mosque in 832.
After Lleida was recaptured by Ramon Berenguer IV of Barcelona, the mosque was initially used as the church of Santa Maria Antiqua (consecrated on October 30, 1149).
In 1203, Bishop Gombau de Camporrells built what was then a modern, Romanesque cathedral; the foundation stone was laid on July 22nd. The architect was the nationally known Pere de Coma . The still unfinished church was consecrated in 1278, at which time the construction of the cloister began, but the building was only completed in its first form with the completion of the dome and the other roofs in 1286. The cloister was completed in the 14th century and work began on the bell tower, which in turn was completed in 1431.
Over the following centuries, various chapels and other additions were added, so that the church is in a Gothic-Romanesque transitional mixed form with a rather "confusing" floor plan. It mainly consists of a main nave with two aisles, a transept and five apses. At the intersection between the main and transepts, the roof forms an octagonal dome.
In the course of the War of the Spanish Succession (1701 to 1714), King Felip V occupied the entire mountain in 1707 , had it expanded into a fortress and the cathedral converted into barracks. Most of the interior of the church was lost and the building increasingly degenerated into a forgotten ruin. In the meantime, a new cathedral ( Seu Nova ) in the baroque and neoclassic style has been built in the city .
In 1918 the church was finally declared a national monument, but restoration work could only begin in 1948 after the barracks were closed. While today (2011) the building looks quite complete from the outside and the famous cloister has been impressively restored, the interior of the church is unadorned and made of bare stone, except for remains of wall paintings and a few, partly contemporary artifacts.
The last restoration work, the securing and external repair of the bell tower, began in December 2012 and should be completed the following year.
As a structural feature, the church is not oriented to the east, but to the northeast (see map). There is therefore a north-west (left) and a south-east (right) aisle. The bell tower is on the south corner. In the literature and on floor plans, this fact is often ignored, and the actual northwest side is referred to as the north side, the southeast side as the south side, and so on.
Chapter House
Testimony of the renovations in the chapter house
View from the tower to the church
Northeast side
Southeast side
Main nave
Main nave
Main nave
Transept
Remnants of wall paintings
Portals
The old cathedral of Lleida is known for its richly decorated portals. In the cloister, these are in particular the Porta de l'antiga capella Santa Maria l'Antiga , which leads to the chapel of the same name, and the Porta principal , the entrance to the nave of the church.
Main entrance to the church from the cloister
Further portals in the cloister
On the outside portals, the Porta dels Apòstols ( Eng . "Apostle's Gate ") on the southwest side of the cloister, the rather unadorned Porta de Sant Berenguer on the northwest side, at the height of the transept, the Porta de l'Anunciata ( Eng . "Annunciation Gate ") should be mentioned. ) on the south-east side, opposite the aforementioned, and the Porta dels Fillols on the same side.
Apostle Gate
Annunciation Gate
Fillols Gate
Berenguer Gate
Cloister ( Claustre )
The cloister built in the 14th century with vaults of imposing height is one of the largest in Europe. It adjoins the south-west side of the church in an unusual way - in the case of an east-facing church, the west side is the representative main facade and is therefore usually not covered by porches. The cloister can be reached from each of the three naves via its own portal, from the outside via the Porta dels Apòstols . The southeast side is designed as an open gallery and offers an impressive panoramic view of the river and the city.
The construction of the cloister began around 1278 (consecration of the church) under the builder Guillem d'Enill , the final work was carried out in the years 1494 to 1513 under Anton Queralt. When it was used as a barracks, the cloister was divided into two floors, and all tracery windows were boarded up, which meant that extensive restoration or addition was necessary.
Cloister
Cloister
Cloister
Cloister
Cloister (detail)
Bell Tower ( Campanar )
The octagonal bell tower, which is accessible to visitors, has 238 steps, is 60 m high and has a diameter of around 12.7 meters at the bottom; it tapers up to around 9.6 meters. The Mònica bell strikes the quarter of an hour and the Silvestra bell strikes the hours. Both date from the 15th century.
builder
This is a chronological list of the builders who helped build the Old Cathedral:
- Pere de Coma (1203-1220)
- Berenguer de Coma (?)
- Mateu Alemany (?)
- Pere de Penafreta I (? –1286)
- Pere de Penafreta II (1297–?)
- Francesc de Montflorit (1310-1312)
- Pere Piquer (? –1340)
- Guillem Seguer
- Pere Seguer (1356–?)
- Jaume Cascalls (1359-1377)
- Bartomeu Robió (1360-1372)
- Guillem Solivella (1378-1405)
- Unknown (1405–1407)
- Carles Galtés de Ruan (1410-1427)
- pole
- Rotlli Gautier (1436–1441)
- Marc Safont (1441-1442)
- Jordi Safont (1442-1454)
- Andreu Pi (1457-1460)
- Bertran de la Borda (1461–1485)
- Francesc Gomar (1490-1491)
- Exemeno
- Antoni Queralt (1494-1513)
La Suda
The castle of the Counts of Barcelona and the Kings of Aragon, which has only survived as a ruin, emerged from a Moorish residence built in 882. Your viewing terrace offers the best view of the Old Cathedral.
Web links
- Official information site of the city
- official brochure ( Memento of November 7, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) (PDF)
- Friends of the Cathedral
- Official website about the hill
- More pictures
Coordinates: 41 ° 37 ′ 4 ″ N , 0 ° 37 ′ 36 ″ E