Cloister – Inspection and Analysis of Historical Constructions

Seu Vella – Lleida

BRIEF HISTORY

In the place where nowadays is the Seu Vella Cloister, there was a mosque in 832 when the Muslims where in the Iberian Peninsula. They built it on top of a Paleo-Christian church.

In 1149, the city of Lerida was reconquered by Ramón Berenguer IV of Barcelona and Ermengol VI of Urgell. They decided to build a Christian Cathedral. In 1203 the first stone was placed but it was not until the XV c. when the Cathedral was finished. It was composed by the church, the cloister and the tower bell. The construction of the cloister was done between the second half of the XII c. and the XV c.

In 1707, the army of Felipe V conquered the city and the Cathedral was converted into a headquarters stopping its religious functions. All the spaces were compartmentalized and new floors were built, also, many artistic heritage was destroyed.

Again, during the War of the Independence in 1810, the Cathedral suffered a lot of destruction. In 1918 it was named as historical monument. But during the Spanish Civil War it functioned as a concentration camp and it continued as a headquarter till 1948. Finally, in 1949 a restoration started.

ARCHITECTURAL FEATURES AND GEOMETRY

The cloister is considered as one of the biggest Gothic cloisters in Europe. It has a trapezoidal shape with four galleries of 48m length and 8.8m width.

The courtyard has 12 pointed vaults and there are other five pointed vaults in the Southeast facade working as windows and giving great views of the city.

The building is made of different stone materials, but the most relevant are: stone from Lleida used for the exterior wall of the church and the castle; stone of Vinaixa used for the ornamental elements; and mortar.

Sant Daniel – Girona

ARCHITECTURAL FEATURES AND GEOMETRY

Since the XIII century it has a rectangular plan with two galleries. The ground floor is covered by barrel vaults. The upper gallery is formed by two Gothic wings (north and east) from the XV c. with pointed arches. Around the cloister are the wings of the monastery and it doesn’t have an important level of architecture.

In the east wing are the nuns’ rooms. It was built in 1277 and then restored in 1905 by the architect Isidre Bosh I Batallé. In the ground floor is the kitchen and in the upper floor the bedrooms. In the 70’s these rooms where restored by Josep M. Pla I Toras.

The south part is formed of the rests of the old construction which arrives till the River Galligants but it was destroyed during the Spanish Civil War. In the 70’s it was restored because it was in very bad conditions.

Cathedral Barcelona – Cloister

BRIEF HISTORY

The construction of the Santa Eulalia’s Cathedral was carried out during the centuries XII, XIV and XV but, since then, it has suffered a lot of interventions and restorations during the years. In 1298 the construction of the Gothic Cathedral started, but it was not until 1401 when the cloister was built. There were different architects involve along the construction: Beltrán Riquer (1298), Arnau Bargues (1398-1408), Jaime Solá (140 - 1412) and Carles Baltés de Ruan (1408).

There was a sequence of earthquakes in Barcelona between 1427 and 1428, but there were no important damages in the cloister.

In 1890, a renovation of the cloister’s garden was done.

A religious residence was constructed in 1965 above the cloister in the southeast side with access from the sacristy. And in 1969, it was built a historical archive above the cloister in the Northeast side and a reform of the roof was done to fix the humidity problems.

ARCHITECTURAL FEATURES AND GEOMETRY

There are three entrances to the cloister: one from the Cathedral (Number 2 in the image of the plan), in Romanesque style from the former Romanesque church, and two from the street (numbers 3 and 4).

The Gothic cloister has a square shape (21x28.70 m² the inside square and 62x44m² the exterior one). The galleries are roofed by quadripartite pointed vaults, which create four galleries and twenty chapels around the central patio.

The structural material used for the cloister, as well as for the whole Cathedral, was Mountjuïc stone.

REFERENCES

[1] J. M. Marti I Bonet, La Catedral de Barcelona: Historia i Histories. Barcelona, 2010.

[2] J. Bassegoda i Nonell, “Restauracions de la Catedral de Barcelona,” Butlletí la R. Acadèmia Catalana Belles Arts St. Jordi, vol. 2, pp. 7–22, 1988.

[3] J. Bassegoda i Nonell, “El sepulcro de Santa Eulalia de Barcelona,” Boletín la Real Acad. Bellas Artes San Fernando, vol. 58, pp. 123–158, 1984.

[4] J. Bassegoda i Nonell, “El VII Centenario de la Catedral de Barcelona (1298-1998),” Boletín la Real Acad. Bellas Artes San Fernando, vol. 87, pp. 103–118, 1998.

Tag: Cloister

Seu Vella – Lleida

BRIEF HISTORY

ARCHITECTURAL FEATURES AND GEOMETRY

DAMAGE AND DIAGNOSIS

REFERENCES

Sant Daniel – Girona

BRIEF HISTORY

ARCHITECTURAL FEATURES AND GEOMETRY

DAMAGE AND DIAGNOSIS

REFERENCES

Cathedral Barcelona – Cloister

BRIEF HISTORY

ARCHITECTURAL FEATURES AND GEOMETRY

DAMAGE AND DIAGNOSIS

REFERENCES