Santa Maria del Mar

The basilica of Santa Maria del Mar in Barcelona, also known as the “cathedral of La Ribera”, is one of the most perfect examples of Gothic style architecture due to its harmonious proportions and the serenity of the ensemble. The basilica of Santa Maria del Mar was the place of worship for the shipwrights and merchants of Gothic Barcelona.

From the 4th to the 6th century there used to be a Roman necropolis, which was discovered during the excavations in the sixties, in the place where the church stands today. The first mention of a church of Santa Maria by the sea dates from 998. 
In the Middle Ages, the long periods of time it took to build a church – often more than a century – usually involved changes in architectural style. Santa Maria del Mar in Barcelona is an exception. It was built in just 55 years, from 1329 to 1384, and is the only surviving church in the pure Catalan Gothic style.
 

The construction of the present building was promoted by the canon Bernat Llull, who was appointed Archdean of Santa Maria in 1324. Construction work started on 25 March 1329, when the foundation stone was laid by king Alfonso IV of Aragon (III of Catalonia), as commemorated by a tablet in Latin and Catalan on the façade that faces the Fossar de les Moreres.The architects in charge were Berenguer de Montagut (designer of the building) and Ramon Despuig, and during the construction all the guilds of the Ribera quarter were involved. The walls, the side chapels and the facades were finished by 1350. In 1379 a fire damaged important parts of the works. 

Finally, on 3 November 1383 the last stone was laid and on 15 August 1384 the church was consecrated. In 1428 an earthquake caused several casualties and destroyed the rose window in the west end.

The new window, in the Flamboyant style, was finished by 1459 and one year later the glass was added. 

In the Spanish war of succession, the church was partially destroyed in 1714. The damage was repaired just barely. In the Spanish Civil War in 1936 a fire reeked mass devastation. The fire had largely damaged the interior, the images and the Baroque altar were destroyed. A large part of the stained-glass windows had to be reconstructed. The chapel of the Blessed Sacrament, adjacent to the apse, was added in the 19th century. In 1990 the renovation and restoration work has been completed.

The novel "Cathedral of the Sea" by Ildefonso Falcones, describes the construction of the Santa Maria del Mar in a very impressive manner. After you have read this bestselling book, you will see the Gothic quarter with different eyes.

From the outside, Santa Maria gives an impression of massive severity that belies the interior. It is hemmed in by the narrow streets of the Ribera, making it difficult to obtain an overall impression, except from the Fossar de les Moreres and the Plaça de Santa Maria, both of them former burial grounds. The latter is dominated by the west end of the church with its rose window. Images of Saint Peter and Saint Paul occupy niches on either side of the west door, and the tympanum shows the Saviour flanked by Our Lady and Saint John. The north-west tower was completed in 1496, but its companion was not finished until 1902. 

In contrast with the exterior, the interior gives an impression of light and spaciousness. It is of the basilica type, with its three aisles forming a single space with no transepts and no architectural boundary between nave and presbytery. The simple ribbed vault is supported on slender octagonal columns set 13 metres apart center to center, a distance unsurpassed by any other existing medieval building, and abundant daylight streams in through the tall clerestorey windows.

This gives the impression of sublime width, height and airiness, as if gravity had been reversed and pulled the immense blocks of stone upwards. The many stained-glass windows of the church of Santa Maria del Mar play an important role in giving this impression. Especially the west end with its rose window, showing the proportions of the three aisles

The interior is almost devoid of imagery of the sort to be found in Barcelona's other large Gothic churches, the cathedral and Santa Maria del Pi, after the fire which occurred in 1936 during anticlerical disturbances. Amongst the most notable of the works destroyed at that time was the Baroque retable by Deodat Casanoves and Salvador Gurri. Some interesting stained-glass windows have survived from various periods. 

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Sources : barcelona.de  architecture.relig  wikipedia