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| author | Roger Frank <rfrank@pglaf.org> | 2025-10-14 18:11:16 -0700 |
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| committer | Roger Frank <rfrank@pglaf.org> | 2025-10-14 18:11:16 -0700 |
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diff --git a/64923-0.txt b/64923-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..0bfd9b5 --- /dev/null +++ b/64923-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,3624 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 64923 *** + + THE SPANISH SERIES + + + CATALONIA + & THE BALEARIC ISLES + + + + + THE SPANISH SERIES + + _EDITED BY ALBERT F. CALVERT_ + + + GOYA + TOLEDO + MADRID + SEVILLE + MURILLO + CORDOVA + EL GRECO + VELAZQUEZ + THE PRADO + THE ESCORIAL + VALENCIA AND MURCIA + SCULPTURE IN SPAIN + ROYAL PALACES OF SPAIN + GRANADA AND ALHAMBRA + SPANISH ARMS AND ARMOUR + LEON, BURGOS AND SALAMANCA + CATALONIA AND THE BALEARIC ISLES + VALLADOLID, OVIEDO, SEGOVIA, + ZAMORA, AVILA AND ZARAGOZA + + + + + CATALONIA + & THE BALEARIC ISLES + + AN HISTORICAL AND DESCRIPTIVE + ACCOUNT BY ALBERT + F. CALVERT, WITH 250 PLATES + + + LONDON: JOHN LANE, THE BODLEY HEAD + NEW YORK: JOHN LANE COMPANY: MCMX + + + + + PRINTED BY + BALLANTYNE & COMPANY LTD + TAVISTOCK STREET COVENT GARDEN + LONDON + + + + +CONTENTS + + + PAGE +THE PRINCIPALITY OF CATALONIA 1 + +BARCELONA 8 + +GERONA 23 + +THE VALLEY OF THE TER 36 + +LERIDA 40 + +TARRAGONA 52 + +POBLET 63 + +SANTA CREUS 69 + +VALLBONA 72 + +MONTSERRAT 73 + +CARDONA 83 + +TORTOSA 84 + +THE BALEARIC ISLANDS 86 + + + + +LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS + + + TITLE PLATE + + General View of Barcelona 1 + General View of Barcelona 2 + Barcelona: View from the Funicular Railway Station 3 + Barcelona: Panorama from Monjuich 4 + Barcelona: Panorama from Monjuich 5 + Barcelona: Panorama from Monjuich 6 + Barcelona: The Docks 7 + Barcelona: General View of the Port 8 + Barcelona: Detail of the Port 9 + Barcelona: View from Miramar 10 + Barcelona: Rambla del Centro 11 + Barcelona: Rambla del Centro 12 + Barcelona: Rambla de las Flóres 13 + Barcelona: Rambla de las Flóres 14 + Barcelona: Paseo de Colón 15 + Barcelona: Paseo de Colón and Hotel 16 + Barcelona: Paseo de Colón and Statue of Lopez 17 + Barcelona: Rambla de los Estudiantes 18 + Barcelona: Paseo de Gracia 19 + Barcelona: Paseo de Gracia 20 + Barcelona: Rambla de Cataluña 21 + Barcelona: Plaza de Cataluña 22 + Barcelona: Rambla de Santa Monica and the Bank 23 + Barcelona: La Gran Via and Statue of Güel y Ferrer 24 + Barcelona: Plaza de Cataluña 25 + Barcelona: Plaza de Cataluña 26 + Barcelona: Plaza de la Paz 27 + Barcelona: Plaza del Palacio 28 + Barcelona: Plaza del Palacio 29 + Barcelona: Plaza Real 30 + Barcelona: Plaza del Rey 31 + Barcelona: Plaza Antonio López 32 + Barcelona: Calle de Ferdinand VII. 33 + Barcelona: Calle de Balmes 34 + Barcelona: Calle de Aragón 35 + Barcelona: Güell Park 36 + Barcelona: Entrance to the Güell Park 37 + Barcelona: Entrance to the Park 38 + Barcelona: Lake in the Park 39 + Barcelona: Lake in the Park 40 + Barcelona: The “Cascada” in the Park 41 + Barcelona Park: Details of the “Cascada” 42 + Barcelona: Fountain in the Park 43 + Barcelona: The Cathedral 44 + Barcelona: The Cathedral 45 + Barcelona Cathedral: Principal Entrance 46 + Barcelona Cathedral: Right-hand Side Door 47 + Barcelona Cathedral: Door of the Piedad 48 + Barcelona Cathedral: Door of Santa Eulalia 49 + Barcelona Cathedral: Exterior Door of Santa Lucia 50 + Barcelona Cathedral: Interior Door of Santa Lucia + and Sepulchre of Mossen Borra 51 + Barcelona: Interior of the Cathedral 52 + Barcelona: Interior of the Cathedral 53 + Barcelona Cathedral: Detail of the Choir 54 + Barcelona Cathedral: The High Altar 55 + Barcelona: The Archive of the Cathedral 56 + Barcelona Cathedral: Cloisters and Principal Interior Door 57 + Barcelona: Chapel in the Cloisters of the Cathedral 58 + Barcelona: Cloisters of the Cathedral 59 + Barcelona: Cloisters and Door of the Cathedral 60 + Barcelona: Cloisters of the Cathedral 61 + Barcelona: Cloisters of the Cathedral 62 + Barcelona: Chapel in the Cloisters of the Cathedral 63 + Barcelona Cathedral: Fountain in the Cloisters 64 + Barcelona Cathedral: Fountain in the Cloisters 65 + Barcelona: Fountain in the Cloisters of the Cathedral 66 + Barcelona: Fountain in the Cloisters of the Cathedral 67 + Barcelona Cathedral: Door in the Cloisters 68 + Barcelona Cathedral: Iron Grating in the Cloisters 69 + Barcelona Cathedral: Grating in the Cloisters 70 + Barcelona Cathedral: Door in the Cloisters 71 + Barcelona: Santa Maria del Mar 72 + Barcelona: Church of Santa Maria del Mar 73 + Barcelona: Church of Santa Maria del Mar. Gate of the Immaculada 74 + Barcelona: Church of Santa Maria del Mar. Detail of Left Door 75 + Barcelona: Detail of the Door of the Church of Santa Maria del Mar 76 + Barcelona: Church of Santa Maria del Pino 77 + Barcelona: Byzantine Doorway in the Church of San Pablo 78 + Barcelona: Cloisters of San Pablo 79 + Barcelona: Cloisters of San Pablo 80 + Barcelona: Façade of the Church of Santa Ana 81 + Barcelona: Cloisters of the Church of Santa Ana 82 + Barcelona: Cloisters of the Church of Santa Ana 83 + Barcelona: Church of the Sagrada Familia 84 + Barcelona: Church of Las Salesas 85 + Barcelona: Church of Las Salesas 86 + Barcelona: Church of the Conception 87 + Barcelona: Church of Santa Agueda 88 + Barcelona: The Town Hall 89 + Barcelona: The Town Hall 90 + Barcelona: Old Façade of the Town Hall 91 + Barcelona: Exterior Detail of the Town Hall 92 + Barcelona: Chapel of San Jorge in the Town Hall 93 + Barcelona: Courtyard of the Town Hall 94 + Barcelona: Entrance to the Courtyard of the Audiencia 95 + Barcelona: Upper Part of the Courtyard of the Town Hall 96 + Barcelona: The University 97 + Barcelona: Cloisters of the University 98 + Barcelona: Cloisters of the University, Upper Part 99 + Barcelona: Palacio de Justicia 100 + Barcelona: Diputacion Provincial 101 + Barcelona: Diputacion Provincial 102 + Barcelona: The Exchange 103 + Barcelona: The Custom House 104 + Barcelona: Clinical Hospital 105 + Barcelona: Municipal School of Music 106 + Barcelona: Catalana del Gas 107 + Barcelona: La Maison Dorée 108 + Barcelona: Casa de la Canongia 109 + Barcelona: Private House of the Eighteenth Century 110 + Barcelona: A Shop in the Calle Fernando 111 + Barcelona: New Building in the Paseo de Gracia 112 + Barcelona: House of the Shoemakers 113 + Barcelona: House in the Calle de Caspe 114 + Barcelona: Arco de Triunfo 115 + Barcelona: Teatro Principal 116 + Barcelona: Old Towers in the Plaza Nueva 117 + Barcelona: Tower of Santa Agueda 118 + Barcelona: Convent of Santa Clara. Old Palace of + the Kings of Aragon 119 + Barcelona: Apeadero de la Calle de Aragon 120 + Barcelona: Hotel Colón 121 + Barcelona: Staircase in a Private House in the Calle de Moncada 122 + Barcelona: Staircase in a Private House in the Calle de Moncada 123 + Barcelona: Frontón 124 + Barcelona: The Bull-Ring 125 + Barcelona: Monument to Columbus 126 + Barcelona: Monument to Columbus 127 + Barcelona: Detail of the Monument to Columbus 128 + Barcelona: Monument to Columbus 129 + Barcelona: Monument to Güell 130 + Barcelona: Fountain in the Plaza de Palacio 131 + Barcelona: Statue of General Prim 132 + Barcelona: Rambla de Cataluña, Monument to Clavé 133 + Barcelona: Statue of Lopez, and Paseo de Colón 134 + Barcelona: Plaza del Duque de Medinacelli 135 + Barcelona: Monument to Ruis and Toulet 136 + Barcelona: View of Tibidabo 137 + Barcelona: Funicular Railway Station, Tibidabo 138 + Barcelona: Tibidabo Station and Casa Arnus 139 + Barcelona: The Devil’s Bridge at Martorell 140 + Barcelona: Interior Court of the Convent of Montesion 141 + Barcelona: Exterior of the Convent of Montesion 142 + Barcelona: Convent of Montesion Cloisters 143 + Monastery of Pedralves, near Barcelona 144 + Barcelona: Rambla de Canaletas during the Fêtes of 1888 145 + Barcelona: The Fêtes of 1888. Inauguration of the Monument + to Columbus 146 + Barcelona: Exhibition of 1888. H.M. the Queen leaving + the Exhibition 147 + Barcelona: Exhibition of 1888. Palace of Beaux-Arts 148 + General View of Tarragona 149 + Tarragona: General View from the Cathedral, looking South 150 + Tarragona: General View from the Cathedral, looking East 151 + Tarragona: General View 152 + Tarragona: General View from the Pier 153 + Tarragona: Panoramic View 154 + Tarragona: View of the Port 155 + Tarragona: View of the Harbour from the Town 156 + Tarragona: General View of the Cathedral 157 + Tarragona: Façade of the Cathedral 158 + Tarragona: Façade of the Cathedral 159 + Tarragona: Tower and Side of the Cathedral 160 + Tarragona: Façade of the Cathedral 161 + Tarragona Cathedral: Centre of the Portal 162 + Tarragona: Left-hand Side Door of the Cathedral 163 + Tarragona Cathedral: Statues of the Portico 164 + Tarragona Cathedral: Detail of the Portico 165 + Tarragona: Byzantine Door of the Cathedral 166 + Tarragona: Right-hand Side Door of the Cathedral 167 + Tarragona Cathedral: The Principal Nave 168 + Tarragona Cathedral: Tomb of Jaime de Aragon 169 + Tarragona: Cloisters of the Cathedral 170 + Tarragona: Door of the Chapel of San Pablo 171 + Tarragona: La Muralla Ciclopea 172 + Tarragona: Puerta de San Antonio and Roman Walls 173 + Tarragona: Roman Walls and Tower 174 + Tarragona: Tower of the Scipiones 175 + Tarragona: Gate of San Antonio and the Roman Wall 176 + Tarragona: Palace of Pilatos, now the Prison 177 + Tarragona: La Portella, A Cyclopean Doorway 178 + Tarragona: A Cyclopean Doorway 179 + Tarragona: A Roman House 180 + Tarragona: Arco de Bará 181 + Tarragona: The Roman Aqueduct 182 + Tarragona: The Roman Aqueduct 183 + Tarragona: The Seminary 184 + Tarragona: Cross of San Antonio (sixteenth century) 185 + Tarragona: Ancient Roman Convent 186 + Poblet (Tarragona): General View of the Monastery 187 + Poblet (Tarragona): Church of the Monastery 188 + Poblet (Tarragona): Door of the Monastery 189 + Poblet (Tarragona): Chapel of San Jorge 190 + Poblet (Tarragona): Temple in the Cloisters 191 + Poblet (Tarragona): Cloisters and Palace of King Martin 192 + Poblet (Tarragona): Interior View of the Cloisters 193 + Poblet (Tarragona): Interior View of the Cloisters 194 + Santa Creus (Tarragona): General View of the Church + of the Monastery 195 + Santa Creus (Tarragona): Door of the Cloisters 196 + Santa Creus (Tarragona): Interior of the Cloisters 197 + Santa Creus (Tarragona): Interior Side View of the Cloisters 198 + Montserrat: View of the Monastery 199 + Monastery of Montserrat 200 + View of the Monastery of Montserrat, taken from St. Michael 201 + Montserrat: General View of Monastery from the South 202 + Montserrat: View of the Monastery from the South 203 + Montserrat: General View 204 + Montserrat: View of the Monastery from the West 205 + Montserrat: The Monastery 206 + Montserrat: Grotto of the Virgin 207 + Montserrat: The Virgin’s Cave 208 + Montserrat: View from the Grotto of the Virgin 209 + Montserrat: The Cave of Juan Guarin the Hermit 210 + Montserrat: Remains of the Ancient Monastery 211 + Montserrat: Door of the Church 212 + Montserrat: Interior of the Church 213 + Montserrat: View of the Peaks 214 + Montserrat: The Devil’s Rock 215 + Montserrat: Miranda Peak 216 + View of Montserrat, taken from Monistol Station 217 + View of Monistol, taken from Montserrat 218 + Tortosa: General View 219 + Tortosa: Courtyard in the Institute 220 + The Court, San Francisco, Palma, Mallorca 221 + Gran Hotel, Palma, Mallorca 221 + Palace of the Almudaina, Palma, Mallorca 222 + Windmill and Electrical Works, Palma, Mallorca 223 + View of the “Real Club de Regatas,” Palma, Mallorca 224 + Market and Church of San Nicolas, Palma, Mallorca 225 + San Francisco, Palma, Mallorca 225 + View from the Harbour, Palma, Mallorca 226 + View of the Bay, Palma, Mallorca 227 + The Almudaina and Cathedral, Palma, Mallorca 228 + Puerta de Santa Margarita, Palma, Mallorca 229 + The Cathedral, Palma, Mallorca 229 + Paseo del Borne, Palma, Mallorca 230 + Arabian Baths, Palma, Mallorca 230 + View of the Gorch Blau, Mallorca 231 + The Gorch Blau, Mallorca 231 + Interior of San Francisco, Palma, Mallorca 232 + Arab Baths, Palma, Mallorca 233 + The Quay, Palma, Mallorca 234 + Mills, Palma, Mallorca 235 + The River, Seller, Mallorca 236 + General View of Alcudia, Mallorca 237 + The Cathedral, Palma, Mallorca 238 + The Church of the Monastery, Lluch, Mallorca 238 + La Cartuja, Valldemosa, Mallorca 239 + Puerta del Muelle, Alcudia, Mallorca 239 + Interior of the Church, Lluch, Mallorca 240 + Transport of Musts, Balearic Islands 241 + General View of Deya, Mallorca 242 + Castle of Bellver, Mallorca 243 + General View of San Antonio (Pityusae Isles) 244 + Ruins of the Torre d’ea Galines, Alazor, Menorca 245 + Villa Carlos, Mahon, Menorca 246 + View of the Port, Mahon, Menorca 246 + The Harbour, Mahon, Menorca 247 + A View in the Town, Mahon, Menorca 247 + The Quay, Mahon, Menorca 248 + Paseo del Borne, Ciudadela, Menorca 249 + View of the Port, Mahon, Menorca 250 + The Port and Town, Ciudadela, Menorca 251 + Threshing, San Antonio (Pityusae Isles) 252 + A Street in Algendar, Ferrerias, Menorca 252 + A View showing the Arabian Towers, Ibiza (Pityusae Isles) 253 + River Pareys 254 + Portal of d’alt or d’en Servera, Mahon, Menorca 255 + Monument to the French Prisoners who died in 1808, + Island of Cabrera, Menorca 256 + + + + +CATALONIA + + + + +THE PRINCIPALITY OF CATALONIA + + +Every stranger who crosses the Pyrenees knows that Catalonia differs in +many important respects from every other province in the kingdom. He has +heard that the natives speak of going into Spain as if they lived +outside of it; he knows that they speak a tongue different from the +Castilian; that their enterprise and activity distinguish them +favourably among King Alfonso’s subjects, and they have kept well +abreast of every other European community. All this is true, and it +would be easy to enumerate many other peculiarities. The tendency, +however, is to exaggerate the points of difference between Spaniard and +Catalan, and to lose sight of their fundamental affinity. The language +of Catalonia, though not a mere dialect as some suppose, is as +essentially Spanish as the Castilian. It was spoken by those Hispani who +were driven out of Spain by the Saracens and returned in the ninth +century to settle in the north-east corner of the country. Thus Catalan +language and people were born in the very heart of the Peninsula and +have since been confined to a portion of it only by political causes. +There is, of course, no such essential difference between Catalans and +Castilians as between Welsh and English, Bretons and French. Both are +branches of the great Iberian family. If Catalonia were an independent +State, it would be its affinity to Spain that would impress us most, and +set us wondering, as we do in Portugal, how two countries so much alike +could continue politically distinct. + +The superior enterprise and energy of the Catalans may be attributed +less, I think, to racial differences than to historical and geographical +causes. Far removed from the scene of the secular struggle with the +Moor, and dwelling on the marge of the sea which was the principal +commercial arena of the ancient and mediæval world, the people of +Catalonia had from a very remote period opportunities for development +denied to the inhabitants of every other part of Spain. The Moors were +expelled from Barcelona at the beginning of the ninth century. Catalonia +had thus a start of more than four centuries over Seville, and of six +over Malaga--to say nothing further of the incontestable advantages of +her geographical position. + +Without wishing, it need hardly be said, to depreciate the progressive +tendencies of the Catalans, I confess I am inclined to attribute them, +not to any racial superiority over other Spaniards, but mainly to the +causes I have indicated. + +Catalonia thus bears witness to the aptitude of the Spaniard, for the +most active forms of commercial and industrial life, to his ability to +keep in the van of progress. The lead given by Barcelona will inevitably +be followed by all the other towns in the kingdom, now that the special +circumstances which retarded their development have been removed. In the +most populous city of Spain I fail to recognise a miracle or the work of +another people than the Spanish. I see instead the results of Spanish +enterprise and capacity singular only in having had the opportunity to +assert itself. + +From the day--it was in the year 813--that the fleet of the Count of +Ampurias gloriously defeated a Saracen squadron off the Balearic Isles, +Catalonia has looked seaward. It was on the wave that the men of +Barcelona found glory and riches. They were the rivals of the Pisans, +Genoese and Venetians, and can boast a maritime history far longer and +hardly less glorious than our own. It is recorded in one of the best +historical works ever written, the “Memorias sobre la Marina de +Barcelona,” by Don Antonio de Capmany y Palau, published in 1779. The +learned author contrasts the naval eminence of Barcelona with that of +other powers, and assigns the city a higher rank than England and +Portugal. In the middle of the Eleventh century, laws regulating and +favouring commerce and providing for the suppression of piracy were +decreed by Count Ramon Berenguer II. In the year 1114, the third Count +of that name assisted, with his own fleet, the Pisans in the reduction +of the Island of Majorca; in 1147 Almeria was attacked and plundered by +the allied fleets of Barcelona and Genoa; and in the following year +another naval victory added Tortosa to the principality. + +The conquests of the great King James of Aragon gave a great impetus to +the commerce of Barcelona as well as to the development of arts and +letters. The extension of the city’s relations to the Levant and Egypt +led to the appointment of consuls in all the parts frequented by +Catalans. A Maritime Code was promulgated in 1258, and soon became very +generally adopted throughout the Mediterranean. A second time the hardy +sailors of Barcelona drove the pirates from their nest in the Balearics, +the islands this time remaining definitely annexed to the crown of +Aragon. All the ships were furnished by the city on this occasion, and +the King named as commander Ramon de Plegarnoás, a rich citizen, expert +in naval affairs. + +In the thirteenth century, Aragon (or in other words, as regards the +sea, Barcelona) was the most formidable power in the Mediterranean. Her +merchant princes competed successfully with the traders of Genoa and +Venice, at the farthest ports of Egypt and Syria. King James when +appealing to the States of Aragon for a subsidy to carry on the war +against the infidel, reminded them that if Majorca were lost, Catalonia +would lose the dominion and absolute power she exercised over the sea. +Montaner, the Froissart of his nation, has bequeathed to us a stirring +chronicle of the expedition (in which he took part) of the Catalans to +Greece under the leadership of Roger de Flor. In the year 1332, Philip +of France, when about to embark on the Crusades, was advised to entrust +the management of the expedition exclusively to the Genoese and +Catalans, these being provided with the best ships and seamen, and the +most experienced in naval matters. As late as the year 1467, the Grand +Signior found it expedient to pay an indemnity to the King of Aragon to +secure immunity for his coasts from the persistent attacks of the +dreaded privateers of Barcelona. It is with reason that Capmany +attributes to the seamanship of the Barcelonese the extension of the +power of Aragon over the kingdoms of Naples, Sicily and Sardinia. Upon +the consolidation of Spain at the beginning of the sixteenth century and +the rise of the great modern States, the city was eclipsed as a sea +power. Its merchants looked with little favour on the discovery of +America, an enterprise promoted by Castile. Of the reception of Columbus +here by the Catholic Kings, not one word is said in the archives of the +city. + +Soon after, Barcelona just escaped becoming the scene of a discovery +almost as important as that of the New World. Here, says O’Shea, on +January 17, 1543, a ship of 200 tons was launched, propelled by two +wheels driven by steam. The inventor was Blasco de Garay, and the trial +was successfully made in the presence of a royal commission. The King’s +treasurer, one Ráongo, for some personal motive it is said, drew up a +report unfavourable to the invention, declaring the ship made only six +miles in two hours, and that the boiler was likely to burst. Perhaps +this report was not ill-founded, for though Garay received a grant of +200,000 maravedis in addition to his expenses, he made no further +progress with his invention. The fate of this and many other experiments +with steam in the sixteenth, seventeenth and eighteenth centuries seems +to prove that our ancestors rather failed to recognise the necessity of +any improvement in the means of locomotion, than wanted the skill to +effect it. It will be remembered that Mr. Shandy thought that on +economical grounds alone the inventors of mechanical means of transport +should be discouraged. A useful invention with which the Barcelonese may +fairly be credited, is marine insurance. + + + + +BARCELONA + + +Barcelona has remained true to her traditions. She is still, as of old, +a city of merchant princes, a hive of industry, at once the Liverpool +and Manchester of Spain. To those who visit the capital of Catalonia +after an acquaintance only with the moribund cities of Old Castile, this +vision of España Moderna comes as a shock and a revelation. The first +impression is not pleasing. You approach the city through a vast +wilderness of suburbs, teeming with life, and breathing apparently +through grimy factory chimneys. We realise that we have returned to the +civilised twentieth century. But the brighter side of modernity is soon +revealed. In its heart Barcelona is clean, bright, and spacious. The +boulevards are unequalled in Europe--except perhaps by Budapest--and the +street prospects are worthy of Washington. The Rambla is the most +delightful of promenades; in the Calle Fernando the contents of every +shop window tempt the unthrifty. A noble, beautiful modern metropolis, +still worthy of Cervantes’ encomium: “Flor de las bellas ciudades del +mundo, honra de España, reglo y delicia de sus moradores, y +satisfacción de todo aquello que de una grande famosa, rica, y bien +fundada ciudad, puede pedir un discreto y curioso deseo.” + +Barcelona is richer in monuments of the past than many a more +ancient-looking city. Foremost among these is the Cathedral in the very +heart of the town, one of the grandest examples of Gothic architecture +in Spain. Its extreme sombreness and apparently massive character +produce a similar impression to that created by the much larger +Cathedral of Seville. + +Street thinks very highly of this church, and remarks on the skill with +which the architect has contrived to make it appear much larger than it +really is. He observes “the architecture of Cataluña had many +peculiarities, and in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, when most +of the great buildings of Barcelona were being erected, they were so +marked as to justify me, I think, in calling the style as exclusively +national or provincial, as ... was our own Norfolk middle-pointed.... +Besides this, there was one great problem which I may venture to say +that the Catalan architects satisfactorily solved, the erection of +churches of enormous and almost unequalled internal width.” + +The primitive Cathedral was built by Count Ramón Berenguer between 1046 +and 1058, and considerably enlarged in the year 1173. The building, not +yet satisfying the needs of the thriving city, was entirely rebuilt at +the beginning of the fourteenth century. The design is attributed by +Street to Jaime Fabre, a native of Majorca, who was succeeded as master +of the works in 1388 by Master Roque. The last stone of the vault was +placed on September 26, 1448. + +In plan the church is externally a parallelogram, semicircular at the +east end. The transepts do not project beyond the line of chapels +opening off the aisles, and form each the basis of a tower, 170 feet +high. The old timber roofs of these towers have been removed (as from +our castles) laying bare simply the vaulting covered with tiles. Over +the Puerta de San Ivo by which you enter the north transept, a series of +reliefs illustrates a combat between a knight and a dragon. The former +is not St. George, the patron of Aragon, but a legendary hero, one +Villardell, who by Divine favour was armed with a miraculous sword. With +this he slew the monster which had been let loose by the Saracens, and +exultingly cried, “Well done, good sword, and stout arm of Villardell!” +But at that instant some drops of the dragon’s blood fell on his arm, +and he at once expired. He was thus punished for taking the credit of +the victory to himself. + +The west front, only finished ten years ago, compares very unfavourably +with the older portions. The dome over the first or westernmost bay of +the nave is also modern. Little else of the exterior can be seen. +Inside, as I have said, the church is extremely sombre, and very +conducive to what an eminent divine called Gothic devotion. This is due +partly to the dark colour of the stone, and partly to the smallness of +the windows, which are filled with beautiful fifteenth-century stained +glass. The windows of the chapels in the south aisle open into a +corresponding row of chapels in the adjacent cloister. Everything, in +fact, has been done to keep out the torrid rays. The chapels are +continued all round the church, there being no fewer than twenty-seven. +The choir is, as usual, in the middle of the nave, being separated by +the crossing from the chancel. Twenty massive and somewhat inelegant +clustered columns separate the nave from the aisles and the chancel from +the ambulatory, and from their capitals spring the nineteen arches +forming the vaulted roof. Nave and aisles are alike 83 feet high. The +cathedral is dedicated to a local martyr, Santa Eulalia, whose body +since the year 1339 has reposed in the crypt beneath the chancel. The +shrine of the saint was the work of Fabre and is in Italian Gothic +style. The ark is sculptured with scenes from the saint’s life. + +There is little remarkable about the High Altar. The choir-stalls are +richly carved, and date from the late fifteenth century. Like the stalls +of St. George’s Chapel at Windsor, they are decorated with coats of +arms--those of the knights of the Order of the Golden Fleece, in +commemoration of the chapter held here by Charles V. (then only King of +Spain) in 1519. Among the Knights present were the Kings of Denmark and +Poland, the Prince of Orange, and the Duke of Alva. The rear wall of the +choir is beautifully adorned with columns, and reliefs of Bartolomé +Ordonez, and Pedro Vilar of Zaragoza, representing scenes from the life +of the titular. It is a fine example of the Spanish Renaissance style. +Before beginning an examination of the chapels, attention may be called +to the huge Saracen’s head hanging from the organ in the north +transept--a common feature in Catalan churches, and symbolising the +reconquest of their sites from the infidel. + +A floor runs round the church above the side chapels and is carried +across the west front. The upper rooms were never used as places of +worship. The chapels are closed by mediæval grilles of wrought iron. +They date mostly from the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, and +present no very interesting features. This is fortunate for the +painstaking sightseer, as the obscurity renders an examination +difficult. A crucifix in the uppermost chapel in the chevet is a +memorial of the battle of Lepanto, where it was carried on the prow of +Don Juan’s flagship. The image is believed by some to have bent its head +to avoid the Turkish bullets. In the chapels of San Miguel Arcángel and +Nuestra Señora del Patrocinio, close by, are the fine Gothic tombs of +Bishop Berenguer de Palau (died 1240) and of one of his successors, +Poncio de Gualba (died 1334). Leaving the ambulatory by the north, the +chapel on the right contains another good Gothic monument to Bishop +Escaler. The finest tomb, on the whole, is that of Doña Sancha de +Cabrera, lady of Noalles, in the chapel of San Clemente, in the south +aisle; and three chapels farther on is the sarcophagus of the great +Catalan saint, Ramon de Penafort. The two wooden urns covered with +crimson velvet in the wall between the south transept and the sacristy +enshrine the ashes of Count Ramon Berenguer the Old, and his consort, +Almodis (died 1070). Opening off the south aisle, close to the main +entrance, is the large square chapel of the Holy Sacrament, or of St. +Olegarius, with a fine star-vaulting, the seventeenth-century monument +of the titular, and some paintings of Villadomat, a local artist of some +repute, who lived in the first half of the eighteenth century. There are +also some paintings of merit by the Tramullas, father and son, of +Perpignan, but generally speaking this fine cathedral is poor in +painting and statuary. + +Cloisters are nearly always charming, and those adjoining the Cathedral +on the south side are certainly so, with their palms and fruit trees and +fountains. One of these last is adorned with a statue of St. George, a +jet of water serving as a tail to the horse. In one corner is a +goose-pond. I saw nothing of the cats who, Street says, were prowling +about the cloisters and church, and contrived to get into the +choir-stalls just before service, whence they were forthwith chased by +the choristers and such of the clergy as happened to be there. I have +witnessed such scenes in French churches, where they are very +distracting to the devout. The cloister was begun by Master Roque and +finished in 1448. The architecture has been variously criticised, and +the tombs for the most part are poor. On these the profession of the +deceased is indicated by the implements of his trade lightly graven. The +resting-place of Mosém (Monseigneur) Borrà, the jester of Alfonso V. of +Aragon, is distinguished by the cap and bells. In the Chapel of the +Conception there used to be, says O’Shea, a picture painted by order of +the municipality in gratitude for the cessation of the plague in 1651, +at the intercession of the Virgin. The keys of the city, made in +silver, were presented to her on that occasion. In the chapel of Santa +Lucia, at the south-west angle of the cloister, Street recognised a +fragment of the old cathedral. The entrance into the south transept is +of the same date. By the graceful Puerta Santa Eulalia we pass into the +street. + +We presently pass the Bishop’s Palace, an eighteenth-century structure +incorporating some late Romanesque arcading. But leaving other +interesting buildings in this the oldest quarter of Barcelona for the +moment, we will seek the next most notable church in the town, that of +Santa Maria del Mar. It occupies the site of the earliest shrine of +Santa Eulalia, over which Bishop Aetius built a temple in the thousandth +year of our era. This modest church was replaced by another in the year +1329, which was restored and reconsecrated after a disastrous fire in +1383 under the reign of Pedro the Ceremonious. All classes of the +community assisted in the work. Those who could not give money gave +their labour, and in commemoration of this two small bronze figures +carrying stone and timber adorn the principal door. The edifice is a +good example of the Catalan church in its breadth and height of nave and +simplicity of plan. Like the cathedral, it forms a parallelogram rounded +at the east end, and presents an unbroken line of wall to the exterior. +Churches of this type usually consist of nave only, but Santa Maria del +Mar has two aisles. Enormous octagonal columns carry the main arches and +the groining ribs which all spring from their capitals. The wall rib +towards the nave is carried up higher than the main arches, so as to +allow space between them for a small circular and traceried clerestory +window in each bay. The arches of the apse are very narrow, and +enormously stilted. There are small windows above them, but they are +modernised. The aisles are groined on the same level as the main arches, +a few feet, therefore, below the vault of the nave, and they are lighted +by a four-light traceried window in each bay, the sill of which is above +the string-course formed by continuing the abacus of the capitals of the +groining shafts. Below this are three arches in each bay, opening into +side chapels between the main buttresses. Each of these chapels is +lighted by a traceried window of two lights, and the outer wall presents +a long unbroken line, until above the chapels, when the buttresses rise +boldly up to support the great vaults of the nave and aisles.[A] The +interior, though still simple and dignified, has been marred by modern +restorations. Another peculiarity remains to be noted: the choir is +placed behind the high altar. Of this latter, a costly but +churrigueresque erection, the less said the better. The royal pew in the +south aisle, recalling the days when Barcelona was a capital, was +connected with the palace by a gallery now destroyed. The church +contains some good glass and examples of the art of Villadomat, a +painter of whom Catalonia can boast. His fate was extremely sad: for the +last seventeen years of his long life, he was paralysed in both hands. + +[A] Street, “Gothic Architecture in Spain.” + +Standing on the sinister spot where, twelve years ago, twelve people +were killed and fifty others injured by a miscreant’s bomb, we survey +the fine west front. This is flanked by two octagonal towers, of the +telescope kind, and has a magnificent rose-window, above which I rather +felt that an attic or story gable was wanted. The portal is richly +moulded, and adorned with sculpture. The doors are faced with iron. + +The churches of Santa Maria del Pino and of Santos Justo and Pastor are +on the same plan, with slight modifications. Adjoining the former is a +tall detached belfry, producing a fine effect. The church was +consecrated in 1453, and derived its name according to one account from +an image of the Virgin found in the trunk of a pine. The west front, +Street considers to have been designed by the architect of the north +transept door of the cathedral. Unlike Santa Maria del Mar, there are +no chapels in the apse, though they are found between the buttresses of +the nave. There is no aisle. In this church Villadomat is buried. + +Santos Justo-y-Pastor is another single-nave church, founded in 1345, on +the oldest church site in the city. It has been modernised inside and +out. In the days of the ordeal by combat the parties, fully armed, made +oath in this church, on the altar of San Felio, as to the justice of +their cause and to use no “constellated or enchanted weapons.” We read +that James I. declared null and void the issue of an encounter between +Arnuldo de Cabrera and Bernardo de Cantellas on the ground that the one +had worn certain jewels believed to be enchanted, and that the other had +been invested with a shirt rendered impenetrable by a spell. To-day, I +understand, an oath taken in this church as to the last wishes of a +citizen who has died intestate, will be sufficient grounds for the issue +of letters of administration accordingly. Here also Jews were sworn with +both hands placed on the Decalogue, and according to a long and terrific +formula. This is given at length by Don Pablo Piferrer in the original +Catalan, and is calculated to appal the most hardened perjurer. + +Barcelona, it will have been seen, abounds in ancient and interesting +churches. San Pablo del Campo was founded in the first decades of the +tenth century by Count Wilfred II., who was buried in it, as his epitaph +on a Roman tablet attests. Destroyed by Al Mansûr, the church was +rebuilt on the same plan in 1117 by Jinbert Jintardo and his wife +Rotlandis. The west front has retained much of its primitive Romanesque +character. The symbolical sculpture is crude and curious. The interval +is very striking in its simplicity. The cloister is more ornate and the +decoration is considered by some to mark the transition from the +Romanesque to the Moorish style. More eastern in character is the +venerable church of San Pere de las Puellas, believed to date from the +tenth century. It is so called from the nuns who formerly inhabited the +adjoining convent and who, at the time of Al Mansûr’s invasion, cut off +their lips and noses to avoid the amorous attentions of the Moors. + +There remain to be visited the old chapel royal of Santa Agueda, now +converted into an archæological museum, where Alfonso el Casto was +baptized, where the order of Montesa was established, and where the +claims of the candidates to the crown of Aragon were discussed in 1410. + +Santa Ana, built in 1146 in imitation of the church of the Holy +Sepulchre (as it was then), with a curious fourteenth-century cloister +placed at an angle to the main building, and the simple graceful arches +of the chapel of Montesion, where are hung the Turkish ensigns won by +Spanish valour at Lepanto. + +One instinctively searches at Barcelona for monuments of civic state +befitting a city of such antiquity and dignity. Happily such are not +lacking and have been preserved to us. The noble Gothic façade of the +Town Hall (Casa Consistorial), erected in 1373, has been recently +restored, fortunately with good taste. The Council Chamber (Salon de +Ciento), formed of two bays which support an artesonado roof, is lined +by a collection of portraits of Catalan worthies, among whom we +distinguish Capmany, Villadomat and Montaner. A finer building and +preserving more of its primitive character is the Diputacion, the old +Parliament House of Catalonia, and now the seat of the Provincial Court. +This monument, declares Piferrer, “is the admiration of foreigners and +the honour of Barcelona. He who seeks for originality of style, let him +examine all its parts and be convinced that many are of a character +entirely new.” Built in the early fifteenth century, it underwent +frequent restorations and enlargements, and was rebuilt in great part in +1609 by Maestre Pere Blai, who spared the best portions of the old work. +The principal façade is cold and devoid of interest, except for the +figure of St. George above the entrance. To that saint is dedicated the +chapel, with its fine ogival portal, and the adjoining wall damascened +(to quote Piferrer) with reliefs. The chapel is the repository of an +exquisite altar frontal, worked with the design of St. George and the +Dragon, and designed by Antonio Sadarni, in 1458. The pillars sustaining +the galleries of the patio, at one time much admired for their daring +and ingenious execution, were bending and giving way under the strain +till restored and strengthened a few years ago by Don Miguel Garriga y +Roca, a local architect. + +The halls breathe the dignity and gravity of a great corporation. The +majestic Salon del Tribunal with its dome and hangings is adorned with +portraits of the Kings of Spain, and paintings by Fortuny, one +representing the victory of Marshal Prim over the Moors at Tetuan. +Catalonia keeps ever green the memory of her heroes. + +The rapid extension of the most populous city of Spain has fortunately +spared several noble monuments of bygone ages and beliefs. About an +hour’s walk from the Tibidabo brings one to the Romanesque monastery of +San Cucufat (or Cugat) del Valles, founded by Charlemagne on the site of +a Roman camp, and rebuilt between 1009 and 1014. The exterior is +fortified with battlements and flanking towers, the main entrance being +pierced through a tall square gatehouse, and having been defended by a +drawbridge. The Abbey Church is in the finest Romanesque style, with an +octagonal lantern, apse, nave, and aisles. The interior is plain and +sombre, despite the abominable baroque chapels which have been added to +the right aisle. The church contains but one tomb of importance--that of +the builder or founder, the Abbot Otho, who was also Bishop of Gerona, +and flourished at the dawn of the eleventh century. + +The cloister of San Cugat has afforded the Romanesque sculptors the +opportunity of gratifying their most exuberant fancy in stone. The +capitals reveal an extraordinary profusion and variety of +designs--Biblical scenes being associated with fables, conventional +designs, and animals’ heads. Examples of the quaint and more childlike +conceptions of a rather later age (fourteenth century) may be found in +some curious paintings, set in retablos, still adorning the church. They +are specimens of a style peculiar to Catalonia, Valencia, and the +Balearic Islands, at the period “which analogies [says one authority] +with the early Tuscan and old Cologne schools.” + + + + +GERONA + + +Gerona deserves to be, but through some freak of fortune is not, as +famous as Saragossa. Its many sieges, especially those that took place +in the Peninsular War, are among the many proofs of the Spaniard’s +extraordinary tenacity in the defence of positions. Numantia, Saguntum, +Saragossa, Gerona, and Cartagena--can any other country boast so many +and such glorious instances of heroism and resistance to an overwhelming +foe? These five names should be inscribed on the national escutcheon. +They might even one day have more than a sentimental value, and cause +potential invaders to think twice before violating Spanish soil. + +Gerona, then, has covered itself with glory, not once, but repeatedly. +The very paynim Moors were invigorated by the heroic atmosphere, for we +read that as long ago as 785 they defied the arms of Louis the Pious, +till the Christian townsfolk, thinking that enough had been done for the +renown of Gerona, arose and expelled them. In the succeeding centuries +the Geronese grew used to this business of sieges, and their assailants +grew more wary. In 1285 the French King, Philippe le Hardi, sat down +before the town and contentedly starved it into submission. Gerona +yielded under protest, and took care to place it on record that she was +not taken by force but by hunger, as the inscription not “per forsa, mes +per fam” over the Puerta de la Cárcel to this day testifies. More than +four centuries later came another Philippe from beyond the Pyrenees, +welcomed by all Spaniards except Catalans. Gerona stubbornly held out +for Austrian Charles, and her garrison of 2000 men bade defiance to +Philippe’s 9000. The Bourbon won; and to punish the recalcitrant city +abolished her University. But a hundred years after, Gerona recovered +her laurels. Her garrison of three hundred men, commanded by Colonel +O’Daly, withstood successfully the repeated assaults of 6000 French +under Duhesme, and beheld in August 1808 the hurried and inglorious +flight of the besiegers. Of the great siege of 1809 you may read in the +pages of Napier. The commander and hero of the defence was Mariano +Alvarez--a much finer fellow than Palafox; and had he not been stricken +with fever and rendered unconscious, the town might not have +surrendered, as it ultimately did after a seven months’ siege. It had +cost Napoleon 15,000 men. Here, as at Saragossa, the women fought beside +the men and worked the guns, under the banner of St. Barbara. +Unconquerable Gerona! Well might the heirs to the crown of haughty +Aragon have been proud to bear the title of your prince. + +Towns with such stories invariably reflect them in their physiognomies. +Gerona’s aspect is eloquent of history and legend. Her balconied +houses--yellow and white--seem to rise out of the waters of the river +Oñar, reminding one at moments of a Venetian canal. But to dispel such +an illusion you have but to lift your eyes to the castled hill of +Montjuich, in which the defensive power of the town resides and whose +sides have borne the brunt of every battle that has raged round Gerona. +Penetrating into the labyrinth of streets behind the river front, we +find them dark, narrow, and silent enough to be haunts of the muse of +history; but here and there--often, indeed--we find animated squares and +thoroughfares that show us that Gerona is not outside the brisk +Catalonian current. + +The vast cathedral lifts its towers near the river’s marge. It was +founded, after the expulsion of the Moors, by Louis the Pious, in 786, +and was rebuilt in the year 1016. It was consecrated by the Archbishop +of Narbonne, on the French side, assisted by bishops both Cispyrenean +and Transpyrenean. Extensive alteration and restoration went on in the +fourteenth century, among the architects being two from Narbonne. +Perhaps I may be pardoned the digression when I remark that natural +boundaries seem to have been of less importance in the Middle Ages than +now; a fact which may, it seems to me, be partly attributed to the +relative facility with which great mountain barriers could be passed by +the usual means of conveyance in those days. If you travel only on +horseback, a mountain pass presents little more difficulty than a high +road. Street, who extracted these particulars of the cathedral’s history +from various Spanish works, tells us of the deliberations as to the +adoption of the architect Guillermo Boffy’s plan for a nave of a single +span. Fortunately the twelve architects composing the jury (Pascasio de +Xulbe, Juan de Xulbe, Pedro de Valfogona, Guillermo de la Mota, +Bartolomé Gual, Antonio Canet, Guillermo Abiell, Arnaldo de Valleras, +Antonio Antigoni, Guillermo Sagrera, Jehan de Guinguamps, and Boffy +himself) pronounced in favour of the plan, and the work was put in hand +that same year, 1417. The first stone of the campanile was not laid till +1581, and the west front was begun as lately as 1607. + +This grand church consists, then, of a single nave 73 feet wide, four +bays in length, and terminating in the usual semicircular east end. The +west front, in the poor style of the seventeenth century, calls for no +remark, and gives no promise of the grandeur of the interior. Street +thinks the exterior could never have looked very well. Even the south +door, executed in 1458, does not merit praise, though its terra-cotta +statues are curious and well preserved. + +The vast nave is blocked and greatly marred by the central choir, moved +into this ill-chosen position long after the completion of Boffy’s work. +Three arches separate the east end from the nave. Above them are three +large round windows. Street praises this arrangement and says that it +enhances this effect of vastness. “In short, had this nave been longer +by one bay, I believe that scarcely any interior in Europe could have +surpassed it in effect.” + +The high altar is of alabaster with a silver frontal, and belonged to +the old cathedral. It was the gift of Ermesindes, the wife of Count +Ramon Borel (1038). The reredos is a very rich and interesting work +plated with silver. It was completed in 1348. The subjects in the three +tiers of niches relate respectively to the lives of the saints, the life +of the Blessed Virgin, and the life of Our Lord. The work is crowned by +the figures of Christ and His Mother, and the saints Narcissus and +Feliu. Of the same period is the baldachin, the vault of which is +covered with sacred subjects, while the shafts are adorned with +heraldic achievements. Behind the reredos is the bishop’s throne, formed +of a single piece of marble. “Here, when the bishop celebrated +pontifically, he sat till the oblation and returned to it again to give +the benediction to the people.” + +In addition to the objects of interest to which the architect of our Law +Courts calls attention--the wooden wheel of bells, &c.--the cathedral +contains several tombs worthy of examination. In the choir is buried +Count Ramon Berenguer, surnamed Cap d’Estopa; in the presbytery, on the +gospel side, is the tomb of Bishop Berenguer de Anglesola; Doña +Ermesindes lies between the chapels of Corpus and San Juan; Bishop +Bernardo de Pau in the chapel of San Pablo. + +Adjoining the church is the dark gloomy cloister, which existed in the +early twelfth century, and in which Street recognised “one of the main +branches of the stream by which Romanesque art was introduced into +Spain” from south-eastern France. The galleries, with marble columns and +stone roofs, enclose a court with tall trees and a cistern in the +centre. Numerous black memorial tablets let into the walls have failed +to keep alive the memory of the dead. + +The archives of the cathedral contain a Bible, at one time believed to +have been the gift of Charlemagne, and enriched with the signature of +Charles V. of France. Another treasure is an illuminated code dating +from the tenth century, and relating to the Apocalypse--a chapter in +Holy Writ which at that period, when the end of the world was believed +to be at hand, greatly occupied the minds of men. + +Not far from the cathedral, and nearer to the river Oñar, is the +collegiate church of San Feliu or San Felix rising proudly above the +town. Its tall campanile is visible from every part of the town and is a +familiar landmark for miles around. It was built in 1392, and is in +three stages: the first or lower stage, quite plain, the second adorned +with graceful windows, the third putting forth shoots in the shape of +tapering finials. “It is seldom,” says Street, “that the junction of +tower and spire is more happily managed than it is here; and before the +destruction of the upper part of the spire the whole effect must have +been singularly graceful.” Though the church seems to have been almost +entirely rebuilt in the fourteenth century, as a foundation, St. Feliu +dates back to the eighth century and was used by the Christians during +the Moorish occupation, which, by the way, only lasted sixty-eight +years. The interior seems, like the cathedral’s, to have consisted of a +single nave, but to this aisles have been added, the whole terminating +in a tri-apsidal chevet. The west front dates from the seventeenth +century. The high altar has some good paintings and sculpture, the +canopies over the tomb of San Feliu and the statues of the Virgin and +St. Narcissus being especially notable. The modern chapel of the +last-named saint is gorgeously enriched with jasper of many colours. In +this church is buried the heroic Don Mariano Alvarez de Castro, beneath +a monument, dating from 1880, executed in Carrara marble and in the +reddish yellow stone of the country. The tomb is crowned by a mourning +female figure, which I have been told is a portrait of the general’s +wife. The sepulchre of San Feliu dates from the thirteenth century and +is sculptured with compositions representing scenes from the saint’s +life. Leaving San Feliu by the south door, we pass through the dark and +massive Portal de Sobreportas, formed by two huge round towers, +connected by a modern intervening story, and at the end of a long gloomy +lane reach a Capuchin convent. The object of our visit is a soi-disant +Moorish bath, covered in by a graceful little pavilion with eight +slender columns. + +The oldest church at Gerona appears to be the little oratory of San +Nicolas, built in the form of a cross with its arms ending in apses, +surmounted by domes. The height of the nave is not much more than that +of a tall man. Hardly inferior in antiquity is the church of San Pedro +de Galligans. This is named, not after the Gauls, as one might be +tempted to suppose, but after a little stream called the Galligans, +which at this point flows into the Oñar. Like every other religious +edifice in Gerona, its foundation is attributed to Charlemagne, but +(according to Piferrer) the earliest mention of the church occurs in the +year 992, while the actual fabric was building at the time a third part +of the coinage of Gerona was given by Count Ramon Berenguer III. to the +Benedictine monastery of which his brother was abbot. Street inclines to +think San Pedro was built by the architect of the church at Elne in +Roussillon. The principal apse here, as at Avila, projects beyond the +town wall; on the south side of it are two smaller apses side by side, +opening into the south transept; the north transept expands into apses +on the north and east and is crowned by a fine octagonal steeple with +two rows of round-headed windows. The west front is approached by steps, +many of them bearing Romano-Gothic inscriptions; there is a single +round-arched western door with good fern-leaf carving on its capitals, +and above this a rose-window. Within, the church consists of a nave, +separated by tall, massive columns from the aisles. The capitals are +rude, but offer great variety of design and execution. There is a +clerestory, but no windows to the aisles, which are more like +corridors. On the south side is a cloister probably carved coeval with +the church, but terribly damaged during the siege, and now converted +into the Provincial Museum. + +“The whole character of this church,” remarks Street, “is very +interesting. The west front reminded me much of the best Italian +Romanesque, and the rude simplicity of its interior--so similar in its +mode of construction to the great church at Santiago in the opposite +corner of the Peninsula--suggests the probability of its being one of +the earliest examples of which Spain can boast.” + +From San Pedro we may follow the course of the little river Galligans to +the deserted monastery of San Daniel, dating as a building from the +eleventh century. In 1015 the original foundations were sold by Bishop +Pedro Roger to Count Ramon Borell III. and his wife Ermesindes, for one +hundred ounces of gold. The Countess erected a monastery, which was +completed by the less fortunate wife of Ramon Cap d’Estopa. The west +front and nave are Gothic, the chancel and lantern in good Romanesque +style. In front of the sanctuary a flight of steps leads down to the +shrine of the titular saint, whose tomb dates from the fourteenth +century. + + * * * * * + +North of Gerona lies FIGUERAS, accounted the strongest fortress in +Spain. Like so many other “impregnable” strongholds, it has been taken +again and again, so often, in fact, as to give rise to the saying, +“Figueras belongs to Spain in peace, and to France in war.” It is only +fair to add that in several instances its fall has been due to +treachery. In a miserable chamber in the castle of San Fernando died +Mariano Alvarez de Castro, a prisoner in the hands of the French. The +guide-books speak of a religious procession which takes place here on +the last Monday in May, and is called the Profaso de la Tramontana, +after the north wind, which blows here with great violence. + +In the vicinity of Figueras is the church of Villabertrán, dating from +the end of the eleventh century. Designed by a priest it exhibits, +remarks a Spanish writer, in every detail the ecclesiastical bias. All +animal figures are excluded as tending to disturb religious +recollection. The interior is nobly designed but destitute of all +ornament. “In this temple everything appeals to the reason, nothing to +the imagination; these low dark vaults dissipate illusions; the thought +of death oppresses the mind; but the eyes discern a gleam of light in +the darkness of the sanctuary, and the soul hungrily seeks a gleam of +faith in the gloom of doubt.” + +Of a similarly severe character is the adjacent cloister. The campanile +of the church alone presents any airy or graceful features. The whole +foundation would have been spared even by Knox or Calvin. + +On the bay of Rosas, the town of Castellón de Ampurias recalls the great +city of Empurias which was founded by the Greeks, and utterly perished +at the end of the twelfth century. It was among those great maritime +powers which for long resisted the encroachments of the Carthaginians, +and which fell in turn before the irresistible arms of Rome--reminders +for us of the days when the fate of the Mediterranean still hung in the +balance, and it was yet uncertain whether the civilisation of Europe +should be Hellenic, Punic or Latin. The destruction of Empurias is +ascribed partly to the Saracens, partly to the Normans. Whoever +accomplished the work did it thoroughly, for nothing but the name +survives of this once rich and puissant colony of Hellenes. + +Castellón de Ampurias is a Latin foundation, with which time has dealt +unkindly. Its parish church of Santa Maria is a noble monument of its +prime. It was consecrated in 1064 and finished in the late Gothic +period. To this last style belongs the west porch, with a pointed arch +of six orders, and the figures of the Twelve Apostles beneath canopies +in the jambs. The tympanum shows a relief of the Adoration of the Magi. +Contrasting strikingly with this carefully chiselled and graceful Gothic +work is the stern square campanile to the left, a remnant of the +Romanesque days. The interior is early Gothic. The combination of this +with the preceding style is strikingly shown in the principal apse. The +altar, a single piece of marble, is carved with reliefs which exhibit +(says Pi y Margall) the artist’s breadth of imagination rather than his +skill. + +Further inland is the venerable abbey of San Pedro de Roda, founded in +the tenth century, and abandoned by the religious in the year 1799. +To-day the monastic buildings are in utter ruin, but enough of the +church remains to fill us with admiration for the loftiness of its nave, +the harmonious admixture of the Romanesque with the pure classic forms, +the skilful decoration of the various parts, and the sombre majesty of +the whole. + + + + +THE VALLEY OF THE TER + + +The river Ter, which washes the walls of Gerona, is born among the snows +of the Puigmal, the loftiest of the Eastern Pyrenees. Its stream is +still ice-cold when it flows past the little town of San Juan de las +Abadesas, which changed its name from Ripollet upon the foundation of an +abbey within its precincts by Wilfred the Hairy, Count of Barcelona, in +the year 877. The Count’s daughter was the first Abbess. The present +abbatial church replaced the original structure in 1150. It is strictly +cruciform, consisting of a nave and transept without aisles. There are +only two columns in the church, these being planted at the entrance to +the presbytery. The chancel is in the florid late Gothic style, +contrasting oddly with the extreme simplicity of the rest of the fabric. +Behind the altar is a figure of Christ, sculptured in the year 1250; in +the forehead, it is believed, is contained a Host, which has preserved +its integrity for seven centuries, and which it was found impossible to +remove in the year 1598. The church has two choirs, both blocking the +nave. The north and south porches were reserved respectively for men +and women. The adjoining cloister is in good fifteenth-century style, +and was probably designed or improved by the architect of the Palacio de +la Diputacion at Barcelona. + +Five or six miles farther down the valley stands Ripoll, one of the +towns that suffered most severely during the Carlist wars. It has, +however, long since recovered from its reverses. Unfortunately the +damage done to the monastery founded by Wilfred the Hairy cannot be +repaired. As the Mausoleum of the counts from the ninth to the twelfth +century, it possessed great interest. The church, built by Bishop Oliva +about the thousandth year of our era, is roofless. The nave terminates +in an apse, and there are three smaller apses opening from the east into +each transept. The special glory of the building is its west porch, +formed by a rounded arch with three shafts in each jamb. The middle +shafts are carved into life-size figures of St. Peter and St. Paul; the +others are most beautifully chiselled. The orders of the arch are +variously treated; caprices, grotesques, masques, mythological designs +being interwoven with more appropriate religious symbols. One series of +reliefs appears to represent the twelve months. + +The façade on either side of this portal is similarly decorated with +graphic reliefs in six courses, the lowest representing scenes in which +centaurs, lions, &c., figure; above this is a row of figures of knights, +princes, and prelates; above this, battle scenes, then come two rows of +sacred figures and subjects, and finally the figure of God the Father +attended by angels and princes. The whole of this portal is of profound +interest to students of the Romanesque. + +The interior of the church was restored as lately as twenty years ago. +All styles seem to have entered into its architecture. Instead of +columns, massive piers support the vaulting, and mark off the aisles +from the nave. The chancel--merely a shallow apsidal prolongation of the +nave--is strewn with the ruins of the high altar and the roof. + +The cloister of the monastery is the most interesting part. It is +composed of an upper and lower gallery of round arches, uninterrupted by +any piers or buttresses. The harmony of the whole is admirable. The +columns are of Gerona marble, and pinkish grey in hue. Variety is +imparted by the capitals whereon the unknown sculptor has expended his +fanciful, nervous genius. The upper gallery was not completed till the +end of the fourteenth century, though the cloister had been begun as far +back as 1172. + +Farther down stream is Vich, a town constantly referred to in the annals +of the Carlist wars. As the history of that insurrection is not well +known to foreigners, visitors are more likely to be interested in the +monuments that have survived those troubled times. The cathedral was +built in 1040--a date which sounds promising; but alas! the architects +of the eighteenth century have forestalled us, and have worked their +wicked will upon a once noble church. The artistic eye will not linger +upon the exterior, but it may find some refreshment in the majestic +nave, divided from the aisles by six clustered columns, with Corinthian +capitals. When the church was rebuilt, all the tombs were swept away, +and none of the altars spared, except the high altar, which is a +meritorious work of the early fifteenth century. As at Ripoll, there is +a fine cloister built five hundred years ago. The gallery, with its +pointed openings and trefoil and quatrefoil tracery, is built over a +substructure with round arched open vaults. The centre of the quadrangle +is occupied by the statue and monument of the philosopher Balmes, who +was born at Vich and died in 1848, aged only thirty-eight years. He is +buried in the cathedral nave. + +Outside this church there is little to be seen in the old Catalan town. +The remains of a Roman temple are worth examination, and the artist may +find plenty of material for sketches in the picturesque Plaza Mayor. + +From Vich it is about forty-five miles to Barcelona. + + + + +LERIDA + + +Lerida is another of those Catalan cities that remind one of the saying +about new wine in old bottles. Seen from afar it is clearly one of those +old human hives that have existed on the same spot ever since man felt +the need of a permanent abode--you have the hill-site, the walls, the +towers, the flowing river, the mediæval aspect. You observe with delight +a humpbacked bridge, such as (with a total disregard for beasts of +burden) our pious ancestors loved to build. And over all rises the +cathedral--or, as we shall soon learn, what was the cathedral. But on a +closer inspection we find that time has by no means left Lerida +untouched. Already she has overflowed into the opposite side of the +stream, and there is a big new suburb with wide white streets, +spaciously planned squares, and avenues along which the trees are +beginning to grow. And as you cross the humpbacked bridge, you observe +that the centre arch is quite new, and as you enter the old town, you +are astonished by the stir and the modernity of it all. It is just like +Smyrna or Damascus. Every one has been too busy to build the town over +again. Its poor old rickety houses, in which men designed to lead only +the sedatest of lives, have been hastily requisitioned for the service +of modern industry and commerce. The low rooms are packed with +merchandise, the frail houses seem like to burst. The underground +cellars come in very handily. Lerida is very much alive. Some day she +will have to pull her house down and build a new one altogether. + +Probably no one would have come to Lerida--no strangers of the +uncommercial variety, that is--if Street had not told us about the old +cathedral, since turned into a barracks. Nor without his detailed and +professional description would the average traveller be able to make +much of the building. The purposes to which it has been put have +obscured the outlines of the features of the original fabric. But you +cannot overlook it for it stands high on the hill like a citadel, which, +indeed, it has now become. + +Lerida--which the Catalans, by the way, call Lleyda--was known to the +Romans as Ilerda, and when they turned Christian, they built a church on +this site. This, it is supposed, became a mosque during the brief +Moorish period, to be reconsecrated on the reappearance of the +Christians. The first stone of the actual building was laid on July 22, +1203, in the presence of King Pedro II., and the consecration took +place on October 31, 1278. + +(People often wonder why we do not build cathedrals nowadays equal to +the old. One of the reasons may be that we are in too great a hurry. In +the Middle Ages no man expected to see the completion of the work he +began. They were animated by a strong communal sense, different from the +individualism of to-day.) + +The excellent bishop and chapter of Lerida in the year 1707 thought the +cathedral too old for their requirements, and having already +commissioned a military architect to build them a new church in the city +below, thither they removed. By a fair exchange the military took +possession of the cathedral. They willingly display it to you, and the +non-commissioned officer who shows you round seems less in a hurry to +get the visit over than your clerical cicerone usually is. + +The lay traveller in attempting to understand this church has always to +refer himself to the explanation of Street or else to that of Piferrer, +which is certainly not so intelligible. In plan, then, the church is +cruciform with three eastern apses and square transept arms. Another +apse projects eastward from the south transept, which is flanked on the +other side by a semicircular chapel, pointing south. Over the crossing +rises an octagonal lantern, roofed like the whole church with stone, +and pierced in each face with double windows with varied tracery. At its +north-west angle is a slender octagonal staircase turret, rising from +the south-west angle of the north transept. There is a similar but +stouter tower, detached from the lantern, rising over the south +transept. These towers give the whole pile a romantic and beautiful +appearance. + +The principal portal, called in the Catalan dialect the Puerta dels +Fillols, opens into the middle of the south aisle. “This [says our +authority] is an example of singularly rich transitional work, with an +archivolt enriched with chevrons, mouldings, dog-tooth, intersecting +arches, and elaborate foliage. There is the usual horizontal cornice +over the arch, and above this is a fourteenth-century statue of the +Blessed Virgin Mary and Our Lord. The horizontal cornice is carried on +moulded corbels, between which and the wall are carvings of wyverns and +other animals; whilst the soffit of the cornice in each compartment is +carved with delicate tracery panels, in some of which I thought I +detected some trace of Moorish influence. The cornice has a delicate +trailing branch of foliage; and the labels and two or three orders of +the arch, in which sculpture of foliage is introduced, are remarkable +for the singular delicacy and refinement of the lines of the foliage, +and for the exceeding skill with which they have been wrought. There is +none of that reckless dash which marks our carvers nowadays, but in its +place a patient elaboration of lovely forms, which cannot too much be +praised. The mouldings here are all decidedly characteristic by a +later--probably fifteenth-century--vaulted porch, which occupies the +space between two added chapels. The effect is very good and +picturesque.” + +The transept doors are also very fine, especially the southern one. The +cornice is beautifully sculptured and the wheel window above reveals in +its details the influence of the Italian Romanesque. These entrances +make us regret the effacement of the west porch, which is concealed by +the vast square cloister covering that side of the church. This +remarkable building, now occupied by troops, is the grandest, Street +declared, he had ever seen. In its present desecrated state, it must be +confessed it needs a highly trained eye to appreciate its beauty. The +arcades are walled up, and there is some ground for supposing that when +in ecclesiastical occupation the galleries were used as dormitory and +refectory. The details vary greatly. The bays vary in width, the +sculpture is of all sorts of design, and of all periods. Adjoining this +vast cloister on the north side is a long barrel-vaulted hall, lighted +only at one end. On the west side the cloister is entered through an +enormous western doorway with a pointed arch. South of this and almost +detached from the cloister stands that beautiful octagonal steeple which +served Pedro Balaguer as a model for the Micalet Tower at Valencia. It +is 170 feet high and divided into five stages, “the whole construction +being of the most dignified and solid description.” + +Concerning the position of this tower, Street remarks: “Here, as often +happens with detached campaniles, the grouping of the steeple with the +church from various points of view is very diversified, and often very +striking. From its great height above the valley it is seen on all +sides, and generally at some distance. From the south, the grand size of +the cloister, which connects the steeple with the church, gives it +somewhat the effect of being in fact at the west end of an enormous +building, of which the cloister may be the nave; whilst the steeple +rears its whole height boldly to the right, and makes the whole scheme +of the work utterly unintelligible, until after a thorough +investigation.” + +The interior of the church is now cut horizontally by a plank flooring, +and no features of interest can be distinguished, except in a single +apsidal chapel, which is still used as such, and where is buried a +natural son of King Pedro the Catholic, who died in 1254. Whitewash has +obscured all the details of capitals and columns. + +Adjacent to the cathedral on the north side is the ruin of a once noble +hall, with traces of Moorish influence in its carving--possibly the +remains of a chapter-house or episcopal palace. + +Far exceeding the cathedral in antiquity is the church of San Lorenzo +hard by, though it is not safe to accept the tradition of its Gothic +origin. It was certainly built prior to the twelfth century. Originally +just an apse and a nave, with walls eight feet thick and a span of +thirty-three feet, aisles each ending in an apse were added to it at a +much later period. They communicate with the nave by very simple pointed +arches, and their windows have good traceries of the late thirteenth +century. “The apse has a semi-dome and is lighted by three round-headed +windows, five inches wide in the clear, and has a corbel-table under the +eaves outside.” + +The octagonal campanile dates from the fifteenth century, to which +period belongs the western gallery. There is a good deal of pointed work +in the church, which is gloomy and religious. The high altar, dating +from about 1400, has a reredos which is highly praised by some critics. + +Lerida was the Salamanca of Aragon. Her university, founded in 1300 by +Jaime II., numbered the profligate Calixtus III. among its professors, +and Vicente Ferrer--the “angel of the judgment”--among its alumni. Ford +reminds us that Horace speaks of the place as a seat of learning in +Roman times, to which the troublesome youths of the capital were +banished. The town, like its Castilian prototype, has been famed for +arms as well as learning. It sustained a severe siege from Felipe IV. +himself in 1640, and withstood the assaults of the great Condé in 1640. +It owned the loss of its university to its devotion to the Archduke +Charles in the War of Succession, and (more directly) to the defeat +sustained close by, by the Bourbon king. At the same time the military +authorities made the clergy give up their cathedral. + +Probably none of the ancient edifices of Lerida will interest you as +much as the market-place, surrounded by quaint old houses; entering, you +find the whole house is a great wine-press, the grapes, trodden on the +ground floor, pouring their juice into the cellars below. + + * * * * * + +Higher up the Segre is the historic town of Balaguer, the Bargusia of +Livy, and the capital of the ancient county of Urgel. The counts had +their residence in the “Beautiful Castle” (“Castillo hermoso”) which +overlooked the town and has now totally disappeared. There are a few +ruins of the once famous priory of Santo Domingo. The site of the +castle is occupied by the church of Santa Maria, built in 1351. It is a +dignified, simple edifice, of a single nave with lateral chapels. The +Trappist monastery of Bellpuig de las Avellanas a little way out of the +town is another and better preserved monument of the piety of the old +Counts of Urgel whose line expired with Jaime el Desdichado at the +beginning of the fifteenth century. + +Still going northward, and without crossing the limits of the old +country, we reach the venerable town of Agramunt, notable for its late +Romanesque church with a portal similar to the Puerta dels Fillols at +Lerida. We reach at last Seo de Urgel at the very foot of the Pyrenees. +As a see, the place is of immemorial antiquity. Its bishops (who are +co-sovereigns with France of the Republic of Andorra) attained the +zenith of their power and splendour in the eleventh century. The town +has figured in every border war and was the seat of the audacious +reactionary caucus which called itself a regency and declared Ferdinand +VII. unfit to govern while he was obedient to the constitution. + +The actual cathedral was consecrated by Bishop Eribal in 1040, but its +construction lasted well on into the next century. It resembles a church +of southern France more than one of Cataluña. The façade is divided +vertically by two buttresses, horizontally by string courses into three +stages, the lowest of which is pierced by the simple round arched west +porch, the middle by three round-headed windows, the highest forming a +sort of attic, by a round-headed window and two _rosaces_. The interior +is divided into a nave and aisles with transept and lantern. The +treasury is interesting for its collection of documents dating back to +the time of the Carlovingian kings. + +Returning from Lerida to Barcelona we pass the castle of Bellpuig, the +seat of the great family of Anglesola--a massive fortress of red stone, +restored in the sixteenth century. Its magnificent staircase still gives +one some idea of the pomp and state of its former lords. The village +extends from the castle to the church--a situation which inspired the +erudite topographer of this country (Piferrer) with reflections that +remind one of Don Quixote’s address to the goatherds. The church +contains the tomb of Don Ramon de Cordova, one of the ablest lieutenants +of Gonzalo de Cordova. His effigy, armed and holding his helmet, +reclines in a sleeping posture on an urn adorned with reliefs of marine +gods and monsters and upheld on the backs of sirens, whose hands are +webbed; the sepulchral arch is formed by six Ionic columns, against +which lean figures expressive of mourning; over the tomb is a relief of +the Entombment. In niches on each side of the arch are two life-size +figures emblematic of Victory; above them, two figures leaning forth +from medallions appear to extend laurels toward the hero. The plinth and +cornice of this superb tomb are adorned with reliefs illustrating the +victories and achievements of the deceased, who was as distinguished as +an admiral as a general. His body remains in the urn practically +incorrupt. The tomb is the work of Juan Nolano. + +This work has been brought here from the ruined Franciscan friary, +founded a few miles from Bellpuig by the knight in the year 1507. The +cloister is fairly well preserved. The two lower galleries--a third has +been added since the foundation--are in debased Gothic style. The second +gallery is formed by eleven rectangular columns, like those of the Lonja +at Valencia, with four bands of moulding wreathed round each and +gathered in at the capitals. The convent church is also of interest and +is connected with the cloister by a fine staircase. + +From Bellpuig we pass on to Cervera, to which Philip V. transferred the +university from Lerida in 1717. This is the famous body which +proclaimed, in the enlightened reign of Fernando VII., its horror of the +fatal habit of thinking (“Lejos de nosotros a mania funesta de pensar”). +Notwithstanding, it was closed in 1823, and finally suppressed or rather +transferred to Barcelona in 1842. This singular university was housed +in a building opened in 1740, which still dominates the whole town; it +is a huge tasteless structure, a rather suitable home for learned fools. +Nothing seems to have been determined with regard to its ultimate +destiny, and the whole town has a frustrate and somewhat hopeless air. +The church of Santa Maria is not devoid of beauty and interest. One of +the porches appears to be a survival of an earlier Romanesque structure, +and is surmounted by a relief of St. Martin sharing his cloak with the +beggar. The tombs are also worthy of note. + + + + +TARRAGONA + + +Tarragona stands high and nobly on the coast of Cataluña looking east +towards Rome, as her million citizens did when the Cæsars ruled, and she +gave her name to the vast province of Tarraconensis. The Phœnicians were +here, of course, before the Romans; they called the place Tarchon, and +found it already strengthened by walls which remain to this day. Publius +and Cneius Scipio wrested the town from Carthage, and afterwards the +lords of the world gratified the city with the titles of _victrix_, +_togata_, and _turrita_. “It had a mint and temples to every god, +goddess and tutelar; nay, the servile citizens erected one to the +emperor, _Divo_ Augusto, thus making him a god while yet alive.” Since +that time, Tarragona has not flourished, though it was for a brief +interval the capital of the Visigoths. Desolated by the Moors, it was +given at the reconquest to a Norman adventurer whose wife, in his +absence, proved as doughty a warrior as he. And now shrunk and +depopulated, the once imperial city stares in a sort of mellow calm for +ever seaward, as if plunged in reveries on the glorious past. + +High over the town, on the crest of the slope, towers the cathedral. +“This,” says Street (and none will disagree with him), “is one of the +most noble and interesting churches in Spain. It is one of a class of +which I have seen others upon a somewhat smaller scale (as, _e.g._, the +cathedrals at Lerida and Tudela) and which appears to me, after much +study of old buildings in most parts of Europe, to afford one of the +finest types from every point of view that it is possible to find. It +produces in very marked degree an extremely effective internal effect, +without being on an exaggerated scale, and combines in the happiest +fashion the greatest solidity of construction with a lavish display of +ornament in some parts to which it is hard to find a parallel.” Roughly +speaking, it may be described as Romanesque, with adornment of the +Gothic period. The delicacy and richness of the later style has relieved +the crudeness of the earlier, while the severity of the original plan +has kept in check the tendency to be profuse of ornament. + +Schemes were on foot to rebuild the church at the end of the eleventh +century and Street thinks the oldest part--that is, the eastern +apse--may date from 1131, though the greater portion of the fabric +(including the nave and its aisles and the cloister) seems to have been +executed at the end of the twelfth and during the first half of the +thirteenth century; and it is very possible, therefore, that the brother +Bernardus, who died in 1256, may have been the architect of the larger +part of the existing fabric, both of the church and its cloister. + +The west front is striking; it was begun in 1278, but not completed for +another hundred years. The lower half is occupied by a deep-set portal +of four orders, rising to a point. The jambs are occupied by figures of +saints under canopies, and these are continued round the two buttresses +which flank the doorway and end in pinnacles. The shaft is formed by a +statue of the Madonna upon a pedestal, the sides of which exhibit in +relief the scenes of the Creation and Fall. “These subjects are very +fitly placed here, the Fall in the centre coming just under the feet of +her who bears Our Lord in her arms, and thus restores the balance to the +world.” (Street.) The tympanum is pierced with rich geometrical tracery. +Over and behind the cross surmounting this grand doorway is an enormous +rose-window. The whole is surmounted by a gable, the central portion of +which has disappeared, giving a somewhat ruinous appearance to the +church when seen from a distance. Flanking this, the front of the nave, +are the round-arched entrances to the aisles, with round windows above, +betraying Norman influence. Ford states that the great rose-window is +Norman work. + +The interior is grand and impressive in the extreme, though a trifle +marred by the heaviness of the pillars. There is no triforium. The +pointed windows of the clerestory are filled with glass vividly +coloured, much of it modern, some of it the work of Juan Guas, specimens +of whose craftmanship are to be seen at Toledo. The aisles are half the +height of the nave, the intervening space being pierced with small +rose-windows. At festivals the arches are hung with precious tapestries, +designed after the Italian fashion with scenes from the histories of +Joshua, Samson, David, and Cyrus. They are believed to have been +presented by some potentate to the chapter about the year 1600. + +While the columns are massive and plain, the bases are finely moulded +and the capitals are carved with exuberant foliage. The choir screen is +of marble and jasper; the stalls are plainly and chastely carved. Over +the crossing rises a low, simple, but effective octagonal lantern. “The +old outside roof is destroyed; but the finish of the lanterns of Lerida +and of the old cathedral of Salamanca made it pretty certain that it was +intended to have a pyramidal or domical stone roof.” The transepts are +square, except for an apsidal recess at the east side of each. The nave +and aisles end in apses--the oldest part of the edifice. The roof of the +chancel apse is considerably lower than the choir’s, and the wall-space +is pierced with a small rose-window. This part of the church is pure +Romanesque. The high altar, however, is Gothic, and adorned with +admirable reliefs, illustrating the martyrdom and apotheosis of St. +Thecla, the patron of Tarragona. The centre is occupied by a colossal +statue of the Virgin, covered by a very high peaked canopy of wood. To +the right of the altar is the tomb of Archbishop Alfonso de Aragon, who +died in 1514, and to the left a tomb older by two hundred years, that of +Juan de Aragon, Patriarch of Alexandria. The remains of Cyprian, a +Visigothic bishop of the see, are contained in an urn behind the +reredos. The tombs are not very fine or numerous for a cathedral so +ancient and so splendid. + +At the south side of the chancel, at its junction with the apse, is a +very remarkable stone turret stair, leading up to a square tower which +rises over the end of the south aisle. There was probably at one time a +corresponding steeple on the north side. + +The chapels, though they have undergone considerable restoration, are +interesting and possess much architectural interest. In the beautiful +north transept is the fourteenth-century chapel of the Tailors (de los +Sastres). Close by is the Capilla del Sacramento, formerly a Roman work, +and incorporated with the cathedral by Archbishop Augustin (1561-1586) +whose fine tomb, by Pere Blay, it contains. The chapel was at one time +the canon’s refectory. Several ancient tombs from the other parts of the +cathedral have been placed in this transept. On the opposite side of the +church is the gorgeous eighteenth-century chapel of St. Thecla. + +The cloister adjoins the north-east angle of the cathedral--a most +unusual position. The door communicating with it is the finest in the +building. It is a round-arched doorway richly and curiously sculptured +in the Romanesque style. This cloister is considered one of the best of +the many beautiful works of the kind in Spain. “Each bay has three +round-arched openings divided by coupled shafts, and above these two +large circles pierced in the wall. The arches and circular windows are +richly moulded and adorned largely with delicate dog-tooth enrichments. +Some of the circular windows above the arcade still retain their +filling-in, which was of a very delicate interlacing work, pierced in a +thin slab of stone, and evidently Moorish in its origin, though at the +same time probably the work of Christian hands, as in some of them the +figure of Christ is very beautifully introduced.” The sculptors have +adorned the capitals with all sorts of quaint conceits, notably in one +case with a pictorial rendering of the story of the rats who went to +bury the cat without first tying her limbs. On another capital there is +shown a spirited gladiatorial combat; on another, a cock-fight. These +purely secular subjects where the sculptor seems to have indulged his +humour and fancy absolutely without restraint, remind us of the +“topical” carvings at Oviedo. Their humour has not escaped O’Shea, who, +speaking of the Adoration of the Magi, carved on one of the pillars of +the doorway from the church, says: “The three kings of the east are +economically sleeping three in the same bed, and wakened early by a +winged valet de chambre, that they may rise and proceed on their journey +to Bethlehem.” The words “6th Company,” &c., to which this writer and +others call attention, to be seen on the walls, are reminders of the +passage of British troops here. + +The chapter-house, the scene of many important councils, opens out of +the south gallery of the cloister. The door is Norman. The exterior, +like that of the cloister and cathedral generally, is most striking. The +apse and the Tailors’ chapel are particularly fine seen from the +outside. + +Contented with their magnificent cathedral the people of Tarragona have +done little to adorn their city with smaller churches. Adjacent to the +seminary there stands the graceful little chapel of San Pablo, the +origin of which is still a matter of conjecture. Its architectural +features suggest the first half of the thirteenth century, with the +exception of its west porch, which belongs to no recognised style. The +chapel is first mentioned in a document of the year 1234. + +These edifices apart, the Middle Ages have done little for _Tarraco +togata_. Its remaining monuments belong to its infancy and prime. The +Cyclopean walls, now declared a national monument, extend from near the +Puerta del Rosario to the crest of the hill on which the city stands, +and thence to the eastern angle of the ancient prætorium, now converted +into a prison. The base of this wall is formed by huge blocks of unhewn +stones, uncemented, and with their interstices filled by smaller stones. +The character of the work bespeaks the primitive nature of the builders. +On this rude foundation rests the more regular work of the Roman +conquerors. The _enceinte_ formed by these walls is of the shape of an +irregular polygon, measuring three-quarters of a mile across, and open +on one side. The angles are defended by square towers, and the curtains +are pierced by gates, to some of which the name “Puerta ciclopea” is +given. The Puerta del Rosario, called in the Middle Ages “Portal de +Predicadors,” is about eight yards thick and is roofed by an enormous +block of stone about 36,000 kilogrammes in weight. On the stones +composing the Roman part of the wall, Iberian letters are traced. These +were merely masons’ marks for the guidance of the native workmen, and +form no words. The Torre del Arzobispo was raised in Christian times on +the old Roman tower. The wall extending to the Torre del Capiscol is +attributed to the Scipios, and dates in any case from their time. The +principal Roman gate, called the Puerta del Socarro, is a noble work +formed by three concentric arches. Passing through this we obtain a fine +view of the strip of wall built by order of Hadrian, and may re-enter +the city by the eighteenth-century gate of San Antonio, which pierced a +wall built or restored by Norman adventurers in the twelfth century. + +Within the city itself not much remains from Roman times. The sites of +the forum, the prætorium, and the great temples may be traced easily +enough, and stones hewn by Roman hands and commemorating often enough +Roman dead, are embedded in the walls of houses and churches all over +the town. The local museum contains a few of the spoils of antiquity. +There is a beautiful statue of Dionysus in Parian marble, and a great +variety of votive inscriptions. For more substantial memorials of the +Roman era we must leave the city and follow the Barcelona road some four +or five miles. Here we reach the celebrated monument known as the Tomb +of the Scipios, consisting of a rectangular base and an upper body, on +one face of which are sculptured in high relief the figures of two +warriors. The cornice is engraved with a legend in which the words +“perpetuo remane” are alone decipherable. There is no ground whatever +for supposing that the figures represent the brothers Scipio or that +this monument marks their resting-place. It is more probably the +sepulchre of some wealthy Roman settler. + +The Arco de Bara is one of the best preserved monuments in Spain. The +arch itself is flanked on each side by two fluted columns of the +Corinthian order, supporting an entablature. It is simple and majestic, +like all the Roman works of the kind. An inscription records its +restoration in commemoration of the pacification of Spain during the +regency of Maria Christina and by order of Don Juan van Halen, the +Spanish general who in 1830 assisted at the defence of Brussels against +the Dutch. + +The noblest handiwork bequeathed to Cataluña by the conquerors of the +world is, however, the Aqueduct, which may be compared favourably as +regards preservation and solidity with the more famous work of the same +kind at Segovia. Where it spans a valley it is composed of two series of +arches, eleven below and twenty-five above, and rising to a height of +217 metres. The stone of which it is built was Obtained from the caves +of Monte Loreto, where the quarries may still be seen. + +Then there is Centcellas, on the banks of the little river Francoli, +supposed to be on the site of the villa where Hadrian lodged. Part of +the old _Thermæ_ remains--a stone chamber square without and circular +within; while another building seems to incorporate the ruins of an +early Christian structure, including a mosaic of the Ravenna type. + + + + +POBLET + + +About thirty-four miles from Tarragona, near the station of La Espluga, +stands the ancient fane of Poblet, the Escorial of Aragon. It bears +(according to tradition) the name of a hermit who in the first part of +the twelfth century was three times captured by the Saracens and as +often was miraculously released, whereupon the paynim king, recognising +that he had to do with a man protected by heaven, endowed him with all +the lands hereabouts, to be enjoyed by him and his brother hermits. In +proof of this story, the religious triumphantly pointed to a +venerable-looking parchment inscribed with Arabic characters, which they +said and believed was the original deed of gift, and as no one could +read it no one was able to throw doubt on the story. In 1496 a Moorish +prince examined the document and contented himself with observing that +it was not dated in the twelfth century but in the year 1217. However, +no one paid any attention to this assertion, and the legend was repeated +till on the dismantling of the monastery in the last century the +document at last came under the critical eye of Don Pascual de +Gayangos, who confirmed the Moor’s correction and pronounced the +so-called deed simply a general permit to the monks to pass through and +travel freely in the Moorish dominions south of the Ebro. + +The foundation of the abbey may now be ascribed with safety to Count +Ramon Berenguer IV., who, having conquered the territory of Lerida, +bestowed the lands of Poblet on the Cistercians of Fontfroide near +Narbonne, who, to the number of twelve, took possession of the site in +the year 1150, Don Esteban being abbot. The monastery soon rose fair and +strong, and prospered exceedingly under the favour of the Kings of +Aragon, who made of it their official place of sepulture. The wealth of +the community was enormous, the power of the abbot extended over +fifty-six villages, but from all this prosperity resulted a falling away +from monastic simplicity, till the holy men would not sit down to table +unless two partridges were placed on their dishes. In the seventeenth +and eighteenth centuries, they could find no better employment for their +wealth than in loading their beautiful abbey with the atrocious +sculpture and ornament of the period; and then in 1835 came the +anti-clericals and swept out the monks and their _baroque_ rubbish with +them. What the mob spared, the collectors and villagers +annexed--precious manuscripts, vestments, statuary, all were carted +away; and ruinous and forlorn, as it now stands, Poblet would have +rejoiced the heart of the author of the stern Cistercian rule. + +It is a vast and embattled pile that greets the eyes of the traveller, +encircled by a crenellated wall which is pierced by a richly sculptured +gate built in 1460 and so richly gilded a hundred years later as to +merit the name of the Puerta Dorada. Enclosed by these outer +fortifications is another line of wall twice as high as the first, +which, together with its twelve towers, was built in the fourteenth +century. To the right of the entrance and still in the outer ward we +have the little church of San Jorge, built by Alfonso V. in honour of +the patron saint of Aragon in 1541, and the chapel of Santa Catalina, +believed to have formed part of the primitive building. In the outer +ward may also be distinguished the remains of numerous other buildings, +such as the Abbot’s house, the Hospice, and the Bridewell, reserved for +female offenders against the Abbot’s jurisdiction. + +The inner ward is reached through a gatehouse of the Edwardine type, +flanked by heavily machicolated drum-towers, and decorated with the +escutcheons of Aragon and Castile. We approach the church, founded by +Ramon Berenguer, but substantially the work of his son and successor. +The ugly Græco-Roman façade marks the ancient west front, which is +approached across an atrium called the Galilee. The church is in the +form of an elongated Latin cross. The simplicity of the +architecture--its absolute freedom from ornament--illustrated the early +Cistercian ideals. The aisles are of seven bays, and the chapels are +confined to the south aisle and apse. There were once seventeen altars +in the church, of which only four were kept up by the monastery, the +rest being at the charge of individuals and corporations. All these, +including the high altar, have been stripped of their ornamentations and +accessories, and of the once magnificent choir only a fragment of the +screen remains. Piferrer, who saw the monastery in its prime, gives a +detailed account of it, and enumerated the tombs it contained. He speaks +of the imposing entrance to the royal mausoleum, between the chancel and +the choir. On the Epistle side lay Don Alfonso of Barcelona (II. of +Aragon), opposite him was the sarcophagus of James the Conqueror, near +him lay Pedro the Ceremonious. In addition to these monarchs Juan I., +Martin, Fernando I., Alfonso V. and Juan II. of Aragon were buried here, +with eight queens, thirty-six infantes and nine infantas. Here lies +Carlos Prince of Viana, the illustrious scion of the house of Navarre; +here were the last resting-places of Aurembiax, Countess of Urgel and +the last princess of her house; here lay the proud Cardonas and the +noble knights and ladies of the Moncada and Anglesola lines. Nearly all +the tombs that had not already been despoiled of their carving and +marbles have been removed to Tarragona. Of those remaining, the best +preserved is that of the Infanta Juana, with its figures relieved +against thick blue glass. + +The north side of the church abuts on the great cloister, dating in its +greater part from the thirteenth century. The windows on the south side +are round-headed, those on the other three sides pointed, with good +traceries. Through a round-headed arch we enter the chapter-house, +divided into three aisles by four pillars, so slender as in no way to +interrupt the view of the whole. The groining springs so gracefully from +the capitals that the pillars themselves have the appearance of shooting +up and bending like the branches of a tree. Then there is the library +which once contained 10,145 volumes, including 385 valuable codices, and +250 MSS. in various styles of handwriting--forming a complete museum of +calligraphy. This library is a noble chamber divided by four columns. +Its walls were once hung with the portraits of the Kings of Aragon and +their great nobles. Reminiscent of the brave days of old is the charming +façade of the palace built by good King Martin and intended by him to +be a retreat in his old age. He died before its completion and the work +was abandoned. + +You may still traverse miles of cloister and hall at Poblet strewn with +broken tablets, overgrown with shrubs and climbing plants. One of the +most beautiful of the galleries is the Novices’ Dormitory, roofed in +with timber; then there are the locutorium, the only spot where +conversation was permitted between the recluses; the infirmary and the +beautiful cloister of San Fernando, built in 1415 by order of the first +king of that name, the little chapel of the saint, founded by the Count +of Barcelona, and the royal apartments, built in 1375. + + + + +SANTA CREUS + + +Santa Creus is the sister foundation of Poblet from which it is distant +about five leagues. It was also founded by Ramon Berenguer IV. and +belonged to the Cistercian Order. Not so large as Poblet, this abbey of +the Holy Crosses is equally severe and chaste, and of the two, is +distinguished more by its artistic harmony. The church is one of the +most finished works of the age and style. Its front is discovered +immediately on entering the monastery, raised on a terrace above the +long and spacious court round which are grouped the conventual +buildings. The battlements above the façade are a recent and incongruous +addition. The west porch is finely moulded and chiselled, and with the +rich foliage of the capitals creates a good impression. Another door, +symmetrical and elegant, leads into a cloister on the south side of the +church and was at one time flanked by the statues of Don Jaime II. and +his wife Blanca. The wall on this side bears an inscription to Bernard +Ranc, which is assumed to be the name of the architect. The church was +begun in the year 1174, and opened to public worship in 1211. It +preserves its altar, on which the light falls through a rose-window in +the apse. The principal objects of interest in the interior are the +noble tomb of Don Pedro the Great (who defeated the French and bound +Sicily to the throne of Aragon) and of Jaime II., who conquered Sardinia +and harried the Moors of Granada. King Pedro’s tomb consists of a great +porphyry urn supported by lions, which is believed to have been taken +from the infidels; and on this rests the stone coffin carved with +figures in high relief under pinnacled canopies. The tomb is covered by +a beautiful stone baldachin, with three traceried circles on each side +upheld by slender columns with elaborately carved capitals. The tomb of +Don Jaime is on the same plan, but is further adorned by the effigies of +the king and queen in the Cistercian habit, placed here, it seems +likely, long after the completion of the rest of the work. The tomb was +designed by Bertran Riquer, the architect of the royal palace of +Barcelona. + +The church communicates with a spacious cloister with four sides of +seven bays, built at the beginning of the fourteenth century by order of +Queen Blanca. The traceries of the windows remaining here and there are +late Gothic, and contrast oddly with the severe lines and rude capitals +of the shafts. As at Poblet, in a corner of the cloister is a hexagonal +chamber said to have been a lavatory. A great number of persons of +distinction seem to have been buried in this cloister, in attendance, +one might say, upon their lords within the church. Among these was the +knight Queralt, who may been seen in effigy in a suit of fine mail, with +surcoat and greaves and girt with two-handed sword. Some of the figures +of divine persons to be seen over the tombs were evidently carved by +late fourteenth-century sculptors. + +Here, as at Poblet, the Kings of Aragon had their habitations in life as +in death, and the courts of the ruined palaces of Don Pedro and Don +Jaime still bear some traces of the glory and culture of the greatest +maritime power of the Mediterranean of a bygone age. + + + + +VALLBONA + + +Vallbona, the third great royal abbey of Cataluña, is situated in the +province of Lerida, but on the borders of Tarragona, in a singularly +wild and remote district. Like Poblet, it is named after a hermit who in +the year 1157 founded here and at Colobres, monasteries for both sexes. +Twenty years later, both houses were formed into a single community of +Cistercian nuns, under the headship of Doña Oria de Ramiro. The pious +Anglesola of Vallbona is buried before the high altar in the company of +James the Conqueror. The church is gloomy, silent and severe. It is +entered through a Romanesque porch in the north transept, the west front +presenting an unbroken wall. Vallbona has also a noble cloister, with a +fine gallery in the Pointed style; on the north and the remaining +galleries in the Romanesque. In Piferrer’s time, pictures and monuments +relieved the excessive severity of the royal nunnery of Aragon, but now +there reigns a desolation and poverty which might have affrighted even +the hermit founder. + + + + +MONTSERRAT + + +Montserrat, easily accessible from Barcelona, is one of the four or five +renowned shrines of Christendom. The legend of its institution is one of +the quaintest and at the same time silliest in the annals of hagiology. +In the time, it seems, of Count Wilfred, the Henry of Barcelona, there +dwelt on the mountain a hermit named Guarin whose sanctity was famed +even to the ends of the earth. Church bells rang of their own accord +when he passed, and the forces of nature were at his beck and call. This +being so, when Richildis, the Count’s daughter (she was beautiful, of +course), became possessed of a devil, Guarin was at once called in to +turn him out. Such a task was a mere matter of an Ave and an invocation +on the part of the holy man; but the devil thus incontinently expelled +from the person of Richildis appears to have passed into the body of the +hermit. He conceived an unlawful passion for the maiden, who remained +with him after her cure, to learn the arts of sanctity. He succumbed to +temptation and consummated his crime by murdering the girl, cutting off +her head and burying her in his cave. + +Stricken with remorse immediately after, the erstwhile holy man hurried +to Rome and confessed his crime. The Pope ordered him to return to +Montserrat on his hands and knees and never to resume an erect posture +till his pardon should be miraculously announced. + +So faithfully did Guarin carry out the penance imposed that he crawled +for seven years about the mountain that he had once illumined with his +sanctity, living on grubs and roots and becoming to all intents and +purposes a wild animal. One day Count Wilfred, while out hunting, +noticed this strange beast and had him taken to his stables at +Barcelona. There Guarin abode some months, saying never a word but +pleasing his captors by his docility. One day he was led into the castle +to amuse the Count and his Court. But before he could perform any +tricks, the infant son of the Count, a baby but three months old, cried +out, “Arise Guarin, for God has pardoned you.” Whereupon the strange +beast rose up on his hind legs, praising God, and confessing his +enormous crimes. + +In these days men were very much alive, and thrilled to the passions of +love and hate. But, touched by the miracle, the Count forgave the +murderer of his daughter, and set out with him for Montserrat to +disinter the body buried seven years before. But lo, when the fair form +was revealed, it throbbed with life, and a red line only showed where +her head had been severed from her neck. + +Richildis was so grateful for her restoration to life that she +determined to devote the rest of it to the service of God. The Count +founded a monastery for both sexes, of which his daughter was abbess and +Guarin became a humble lay-brother. + +A mere fairy tale, yet it is full of what was best in the mediæval +spirit--the conviction that no misfortune was irreparable, no crime +unredeemable, no sinner unreclaimable, that for all men and all things +there was indeed mercy and plentiful redemption. + +Upon the invasion of the Arabs in 976 the nuns abandoned their convent, +but the monastery remained and was recognised as a regular community +about the time of Fernando and Isabel. + +It is not, of course, to pray before the shrine of Guarin that pilgrims +climb the ragged sides of the saw-edged mountain. Long before the hermit +immortalised his name by his crime and his repentance, a miraculous +image of the Virgin, said to have been carved by St. Luke, and brought +to Spain by St. Peter, had been hidden, to save it from the infidels, in +one of the caverns. Nearly two hundred years after, its whereabouts was +revealed to some shepherds by lights and mysterious melodies. These +manifestations were repeated every Saturday--that being the day of the +week specially consecrated to the Virgin by the Church. The Bishop came +over to investigate the phenomenon, and on entering the cave whence the +sounds proceeded, they found the heavy image carved by St. Luke. So +heavy was it that it resisted all efforts to remove it; so there it +remained till the end of the sixteenth century, when it was found +possible to enshrine it in the present church. + +Most of those who have seen the image are not favourably impressed, so +it is worth while to quote another opinion than the present writer’s. “I +cannot conceive [writes Mr. Herbert Vivian] that any one who has been +privileged to behold it can deny the imposing majesty of its expression. +It inspires awe rather than the sympathy and compassion which we are +accustomed to associate with Our Blessed Lady. Indeed, those who change +its vestments on holy days, say that it fills them with fear, that they +do not dare to look it in the face. In the Virgin’s right hand is a +globe, from which springs a fleur-de-lis. The crowns worn by her and the +infant Christ are of prodigious valve, being of pure gold and containing +no fewer than 3500 precious stones, many of them of exceeding size and +purity. Like everything else at Montserrat, they are of modern origin, +all the old valuables having been carried off by French troopers in +1811. In front of the image are two little staircases of walnut-wood by +which those who wish to kiss its hand may ascend and descend.” + +As buildings, the church and monastery of Montserrat are wholly +destitute of interest. But they have their memories. Ignatius Loyola, +during the process of conversion, passed long hours at the feet of the +Virgin of Montserrat; Don John of Austria, before the altar of the +Immaculate Conception, swore to maintain the doctrine of the Virgin’s +freedom from original sin, against all and sundry, at the sword’s point, +and the victory of Lepanto was gained perhaps in fulfilment of that vow. + +There is a monastic seminary on the mountain, also an extremely ancient +and aristocratic foundation. The boys have some curious customs. On the +feast of St. Nicholas, the patron of youth, they elect one of their +number Bishop, who entertains them all to dinner and heads the visits +which they pay to all the monks in turn. + +But if as a shrine Montserrat has little to attract the curious, as a +mountain it is without rival for picturesque and strange grandeur. So +fantastic is the conformation that in all ages it has been regarded with +a certain superstitious awe. The caves with which it is honeycombed are +full of mystery and fascination. They extend and ramify in all +directions, constituting a veritable subterranean city. At all times +they have served as asylums to the natives of the surrounding country +when threatened by invaders. On one occasion the French discovered a +party of peasants in such a retreat and would have attacked them had not +one of the Catalans told them that a single explosion would bring all +the surrounding rocks upon their heads. Whether this was true or false +the soldiers did not care to prove, and they hastily withdrew. + +There are plenty of people in Cataluña still who believe in the +wonder-working properties of the Virgin of Montserrat, and newly married +couples come up by the funicular railway to spend a night on the +mountain, in the hope of thereby assuring themselves of a numerous +family. + +We may trace the footprints of St. Ignatius to Manresa, a name dear to +the Jesuit in all lands, and borne by the Manchester of Cataluña. It is +a lively, picturesque town, built on an amphitheatre of hills on the +left bank of the Cardoner. High over the factories towers the Collegiate +Church begun in 1328 and finished, probably, a hundred years later. It +is one of those wide-naved churches characteristic of the principality, +its span of nave is, in fact, greater than that of any cathedral with +aisles, except Palma. An interesting peculiarity is the flying +buttresses built partly in and partly outside the church. Over the first +roof rises an impressive bell tower. The interior is disappointing. The +side chapels are Gothic. There is some good glass in the clerestory +windows, and the organ displays one of those Saracens’ heads we so often +find in Catalan churches. In the archives are some interesting pictures +by local artists, reminding one of Byzantine work, and there also is +preserved that altar frontal which excited the fervent admiration of +Street. In a vault beneath the presbytery are treasured the relics of +St. Agnes and St. Maurice, translated here from Vienne on the Rhône in +the time of Berenguer III. + +The fine old church of the Carmen commemorated a miracle reputed to have +occurred in the year 1345. The town having been laid under an interdict +by the Bishop of Vich, the innocence of the townsfolk was demonstrated +by a light which penetrated through the windows of the church, filling +it with radiance. But these mediæval traditions are obscured by the +glory of St. Ignatius, whose name the citizens delight to honour. In the +church of Santo Domingo was formerly shown a black cross which the saint +used to bear on his shoulder while he prostrated himself before the +altars in turn. The church of the Cueva--an odius _baroque_ work--is +raised over the cave wherein during ten months he underwent the dolorous +process of his spiritual regeneration. In the Jesuit College you may see +one of his fingers, his books, and the bricks that served him as a +pillow. There is not a spot nor a house in Manresa that the citizens +will not fail to point out as in some way, however slight, associated +with the immortal founder of the Society of Jesus. + +Not far from Manresa is the flourishing town of Tarrassa, which occupies +the site of the old episcopal city of Egara. The primitive _arx_ or +citadel gave place in Christian times to a cathedral which was destroyed +by Al Mansûr, and the site is now occupied by the three interesting +Romanesque churches of San Miguel, Santa Maria, and San Pedro. + +The oldest of these is undoubtedly San Miguel, which is distinguished +from other Catalan churches by many peculiarities. The plan is +rectangular, over the centre of the roof rises a lantern, resting on a +quadrangle of columns. The capitals of these columns are evidently part +of an older and different structure. Beneath the church is a crypt which +is believed to have been the baptistery of the old Roman cathedral. + +Santa Maria was consecrated in 1112 by Raimundo Guillen, Bishop of +Barcelona, and was served by Augustine canons down to 1592. It is +contemporary with the church of San Pedro and both present an aspect of +extreme antiquity accentuated by the Roman tablets and fragments +incorporated with the structure. Close by are the ruins of a fortress +and a chapel attributed by tradition to the Templars. On the other side +of the prettily named Rio Vallparadis are to be seen the fragments of a +tower and castle. + +About six miles from Manresa, on the banks of the Llobregat, is a little +monastery of San Benito de Bages, now a private residence. “All here,” +says Piferrer, “invites man to lift his eyes to God, and to banish the +frivolous recollections of this world. The building’s antiquity, the +modesty and simplicity of its plan alike contribute to still the voice +of passions and to excite more tranquil thoughts.” + +The thoughts of the former occupants, however, were evidently not always +tranquil, for the little apses opening into the transepts have been +squared off, apparently for defensive reasons, and the tower looks as if +it had been constructed for the same object. The church is dark and +sombre, like a vault, and the cloister has the same funereal aspect, +only slightly relieved by the interesting carvings of courtiers and +warriors on the rude capitals. + +Piferrer states that the chapel was built in the middle of the tenth +century and that it was consecrated in 972 in presence of Count Borrell +and his Court by the Bishop of Vich. In the year 1067 it was +incorporated with the Abbey of San Ponce de Tomeras near Narbonne; the +foundation received women, who were subject, like the monks, to the rule +of St. Benedict. At the end of the sixteenth century the community was +united to that of Montserrat. + + + + +CARDONA + + +Cardona is a picturesque walled town on the road from Manresa to +Solsona. It is crowned by a strong castle built by the Cordona family, +which traces its descent from Foulques, the ancestor of the +Plantagenets. Within the castle is the collegiate church of San Vicente, +dedicated in the eleventh century. It is a fine example of the +Romanesque. Its aisles are marked off from the nave by square pillars; +the nave is broad, the aisles narrow, without chapels. A very low +lantern rises above the crossing and the presbytery is raised by a few +steps above the level of the nave. There is not a single moulding in the +whole church, or any curve other than a semicircle. Of the sepulchres of +the mighty lords of the castle only two remain. Within this fortress +died St. Ramon Nonnat in the year 1240. The chapel dedicated to his +memory dates from 1682. + + + + +TORTOSA + + +Tortosa, on the banks of the Ebro, close to its mouth, is the +southernmost of the cities of Cataluña. It is an ancient place where +Roman and Visigothic coins were struck. It fell into the hands of the +Saracens in 716 and was reconquered in 1147 and consecrated in 1441. +Among the architects were the two Xulbes, whose opinion was taken on the +question of the nave at Gerona. Though disfigured by a classical façade +the church produces a good effect. Its aisles are separated from the +nave by twenty columns, which sweep round the east end in a graceful +semicircle so as to form a double apse. To the nine Gothic arches of the +chancel correspond as many apsidal chapels, whose windows overlook the +high altar. The reredos dates from 1351. There are five chapels in each +of the aisles. The windows are filled with transparent marble instead of +glass. + +The Collegio Real of Tortosa is in the best Plateresque style. The +cloister is formed by three tiers of galleries, the columns and +balconies being adorned with medallions and escutcheons. The original +building belonged till the year 1528 to the Dominicans and was then +reconstructed by order of Carlos I. with a view to serving as a seminary +for Moorish converts. The College is now a barracks. + +The Convent of Santa Clara, dating from the thirteenth century and +restored by order of Jaime II. of Aragon, is another precious memorial +of Tortosa’s more prosperous days. + + + + +THE BALEARIC ISLANDS + + +The Balearic archipelago no longer deserves the name of the Forgotten +Isles bestowed upon it a dozen years ago by a French traveller. Much has +since been written about the islands in our own and other languages, and +yachtsmen often put in at what the Genoese Admiral classed with June, +July and August, as one of the four best harbours in the Mediterranean. +But the influx of tourists has not been large, and the isles run no +immediate risk of losing their marked local characteristics. The remote +past keeps a firm grip on Mallorca and Menorca; as in Egypt, you never +cease to feel dead stony eyes are staring at you across +thousand-year-long vistas. In the aisles the monuments of antiquity +belong to the very dawn of human history, appearing almost the works of +nature, even as those who reared them seem hardly to have emerged into +full manhood. At every turn, as in Sardinia, you are met by the rude +handiwork of that primitive Mediterranean race, which passed away in the +struggle between Latins, Greeks and Semites. Every one knows now that +the word Balearic is derived from a Greek word meaning _to throw_, and +that it refers to the extraordinary dexterity of the natives in the use +of the sling. This was their national weapon, their sole means of attack +and defence. In summer, as their only clothing, each man wore three +slings--one round his head, one round his loins, and one at his wrist. +To train their children in its use, the mothers, we are told, would not +let them have their bread or meat till they had brought it down from a +bough or ledge by means of the sling. + +Of all their dexterity they had need when strange men with black curling +beards and dark stern faces--men that they had never seen--came sailing +into their harbours and tempted them down from their perches with a +display of bright rare stuffs and gewgaws. Poor simple white savages, it +is likely enough that they had thought themselves till then the only men +in the world. Then came the attempts of the Phœnicians to enslave and to +subdue them, and wildly the islanders fought for their freedom, knowing +as little as the creatures of the jungle do of the forces arrayed +against them. The wild birds were netted at last. In the sixth century +before Christ, the Carthaginians were masters of the archipelago, and +dragged the slingers off to serve in their armies. Mago, a Punic leader, +gave his name to Puerto Mahon. Then came a time when the natives felt +the grasp of the Semites relax. Their power had been crushed by the +Romans and the islands enjoyed a brief interval of liberty. But in the +year 123 _B.C._, the conquerors of Carthage remembered their neglected +heritage, and sent Cecilius Metellas to take possession. He founded the +cities of Palma and Pollensa, which still retain their Latin names, and +brought with him some thousands of Italian and Spanish colonists, who +soon tamed the wildness of the aborigines. Thence onward for centuries +the archipelago prospered quietly, safe beneath the outspread wings of +the Roman eagle. Upon the break-up of the empire it passed through +various hands to the Visigoths, to be wrested from them in the eighth +century by the Arabs. Under this new dominion the islands became a nest +of pirates, who ultimately founded a kingdom embracing parts of the +Spanish mainland and of Sardinia. The depredations of the Balearic Moors +excited the anger of Christendom, and Pope Pascual II. preached a +crusade against them. Constituting themselves the ministers of Europe’s +vengeance, the Pisans and Catalans inflicted a severe punishment on the +Pirates and sacked the rich city of Palma. Over a hundred years later, +in 1227, Don Jaime I. of Aragon reduced the whole group of islands in a +memorable campaign, and annexed them finally to Christendom. The +conqueror constituted his new possessions into a kingdom for his second +son and namesake, from whose grandson, Jaime II., they were taken by +Pedro IV. in the year 1347 and incorporated with the kingdom of Aragon. + +But history had not yet done with the islands. The old rancour between +the peasantry and the nobles came to a head at the beginning of the +sixteenth century, in the war of the Germania or brotherhood. The +viceroy took refuge in the Citadel of Ibiza, while the nobles defended +themselves in the castle of Alcadia against the desperate attacks of the +peasantry led by Juan Colom. The arrival of a royal squadron commanded +by Don Juan de Valesco led to the extinction of the revolt. Ruled by +Carthaginians, Romans, and Moors, the islands excited the cupidity of +another race of conquerors. Seized by the English in 1708, Menorca +remained in their possession till 1781, when it was retaken by the +French and Spaniards. The failure to relieve the garrison cost Admiral +Byng his life. We again took possession of the island in 1793 to +surrender it finally to Spain at the peace of Amiens nine years later. + +Mallorca (it is as easy to call it by its proper name as by its variant +Majorca) is the largest and most beautiful of the islands. Towards the +north and south-west it presents an iron-bound wall of rock to the +turbulent waters of the Catalan seas; on the south the plain stretches +to the shore, and here we find the little harbour of Santa Ponza, at +which the conqueror Jaime I. disembarked his army on September 10, 1229. + +Hard by is the estate of Ben Dinat, so named, it is averred, because the +conqueror expressed in those two words his satisfaction with a meal of +bread and garlic served him at this spot. It is more probable that the +name is that of some long-forgotten Moor. Then comes the little harbour +and tower of Portopi and round the next promontory the lovely bay of +Palma, with the capital of the Balearics smiling a welcome to the +stranger. The walls that once surrounded the city have been demolished: +the turrets that rise above the house-tops are those of the Cathedral +and the Exchange (Lonja). We enter the town through the Water Gate, a +building not without majesty, and crowned by a statue of the Blessed +Virgin. The streets, as in most Spanish towns, are narrow and shady, +often rewarding the curiosity of the passer-by with glimpses of +Renaissance patios, graceful balconies, and turret windows. Among the +most interesting houses of the Butifarras (big sausages), as the +nobility of the island used to be called, are the Casa de Vivot and the +palace of the Counts of Montenegro. But Palma is a living city, and side +by side with these dignified memories of the past we find handsome +modern buildings such as the Bank of Spain and the Hall of Provincial +Deputation. Nor does Palma want for wide breathing-spaces and +promenades. It has the fine Paseo del Borne and the Boulevards +constructed round the bay and on the site of the old fortifications. +Close to the landing-stage the new-comer’s attention is first attracted +by the Exchange or Lonja. Charles V. on visiting the island for the +first time hastened at once to see it, eagerly demanding if it belonged +to the Church or to the State, and was visibly relieved on hearing that +it was a civil edifice. The Lonja is a quadrangular building, surmounted +by a crenellated balustrade and flanked at each angle with an octagonal +tower of six stages, one of these rising above the balustrade. The walls +are strengthened with graceful pilasters, and pierced in their lower +story by ogival windows with good traceries. The door is square and +enclosed within an ogival arch. The interior forms a single great hall, +the roof of which is supported by only four slender fluted columns, from +which the arches spring like palm branches. This interesting building +was designed and begun by Antonio Sagrera in the year 1426. Like the +numerous other Spanish Lonjas, it has long been deserted by the +mercantile community. + +The cathedral towers above the whole city and is one of the most +important churches in the kingdom. The name of the architect is unknown, +but the foundations were laid by order of Jaime the Conqueror soon after +he had annexed the island. The plan is rectangular, the walls supported +by massive flying buttresses, surmounted with pinnacles and turrets. The +south front is the finest and is pierced by the beautiful Puerta del +Mirador, in florid Gothic style, the work of Pedro Morey, who died in +1394. The west porch is an elaborate work, finished in 1601. On the +north side is the noble square bell-tower. + +The interior is remarkable for the enormous span of the nave, the widest +in Spain. It rises to a height of 147 feet and is sustained by +relatively slender columns. The nave terminates in the beautiful Capilla +Real, founded in 1282, wherein is the modest tomb of the last King of +Mallorca. The wooden gallery running round the wall is strongly +suggestive of Saracenic influence. Opening into this chapel are the +Capillas de Santa Eulalia, containing a Gothic altar and the tomb of a +Bishop of Palma, and San Mateo, in which ends one of the aisles. In the +chapel of St. Jerome is the fine tomb of the Marques de la Romana, who +did such good service to Spain by bringing from Denmark the Spanish +troops in Napoleon’s service. Another notable sepulchre is that of +Bishop Gil Sancho Munoz, successor elect to Pope Benedict XIII. (1447). +The choir is in decadent Gothic style, but the carving is very good and +reveals imagination and fertility of resource on the part of the artist. +The statues of St. Bruno and St. John were brought here from the +chapter-house of Valledemosa. The old Moorish palace of Almudaina, +adjacent to the cathedral, is the residence of the Captain-General and +seat of the High Court. It is provided with a chapel built by Jaime II. + +The only other church worthy of mention at Palma is that of San +Francisco de Asis, remarkably like the cathedral for the span of its +nave and for the tomb of the famous Raymond Lull, Mallorca’s most +illustrious son. This famous philosopher was born in 1235 and is said to +have been converted from evil courses in his youth by finding that his +mistress was devoured by cancer--such reasons for a change of life being +frequent in the Middle Ages. He imagined himself called upon to +overthrow the religion of Mohammed not by the old methods, but by a +“great art” of logic which he devised. Like some liberal Catholics of +later days, he held that the dogmas of his Church could and should be +demonstrated by reason, and not by mere exhortations to believe. To +combat Islam he rightly considered necessary that missionaries should +understand the language of their adversaries. His exertions induced the +Pope to found one or two chairs of Arabic and Syriac, and his +philosophy, strange to say, met with no censure from ecclesiastical +authorities. Lull was credited with immense and preternatural wisdom by +his generation, and was popularly believed to have discovered the +Philosopher’s Stone. He undertook several journeys to Northern Africa in +his zeal for souls, and on the last of these visits received such severe +injuries from a Moslem mob that he succumbed on board ship within sight +of his native isle (1315). + +A picture of his funeral may be seen at the Town Hall, which is a rather +imposing Renaissance building adorned by one of those heavy projecting +eaves, carved and once painted, that one sees at Granada. Another house +that should be noticed is the Casa Bonapart, said to have been founded +by an ancestor of the Imperial family in 1411. + +In the suburbs of Palma is the fine old castle of Bellver, founded by +the last King of Mallorca. It is composed of a vast keep, strengthened +by bastions and surrounded by a moat. Connected with this stronghold by +a bridge of two tiers is the massive Torre del Homenage. The castle has +received many distinguished and involuntary guests. Here was confined +Jovellanas, the able Minister of Carlos IV., and here was shot General +Lacy for conspiring against the tyrant Fernando VII. Arago the +Astronomer took refuge here, when the mob, suspecting that he was +signalling to the French when he was simply making observations, sought +his life. + +Seven miles from Palma is Raxa, the seat of the Conde de Montenegro, who +has an exceedingly valuable collection of antiquities. Here may be seen +a curious chart of the world, drawn in 1439, according to the +instructions of Amerigo Vespucci. It is partly obliterated by the ink +spilt over it when it was being spread out for examination by George +Sand. + +That gifted Frenchwoman slayed at the suppressed Carthusian monastery of +Valldemosa, and there she wrote the romance “Spiridion,” at which Mr. +Titmarsh poked his fun. It is a beautiful, decayed old place, once a +royal palace, and decorated with frescoes illustrating its history. + +We again come to the traces of Raymond Lull at Miramar, the beautiful +seat of the Archduke Ludwig Salvator, who kindly placed a hospice at the +disposal of travellers. This was originally the college established by +the philosopher for the study of Oriental tongues. The ill-fated +Maximilian of Mexico borrowed the name of his palace near Triente from +this enchanting spot. + +In addition to the capital, Mallorca contains three or four towns of +importance, such as Manacor, Alcudia, and Pollensa, but these present +few features of interest. The scenery in the vale of Soller is radiant +and smiling, the soil being of amazing fertility, such as the Barranco +and Gorch Blau, or Blue Gorge. Between Pollensa and Soller in the heart +of the hills is the sanctuary of Our Lady of Lluch, the origin of which +is accounted for by a legend similar to that of Lourdes. To accommodate +the pilgrims who flocked to the spot, a hospice was built, which in +course of time was converted into a school of religious music. Here as +at Miramar every stranger can have three days’ free lodging, including +fire, light, and the indispensable oil and olives. + +On the other side of the island are the caves of Anta, rivalling those +of Han and Adelsberg. “The most fantastic part of this subterranean +region,” says Mr. Vuillier, “goes by the significant name of L’Infierno. +It is a nightmare in stone. Tongues of petrified flame seem to lick the +walls. An enormous lion squats in one corner, staring at unhewn tombs +overhung by rigid cypresses. Strange forms of antediluvian monsters lurk +half-seen in the obscurity. Many of the stalactites when rapped sharply +with a stick emit musical notes, some like the vibration of a +harp-string, others like the deep resonance of a church bell. These are +in an immense hall as vast as a cathedral nave.... In silence and +darkness, the forces of nature have for centuries been hewing and +shaping an architecture more sublime than ever was conceived in the +wildest dream of the Gothic craftsman.” + +Menorca, the second largest of the islands, is bare and bleak and flat +round the coast, though at one point in the interior it rises to a +height of nearly 6000 feet. Here and there are picturesque spots, +notably the Barranco of Algendar; but speaking generally the island is +the Holland of the Mediterranean. Cleanliness, well-being, industry and +good conduct are the characteristics of the inhabitants, who live +farther outside the world of romance even than most Latin people. We +flatter ourselves of course that they learned their good qualities from +our ancestors, when they ruled the island, and certainly there are +frequent reminders of our influence to be traced in the daily life of +Menorca. “Ashes to Ashes,” though seldom heard now, was in Ford’s time +an oath or exclamation often on the lips of the natives, and children +use English words when playing marbles, a game that we taught them among +other perhaps less useful arts. We sent to the island a Governor Kasie, +who made roads and built market-halls, and did all that a worthy and +unimaginative English gentleman might feel it is his duty to do in such +a position; but the natives do not sigh once more to be under our +dominion, as they are sometimes polite enough to tell English folk they +do, and a Spanish writer actually refers to our paternal government as +the Babylonish captivity. + +Puerto Mahon was founded, as we have said, by the Carthaginians, and was +appropriately enough occupied by us, the Carthaginians of later days. +Its harbour is one of the best in the Mediterranean, and is very +strongly fortified. Except for the forts, the town contains no public +monuments of interest. The streets are very clean and rather quiet, and +you remark the absence of the running water in the gutters +characteristic of so many European towns. The streets are well paved, +often with tombstones from the English cemetery; the dustman goes his +rounds as he does in London, and many of the houses have English +windows. The domestic life is held in high honour at Mahon, and the +chief occupation and delight of the women is cleaning their houses. “It +is an amusing spectacle” says M. Vuillier, “to see them armed with +brooms of dwarf palm and immense pails of lime-water, gossiping along +the walls from early morning, while they scrub and wash as if their +lives depended upon it, fastening their brooms to long poles the better +to reach the higher parts of the wall. Should a death occur in a house +the walls are not whitened for a week, a fortnight or even a month, +according to the closeness of the relationship or the degree of grief +felt for the deceased. In rare cases the walls are not touched for six +months.” The traveller comments on the absence of the tribe of unwelcome +bedfellows, so persistent in their attentions in other parts of Spain. + +This does not sound very interesting. Mahon is not, however, wholly +devoid of the picturesque element. The old gate of Barbarossa is named +after that famous pirate, by whom the city was surprised and sacked in +1536, and the fortifications still bear traces of the siege of 1781. +Ciudadela, the old capital, at the opposite end of the island, is more +suggestive of old times and memories. The streets are quaint and +arcaded, and lined with fine old mansions: and there is an old palace, +and a vast dim cathedral, which no one has ever properly explored. Ten +minutes will be enough in which to exhaust the sights of Ciudadela, and +you may then go and look at the Buffador, a blow-hole like those to be +seen at Sark. + +The people of Menorca have long since abandoned their native +dress--presuming that they ever had one; but M. Vuillier remarked the +continuance of the old custom, observable in other countries, of +strewing the path of a bridal party with obstacles and building a wall +before the house of the bride and bridegroom, the morning after their +marriage. We see one of the innumerable survivals here of marriage by +capture. The people are strangely fond of the practice of vaccination, +and will perform it on each other with the least possible excuse. In +blood-letting they also entertain an ineradicable belief. + +Speaking of Alazor, a large village, Ford says: “It is worth the +traveller’s while to go into any of the peasants’ houses and convince +himself that in no other part of the world do the lower (_i.e._, +working) classes live in greater comfort and even luxury. A man who has +only a franc and a half a day as wages, and a little bit of garden, has +a large and commodious house, well furnished, exquisitely clean, and +always with a spare bed for the stranger. The character of the people is +in exact harmony with their surroundings. They are polite and +hospitable, crime is unknown, and their hygienic condition being so +favourable they are healthy and long-lived. If is difficult to write of +them without exaggeration and using too many terms of admiration for the +good and wholesome life they lead.” + +To the economist, then, the island of Menorca must be of interest, but +it is infinitely more so to the archæologist. From end to end it is +strewn with the works of prehistoric man, whose record in stone is hard +to read. These megalithic remains present a strong resemblance to the +mirage of Sardinia and Malta, but have also local characteristics which +have puzzled and delighted the learned. M. Cartailhac has traced the +sites of many ancient villages. The most considerable may be seen at +Torre d’ea Galines, south of Alazor. There, on the summit of a slight +eminence, a vast pile of stones is all that remains of the “city” to +which the naked aborigines fled wildly the instant a sail rose above the +horizon. In the constant and arduous struggle waged by the present +inhabitants with the stones and the rock, the limits of the stronghold +have, ages ago, disappeared, and if it had an outer wall it can no +longer be traced. The dwellings were grouped together so closely that no +streets can be distinguished. No chariot or beast of burden could have +been known to the citizens. They communicated with each other by +corridors leading from cabin to cabin. Here and there the doorways +remain intact and uphold a heavy lintel of stone. + +In each of these villages is to be found a single huge monument, +composed of two blocks of stone, arranged =T=-shape. It is surrounded by a +semicircular wall of unhewn stones, which probably once rose higher and +higher and supported a roof of flat stones. These monuments are termed +altars by the people of Menorca, and such they may, in fact, have been, +but nothing definite can be said on this point. + +Equally uncertain are the nature and purpose of the monuments called +talayots, a word allied to the Arabic term for watch-tower. These are +structures of uncemented blocks of stone in the form of a tower, +slightly conical or cylindrical, sometimes square at the base. None of +them is wholly intact. Whether the summit was a dome or a platform we +have no means of knowing. “I observed, however, at Torranba de Salort,” +says M. Cartailhac, “a detail which throws some light on this point. The +tower is among the highest at the summit and at two steps from the +centre lies a great stone more than a metre in diameter, in the shape of +a thick mushroom, almost circular, flat on one side and with a +protuberance on the other. It is possible that this block once crowned +the culminating-point of the edifice.” + +Among the largest talayots are those of Torre Ilafuda. They measure +sixteen metres across the base and fourteen at the summit. The stones +are laid horizontally and are carefully adjusted. The walls are three or +four metres thick, and skilfully constructed. The interior usually forms +a single chamber, and where this was large the roof was supported by a +column formed of huge blocks of stone. The wall itself is often threaded +by a passage to the roof or upper chamber, so narrow that it could only +have been ascended by crawling. The entrance to the talayot is through +a square opening large enough to permit a short man to walk through +upright. All sorts of theories and guesses have been made as to what +these towers originally were. Near every =T=-shaped altar one or two are +to be found; there was always one at least on every town site. Perhaps, +suggests our authority, they existed before all the other structures and +were used as centres by a later population. Though they are often placed +on eminences, it has been established that they were not fortresses; it +can be proved more or less satisfactorily that they were not +dwelling-places, storehouses, or tombs. + +The boat-shaped piles, called navetas or naves, on the other hand had +clearly a sepulchral character. The front or prow is slightly concave. +The entrance measures about half a metre across and three-quarters of a +metre in height, the edges are grooved as though to admit some sort of +door. Inside, the passage widens and conducts you to a second opening as +narrow as the first, through which you penetrate into the mortuary +chamber itself. Filled now with rubbish, filth and carrion, these are +the tombs of the fathers of the Mediterranean races, whose bones are +brought to light each time the Menorcan ploughs his stubborn soil. + +Stones must always have been a plague to the people of the island, and +this, besides accounting for their selection of the sling as their +peculiar weapon, may partially explain, as Ford reasonably remarks, the +abundance of these monuments. “The erection of a large tumulus was not a +piece of barbaric extravagance. It provided an unperishable monument for +the person it was intended to honour (?) and it got rid of an immense +mass of loose stone which greatly impeded agriculture.” + +“One fact,” adds this lively writer, “is very curious. The Menorcans, +even now, are in the habit of constructing just such tumuli as the +talayots for the use of their cattle, though of smaller stones. In the +distance they present an appearance not at all unlike the older +structures.” + + * * * * * + +Ibiza, the third largest island of the group, is one of those spots +which can afford no sort of justification for its existence. It is a +mere backwater, a stagnant pool of humanity, interesting, though, as a +place buried beneath prejudices and customs hundreds of years old. How +should they be blown away in so out-of-the-way an island? The town +stands on a fine harbour and reminds one rather of Guernsey. The +collegiate church, formerly a cathedral, was founded by the Archbishop +of Tarragona, in the thirteenth century, at the time the island was +granted to him by Jaime the Conqueror. It is uninteresting, except for +the view from the belfry. Better worth a visit is the fortified church +of San Antonio at the other end of the island, wherein the people took +refuge at the approach of the Corsairs. It is flanked with two massive +towers and the apse has a parapet pierced with embrasures for guns. The +walls are nearly eight feet thick, and the doorway is protected by a +machicolation. + +There is little else to be seen at Ibiza during the short time the +traveller will be disposed to stay there, but M. Vuillier, who lingered +there longer than he had intended, is able to tell us much that is +interesting about the people and their customs. The islanders are a +savage primitive stock. The recognised form of salutation between man +and maid is for the former to hurry after the latter and without any +warning discharge his gun into the ground at her feet. After spending +the evening at her house, he fires at the ceiling, so that it should be +easy to tell at a glance on going into a house for the first time if the +daughters have been much sought after. The men do not confine their +shooting to this sort of practice, however; duels, assassinations, and +vendettas are frequent, and the feuds partake of the mysterious brutal +character of those of Kentucky and Tennessee. In such a country animals +fare badly, and one is not surprised to learn that throwing stones at a +live cock is one of the favourite pastimes. When the youths come +a-courting, each sits with the girl for a few minutes in turn and if he +overstays the allotted period is punished by the others with the knife +or pistol. Abduction is the rule rather than the exception; but for all +the anxiety shown to possess them, the women have a wretched time, being +hardly allowed to stir out of their dingy poverty-stricken cabins. +Altogether it must be as difficult to make yourself happy at Ibiza as at +any spot on or off the planet. + +Of the remaining islands of the group, only one deserves mention and +that only for its sad memories. This is Cabrera. It is little better +than a bare rock, incapable of affording subsistence to more perhaps +than two or three score of men, yet here during the Peninsular War the +Spaniards were thoughtless enough to confine 5500 French soldiers, the +victims of Dupont’s surrender at Bailen. Their sufferings were more +severe than those of many a shipwrecked mariner. Each man was allowed +only 24 ounces of bread and a few beans every four days. There was but +one spring in the island and the thirst-maddened men would fight each +other desperately to get a drink from this. Murder was common, and in +one instance a man was detected in the act of preparing a meal from the +remains of a comrade. It is touching to relate that for many months the +men made a pet of a donkey they found wandering on the island, and it +was not till the boat which brought them their miserable ration was long +overdue that the poor famished wretches could find it in their hearts to +kill and eat their only four-footed companion. As time went on, the +captives made some attempt to cultivate their island, and their lot +greatly improved, as the Spaniards continued to send the same rations, +though their number was now reduced by two-fifths. Finally, in 1814, the +last survivors were taken off by a French transport. The bones of those +who died on the island were interred by the crew of a French warship and +a monument was erected over their remains. + +[Illustration: PLATE 1 + +GENERAL VIEW OF BARCELONA] + +[Illustration: PLATE 2 + +GENERAL VIEW OF BARCELONA] + +[Illustration: PLATE 3 + +BARCELONA: VIEW FROM THE FUNICULAR RAILWAY STATION] + +[Illustration: PLATE 4 + +BARCELONA: PANORAMA FROM MONJUICH] + +[Illustration: PLATE 5 + +BARCELONA: PANORAMA FROM MONJUICH] + +[Illustration: PLATE 6 + +BARCELONA: PANORAMA FROM MONJUICH] + +[Illustration: PLATE 7 + +BARCELONA: THE DOCKS] + +[Illustration: PLATE 8 + +BARCELONA: GENERAL VIEW OF THE PORT] + +[Illustration: PLATE 9 + +BARCELONA: DETAIL OF THE PORT] + +[Illustration: PLATE 10 + +BARCELONA: VIEW FROM MIRAMAR] + +[Illustration: PLATE 11 + +BARCELONA: RAMBLA DEL CENTRO] + +[Illustration: PLATE 12 + +BARCELONA: RAMBLA DEL CENTRO] + +[Illustration: PLATE 13 + +BARCELONA: RAMBLA DE LAS FLÓRES] + +[Illustration: PLATE 14 + +BARCELONA: RAMBLA DE LAS FLÓRES] + +[Illustration: PLATE 15 + +BARCELONA: PASEO DE COLÓN] + +[Illustration: PLATE 16 + +BARCELONA: PASEO DE COLÓN AND HOTEL] + +[Illustration: PLATE 17 + +BARCELONA: PASEO DE COLÓN AND STATUE OF LÓPEZ] + +[Illustration: PLATE 18 + +BARCELONA: RAMBLA DE LOS ESTUDIANTES] + +[Illustration: PLATE 19 + +BARCELONA: PASEO DE GRACIA] + +[Illustration: PLATE 20 + +BARCELONA: PASEO DE GRACIA] + +[Illustration: PLATE 21 + +BARCELONA: RAMBLA DE CATALUÑA] + +[Illustration: PLATE 22 + +BARCELONA: PLAZA DE CATALUÑA] + +[Illustration: PLATE 23 + +BARCELONA: RAMBLA DE SANTA MONICA AND THE BANK] + +[Illustration: PLATE 24 + +BARCELONA: LA GRAN VIA AND STATUE OF GÜELL Y FERRER] + +[Illustration: PLATE 25 + +BARCELONA: PLAZA DE CATALUÑA] + +[Illustration: PLATE 26 + +BARCELONA: PLAZA DE CATALUÑA] + +[Illustration: PLATE 27 + +BARCELONA: PLAZA DE LA PAZ] + +[Illustration: PLATE 28 + +BARCELONA: PLAZA DEL PALACIO] + +[Illustration: PLATE 29 + +BARCELONA: PLAZA DEL PALACIO] + +[Illustration: PLATE 30 + +BARCELONA: PLAZA REAL] + +[Illustration: PLATE 31 + +BARCELONA: PLAZA DEL REY] + +[Illustration: PLATE 32 + +BARCELONA: PLAZA ANTONIO LOPEZ] + +[Illustration: PLATE 33 + +BARCELONA: CALLE DE FERDINAND VII.] + +[Illustration: PLATE 34 + +BARCELONA: CALLE DE BALMES] + +[Illustration: PLATE 35 + +BARCELONA: CALLE DE ARAGÓN] + +[Illustration: PLATE 36 + +BARCELONA: GÜELL PARK] + +[Illustration: PLATE 37 + +BARCELONA: ENTRANCE TO THE GÜELL PARK] + +[Illustration: PLATE 38 + +BARCELONA: ENTRANCE TO THE PARK] + +[Illustration: PLATE 39 + +BARCELONA: LAKE IN THE PARK] + +[Illustration: PLATE 40 + +BARCELONA: THE LAKE IN THE PARK] + +[Illustration: PLATE 41 + +BARCELONA: THE “CASCADA” IN THE PARK] + +[Illustration: PLATE 42 + +BARCELONA PARK: DETAILS OF THE “CASCADA”] + +[Illustration: PLATE 43 + +BARCELONA: FOUNTAIN IN THE PARK] + +[Illustration: PLATE 44 + +BARCELONA: THE CATHEDRAL] + +[Illustration: PLATE 45 + +BARCELONA: THE CATHEDRAL] + +[Illustration: PLATE 46 + +BARCELONA CATHEDRAL: PRINCIPAL ENTRANCE] + +[Illustration: PLATE 47 + +BARCELONA CATHEDRAL: RIGHT-HAND SIDE DOOR] + +[Illustration: PLATE 48 + +BARCELONA CATHEDRAL: DOOR OF THE PIEDAD] + +[Illustration: PLATE 49 + +BARCELONA CATHEDRAL: DOOR OF SANTA EULALIA] + +[Illustration: PLATE 50 + +BARCELONA CATHEDRAL: EXTERIOR DOOR OF SANTA LUCIA] + +[Illustration: PLATE 51 + +BARCELONA CATHEDRAL: INTERIOR DOOR OF SANTA LUCIA AND SEPULCHRE OF +MOSSEN BORRA] + +[Illustration: PLATE 52 + +BARCELONA: INTERIOR OF THE CATHEDRAL] + +[Illustration: PLATE 53 + +BARCELONA: INTERIOR OF THE CATHEDRAL] + +[Illustration: PLATE 54 + +BARCELONA CATHEDRAL: DETAIL OF THE CHOIR] + +[Illustration: PLATE 55 + +BARCELONA CATHEDRAL: THE HIGH ALTAR] + +[Illustration: PLATE 56 + +BARCELONA: THE ARCHIVE OF THE CATHEDRAL] + +[Illustration: PLATE 57 + +BARCELONA CATHEDRAL: CLOISTERS AND PRINCIPAL INTERIOR DOOR] + +[Illustration: PLATE 58 + +BARCELONA: CHAPEL IN THE CLOISTER OF THE CATHEDRAL] + +[Illustration: PLATE 59 + +BARCELONA: CLOISTERS OF THE CATHEDRAL] + +[Illustration: PLATE 60 + +BARCELONA: CLOISTERS AND DOOR OF THE CATHEDRAL] + +[Illustration: PLATE 61 + +BARCELONA: CLOISTERS OF THE CATHEDRAL] + +[Illustration: PLATE 62 + +BARCELONA: CLOISTERS OF THE CATHEDRAL] + +[Illustration: PLATE 63 + +BARCELONA: CHAPEL IN THE CLOISTERS OF THE CATHEDRAL] + +[Illustration: PLATE 64 + +BARCELONA CATHEDRAL: FOUNTAIN IN THE CLOISTERS] + +[Illustration: PLATE 65 + +BARCELONA CATHEDRAL: FOUNTAIN IN THE CLOISTERS] + +[Illustration: PLATE 66 + +BARCELONA: FOUNTAIN IN THE CLOISTERS OF THE CATHEDRAL] + +[Illustration: PLATE 67 + +BARCELONA: FOUNTAIN IN THE CLOISTERS OF THE CATHEDRAL] + +[Illustration: PLATE 68 + +BARCELONA CATHEDRAL: DOOR IN THE CLOISTERS] + +[Illustration: PLATE 69 + +BARCELONA CATHEDRAL: IRON GRATING IN THE CLOISTERS] + +[Illustration: PLATE 70 + +BARCELONA CATHEDRAL: GRATING IN THE CLOISTERS] + +[Illustration: PLATE 71 + +BARCELONA CATHEDRAL: DOOR IN THE CLOISTERS] + +[Illustration: PLATE 72 + +BARCELONA: SANTA MARIA DEL MAR] + +[Illustration: PLATE 73 + +BARCELONA: CHURCH OF SANTA MARIA DEL MAR] + +[Illustration: PLATE 74 + +BARCELONA: CHURCH OF SANTA MARIA DEL MAR. GATE OF THE IMMACULADA] + +[Illustration: PLATE 75 + +BARCELONA: CHURCH OF SANTA MARIA DEL MAR. DETAIL OF LEFT DOOR] + +[Illustration: PLATE 76 + +BARCELONA: DETAIL OF THE DOOR OF THE CHURCH OF SANTA MARIA DEL MAR] + +[Illustration: PLATE 77 + +BARCELONA: CHURCH OF SANTA MARIA DEL PINO] + +[Illustration: PLATE 78 + +BARCELONA: BYZANTINE DOORWAY IN THE CHURCH OF SAN PABLO] + +[Illustration: PLATE 79 + +BARCELONA: CLOISTERS OF SAN PABLO] + +[Illustration: PLATE 80 + +BARCELONA: CLOISTERS OF SAN PABLO] + +[Illustration: PLATE 81 + +BARCELONA: FAÇADE OF THE CHURCH OF SANTA ANA] + +[Illustration: PLATE 82 + +BARCELONA: CLOISTERS OF THE CHURCH OF SANTA ANA] + +[Illustration: PLATE 83 + +BARCELONA: CLOISTERS OF THE CHURCH OF SANTA ANA] + +[Illustration: PLATE 84 + +BARCELONA: CHURCH OF THE SAGRADA FAMILIA] + +[Illustration: PLATE 85 + +BARCELONA: CHURCH OF LAS SALESAS] + +[Illustration: PLATE 86 + +BARCELONA: CHURCH OF LAS SALESAS] + +[Illustration: PLATE 87 + +BARCELONA: CHURCH OF THE CONCEPTION] + +[Illustration: PLATE 88 + +BARCELONA: CHURCH OF SANTA AGUEDA] + +[Illustration: PLATE 89 + +BARCELONA: THE TOWN HALL] + +[Illustration: PLATE 90 + +BARCELONA: THE TOWN HALL] + +[Illustration: PLATE 91 + +BARCELONA: OLD FAÇADE OF THE TOWN HALL] + +[Illustration: PLATE 92 + +BARCELONA: EXTERIOR DETAIL OF THE TOWN HALL] + +[Illustration: PLATE 93 + +BARCELONA: CHAPEL OF SAN JORGE IN THE TOWN HALL] + +[Illustration: PLATE 94 + +BARCELONA: COURTYARD OF THE TOWN HALL] + +[Illustration: PLATE 95 + +BARCELONA: ENTRANCE TO THE COURTYARD OF THE AUDIENCIA] + +[Illustration: PLATE 96 + +BARCELONA: UPPER PART OF THE COURTYARD OF THE TOWN HALL] + +[Illustration: PLATE 97 + +BARCELONA: THE UNIVERSITY] + +[Illustration: PLATE 98 + +BARCELONA: CLOISTERS OF THE UNIVERSITY] + +[Illustration: PLATE 99 + +BARCELONA: CLOISTERS OF THE UNIVERSITY, UPPER PART] + +[Illustration: PLATE 100 + +BARCELONA: PALACIO DE JUSTICIA] + +[Illustration: PLATE 101 + +BARCELONA: DIPUTACION PROVINCIAL] + +[Illustration: PLATE 102 + +BARCELONA: DIPUTACION PROVINCIAL] + +[Illustration: PLATE 103 + +BARCELONA: THE EXCHANGE] + +[Illustration: PLATE 104 + +BARCELONA: THE CUSTOM HOUSE] + +[Illustration: PLATE 105 + +BARCELONA: CLINICAL HOSPITAL] + +[Illustration: PLATE 106 + +BARCELONA: MUNICIPAL SCHOOL OF MUSIC] + +[Illustration: PLATE 107 + +BARCELONA: CATALANA DEL GAS] + +[Illustration: PLATE 108 + +BARCELONA: LA MAISON DORÉE] + +[Illustration: PLATE 109 + +BARCELONA: CASA DE LA CANONGIA] + +[Illustration: PLATE 110 + +BARCELONA: PRIVATE HOUSE OF THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY] + +[Illustration: PLATE 111 + +BARCELONA: A SHOP IN THE CALLE FERNANDO] + +[Illustration: PLATE 112 + +BARCELONA: NEW BUILDING IN THE PASEO DE GRACIA] + +[Illustration: PLATE 113 + +BARCELONA: HOUSE OF THE SHOEMAKERS] + +[Illustration: PLATE 114 + +BARCELONA: HOUSE IN THE CALLE DE CASPE] + +[Illustration: PLATE 115 + +BARCELONA: ARCO DE TRIUNFO] + +[Illustration: PLATE 116 + +BARCELONA: TEATRO PRINCIPAL] + +[Illustration: PLATE 117 + +BARCELONA: OLD TOWERS IN THE PLAZA NUEVA] + +[Illustration: PLATE 118 + +BARCELONA: TOWER OF SANTA AGUEDA] + +[Illustration: PLATE 119 + +BARCELONA: CONVENT OF SANTA CLARA. OLD PALACE OF THE KINGS OF ARAGON] + +[Illustration: PLATE 120 + +BARCELONA: APEADERO DE LA CALLE DE ARAGON] + +[Illustration: PLATE 121 + +BARCELONA: HOTEL COLÓN] + +[Illustration: PLATE 122 + +BARCELONA: STAIRCASE IN A PRIVATE HOUSE IN THE CALLE DE MONCADA] + +[Illustration: PLATE 123 + +BARCELONA: STAIRCASE IN A PRIVATE HOUSE IN THE CALLE DE MONCADA] + +[Illustration: PLATE 124 + +BARCELONA: FRONTÓN] + +[Illustration: PLATE 125 + +BARCELONA: THE BULL-RING] + +[Illustration: PLATE 126 + +BARCELONA: MONUMENT TO COLUMBUS] + +[Illustration: PLATE 127 + +BARCELONA: MONUMENT TO COLUMBUS] + +[Illustration: PLATE 128 + +BARCELONA: DETAIL OF THE MONUMENT TO COLUMBUS] + +[Illustration: PLATE 129 + +BARCELONA: MONUMENT TO COLUMBUS] + +[Illustration: PLATE 130 + +BARCELONA: MONUMENT TO GÜELL] + +[Illustration: PLATE 131 + +BARCELONA: FOUNTAIN IN THE PLAZA DE PALACIO] + +[Illustration: PLATE 132 + +BARCELONA: STATUE OF GENERAL PRIM] + +[Illustration: PLATE 133 + +BARCELONA: RAMBLA DE CATALUÑA, MONUMENT TO CLAVÉ] + +[Illustration: PLATE 134 + +BARCELONA: STATUE OF LOPEZ, AND PASEO DE COLÓN] + +[Illustration: PLATE 135 + +BARCELONA: PLAZA DEL DUQUE DE MEDINACELLI] + +[Illustration: PLATE 136 + +BARCELONA: MONUMENT TO RUIS AND TOULET] + +[Illustration: PLATE 137 + +BARCELONA: VIEW OF TIBIDABO] + +[Illustration: PLATE 138 + +BARCELONA: FUNICULAR RAILWAY STATION, TIBIDABO] + +[Illustration: PLATE 139 + +BARCELONA: TIBIDABO STATION AND CASA ARNUS] + +[Illustration: PLATE 140 + +BARCELONA: THE DEVIL’S BRIDGE AT MARTORELL] + +[Illustration: PLATE 141 + +BARCELONA: INTERIOR COURT OF THE CONVENT OF MONTESION] + +[Illustration: PLATE 142 + +BARCELONA: EXTERIOR OF THE CONVENT OF MONTESION] + +[Illustration: PLATE 143 + +BARCELONA: CONVENT OF MONTESION CLOISTERS] + +[Illustration: PLATE 144 + +MONASTERY OF PEDRALVES, NEAR BARCELONA] + +[Illustration: PLATE 145 + +BARCELONA: RAMBLA DE CANALETAS DURING THE FÊTES OF 1888] + +[Illustration: PLATE 146 + +BARCELONA: THE FÊTES OF 1888. INAUGURATION OF THE MONUMENT TO COLUMBUS] + +[Illustration: PLATE 147 + +BARCELONA: EXHIBITION OF 1888. H.M. THE QUEEN LEAVING THE EXHIBITION] + +[Illustration: PLATE 148 + +BARCELONA: EXHIBITION OF 1888. PALACE OF BEAUX-ARTS] + +[Illustration: PLATE 149 + +GENERAL VIEW OF TARRAGONA] + +[Illustration: PLATE 150 + +TARRAGONA: GENERAL VIEW FROM THE CATHEDRAL, LOOKING SOUTH] + +[Illustration: PLATE 151 + +TARRAGONA: GENERAL VIEW FROM THE CATHEDRAL, LOOKING EAST] + +[Illustration: PLATE 152 + +TARRAGONA: GENERAL VIEW] + +[Illustration: PLATE 153 + +TARRAGONA: GENERAL VIEW FROM THE PIER] + +[Illustration: PLATE 154 + +TARRAGONA: PANORAMIC VIEW] + +[Illustration: PLATE 155 + +TARRAGONA: VIEW OF THE PORT] + +[Illustration: PLATE 156 + +TARRAGONA: VIEW OF THE HARBOUR FROM THE TOWN] + +[Illustration: PLATE 157 + +TARRAGONA: GENERAL VIEW OF THE CATHEDRAL] + +[Illustration: PLATE 158 + +TARRAGONA: FAÇADE OF THE CATHEDRAL] + +[Illustration: PLATE 159 + +TARRAGONA: FAÇADE OF THE CATHEDRAL] + +[Illustration: PLATE 160 + +TARRAGONA: TOWER AND SIDE OF THE CATHEDRAL] + +[Illustration: PLATE 161 + +TARRAGONA: FAÇADE OF THE CATHEDRAL] + +[Illustration: PLATE 162 + +TARRAGONA CATHEDRAL: CENTRE OF THE PORTAL] + +[Illustration: PLATE 163 + +TARRAGONA: LEFT-HAND SIDE DOOR OF THE CATHEDRAL] + +[Illustration: PLATE 164 + +TARRAGONA CATHEDRAL: STATUES OF THE PORTICO] + +[Illustration: PLATE 165 + +TARRAGONA CATHEDRAL: DETAIL OF THE PORTICO] + +[Illustration: PLATE 166 + +TARRAGONA: BYZANTINE DOOR OF THE CATHEDRAL] + +[Illustration: PLATE 167 + +TARRAGONA: RIGHT-HAND SIDE DOOR OF THE CATHEDRAL] + +[Illustration: PLATE 168 + +TARRAGONA CATHEDRAL: THE PRINCIPAL NAVE] + +[Illustration: PLATE 169 + +TARRAGONA CATHEDRAL: TOMB OF JAIME DE ARAGON] + +[Illustration: PLATE 170 + +TARRAGONA: CLOISTERS OF THE CATHEDRAL] + +[Illustration: PLATE 171 + +TARRAGONA: DOOR OF THE CHAPEL OF SAN PABLO] + +[Illustration: PLATE 172 + +TARRAGONA: LA MURALLA CICLOPEA] + +[Illustration: PLATE 173 + +TARRAGONA: PUERTA DE SAN ANTONIO AND ROMAN WALLS] + +[Illustration: PLATE 174 + +TARRAGONA: ROMAN WALLS AND TOWER] + +[Illustration: PLATE 175 + +TARRAGONA: TOWER OF THE SCIPIONES] + +[Illustration: PLATE 176 + +TARRAGONA: GATE OF SAN ANTONIO AND THE ROMAN WALL] + +[Illustration: PLATE 177 + +TARRAGONA: PALACE OF PILATOS, NOW THE PRISON] + +[Illustration: PLATE 178 + +TARRAGONA: LA PORTELLA, A CYCLOPEAN DOORWAY] + +[Illustration: PLATE 179 + +TARRAGONA: A CYCLOPEAN DOORWAY] + +[Illustration: PLATE 180 + +TARRAGONA: A ROMAN HOUSE] + +[Illustration: PLATE 181 + +TARRAGONA: ARCO DE BARÁ] + +[Illustration: PLATE 182 + +TARRAGONA: THE ROMAN AQUEDUCT] + +[Illustration: PLATE 183 + +TARRAGONA: THE ROMAN AQUEDUCT] + +[Illustration: PLATE 184 + +TARRAGONA: THE SEMINARY] + +[Illustration: PLATE 185 + +TARRAGONA: CROSS OF SAN ANTONIO + +(SIXTEENTH CENTURY)] + +[Illustration: PLATE 186 + +TARRAGONA: ANCIENT ROMAN CONVENT] + +[Illustration: PLATE 187 + +POBLET (TARRAGONA): GENERAL VIEW OF THE MONASTERY] + +[Illustration: PLATE 188 + +POBLET (TARRAGONA): CHURCH OF THE MONASTERY] + +[Illustration: PLATE 189 + +POBLET (TARRAGONA): DOOR OF THE MONASTERY] + +[Illustration: PLATE 190 + +POBLET (TARRAGONA): CHAPEL OF SAN JORGE] + +[Illustration: PLATE 191 + +POBLET (TARRAGONA): TEMPLE IN THE CLOISTERS] + +[Illustration: PLATE 192 + +POBLET (TARRAGONA): CLOISTERS AND PALACE OF KING MARTIN] + +[Illustration: PLATE 193 + +POBLET (TARRAGONA): INTERIOR VIEW OF THE CLOISTERS] + +[Illustration: PLATE 194 + +POBLET (TARRAGONA): INTERIOR VIEW OF THE CLOISTERS] + +[Illustration: PLATE 195 + +SANTA CREUS (TARRAGONA): GENERAL VIEW OF THE CHURCH OF THE MONASTERY] + +[Illustration: PLATE 196 + +SANTA CREUS (TARRAGONA): DOOR OF THE CLOISTERS] + +[Illustration: PLATE 197 + +SANTA CREUS (TARRAGONA): INTERIOR OF THE CLOISTERS] + +[Illustration: PLATE 198 + +SANTA CREUS (TARRAGONA): INTERIOR SIDE VIEW OF THE CLOISTERS] + +[Illustration: PLATE 199 + +MONTSERRAT: VIEW OF THE MONASTERY] + +[Illustration: PLATE 200 + +MONASTERY OF MONTSERRAT] + +[Illustration: PLATE 201 + +VIEW OF THE MONASTERY OF MONTSERRAT, TAKEN FROM ST. MICHAEL] + +[Illustration: PLATE 202 + +MONTSERRAT: GENERAL VIEW OF MONASTERY FROM THE SOUTH] + +[Illustration: PLATE 203 + +MONTSERRAT: VIEW OF THE MONASTERY FROM THE SOUTH] + +[Illustration: PLATE 204 + +MONTSERRAT: GENERAL VIEW] + +[Illustration: PLATE 205 + +MONTSERRAT: VIEW OF THE MONASTERY FROM THE WEST] + +[Illustration: PLATE 206 + +MONTSERRAT: THE MONASTERY] + +[Illustration: PLATE 207 + +MONTSERRAT: GROTTO OF THE VIRGIN] + +[Illustration: PLATE 208 + +MONTSERRAT: THE VIRGIN’S CAVE] + +[Illustration: PLATE 209 + +MONTSERRAT: VIEW FROM THE GROTTO OF THE VIRGIN] + +[Illustration: PLATE 210 + +MONTSERRAT: THE CAVE OF JUAN GUARIN THE HERMIT] + +[Illustration: PLATE 211 + +MONTSERRAT: REMAINS OF THE ANCIENT MONASTERY] + +[Illustration: PLATE 212 + +MONTSERRAT: DOOR OF THE CHURCH] + +[Illustration: PLATE 213 + +MONTSERRAT: INTERIOR OF THE CHURCH] + +[Illustration: PLATE 214 + +MONTSERRAT: VIEW OF THE PEAKS] + +[Illustration: PLATE 215 + +MONTSERRAT: THE DEVIL’S ROCK] + +[Illustration: PLATE 216 + +MONTSERRAT: MIRANDA PEAK] + +[Illustration: PLATE 217 + +VIEW OF MONTSERRAT, TAKEN FROM MONISTOL STATION] + +[Illustration: PLATE 218 + +VIEW OF MONISTOL, TAKEN FROM MONTSERRAT] + +[Illustration: PLATE 219 + +TORTOSA: GENERAL VIEW] + +[Illustration: PLATE 220 + +TORTOSA: COURTYARD IN THE INSTITUTE] + +[Illustration: PLATE 221 + +THE COURT, SAN FRANCISCO, PALMA, MALLORCA + +GRAN HOTEL, PALMA, MALLORCA] + +[Illustration: PLATE 222 + +PALACE OF THE ALMUDAINA, PALMA, MALLORCA] + +[Illustration: PLATE 223 + +WINDMILL AND ELECTRICAL WORKS, PALMA, MALLORCA] + +[Illustration: PLATE 224 + +VIEW OF THE “REAL CLUB DE REGATAS,” PALMA, MALLORCA] + +[Illustration: PLATE 225 + +MARKET AND CHURCH OF SAN NICOLAS, PALMA, MALLORCA + +SAN FRANCISCO, PALMA, MALLORCA] + +[Illustration: PLATE 226 + +VIEW FROM THE HARBOUR, PALMA, MALLORCA] + +[Illustration: PLATE 227 + +VIEW OF THE BAY, PALMA, MALLORCA] + +[Illustration: PLATE 228 + +THE ALMUDAINA AND CATHEDRAL, PALMA, MALLORCA] + +[Illustration: PLATE 229 + +PUERTA DE SANTA MARGARITA, PALMA, MALLORCA + +THE CATHEDRAL, PALMA, MALLORCA] + +[Illustration: PLATE 230 + +PASEO DEL BORNE, PALMA, MALLORCA + +ARABIAN BATHS, PALMA, MALLORCA] + +[Illustration: PLATE 231 + +VIEW OF THE GORCH BLAU, MALLORCA + +THE GORCH BLAU, MALLORCA] + +[Illustration: PLATE 232 + +INTERIOR OF SAN FRANCISCO, PALMA, MALLORCA] + +[Illustration: PLATE 233 + +ARAB BATHS, PALMA, MALLORCA] + +[Illustration: PLATE 234 + +THE QUAY, PALMA, MALLORCA] + +[Illustration: PLATE 235 + +MILLS, PALMA, MALLORCA] + +[Illustration: PLATE 236 + +THE RIVER, SOLLER, MALLORCA] + +[Illustration: PLATE 237 + +GENERAL VIEW OF ALCUDIA, MALLORCA] + +[Illustration: PLATE 238 + +THE CATHEDRAL, PALMA, MALLORCA + +THE CHURCH OF THE MONASTERY, LLUCH, MALLORCA] + +[Illustration: PLATE 239 + +LA CARTUJA, VALLDEMOSA, MALLORCA + +PUERTA DEL MUELLE, ALCUDIA, MALLORCA] + +[Illustration: PLATE 240 + +INTERIOR OF THE CHURCH, LLUCH, MALLORCA] + +[Illustration: PLATE 241 + +TRANSPORT OF MUSTS, BALEARIC ISLANDS] + +[Illustration: PLATE 242 + +GENERAL VIEW OF DEYA, MALLORCA] + +[Illustration: PLATE 243 + +CASTLE OF BELLVER, MALLORCA] + +[Illustration: PLATE 244 + +GENERAL VIEW OF SAN ANTONIO (PITYUSAE ISLES)] + +[Illustration: PLATE 245 + +RUINS OF THE TORRE D’EA GALINES, ALAZOR, MENORCA] + +[Illustration: PLATE 246 + +VILLA CARLOS, MAHON, MENORCA + +VIEW OF THE PORT, MAHON, MENORCA] + +[Illustration: PLATE 247 + +THE HARBOUR, MAHON, MENORCA + +A VIEW IN THE TOWN, MAHON, MENORCA] + +[Illustration: PLATE 248 + +THE QUAY, MAHON, MENORCA] + +[Illustration: PLATE 249 + +PASEO DEL home, CIUDADELA, MENORCA] + +[Illustration: PLATE 250 + +VIEW OF THE PORT, MAHON, MENORCA] + +[Illustration: PLATE 251 + +THE PORT AND TOWN, CIUDADELA, MENORCA] + +[Illustration: PLATE 252 + +THRESHING, SAN ANTONIO (PITYUSAE ISLES) + +A STREET IN ALGENDAR, FERRERIAS, MENORCA] + +[Illustration: PLATE 253 + +A VIEW SHOWING THE ARABIAN TOWERS, IBIZA (PITYUSAE ISLES)] + +[Illustration: PLATE 254 + +RIVER PAREYS] + +[Illustration: PLATE 255 + +PORTAL OF D’ALT OR D’EN SERVERA, MAHON, MENORCA] + +[Illustration: PLATE 256 + +MONUMENT TO THE FRENCH PRISONERS WHO DIED IN 1808, ISLAND OF CABRERA, +MENORCA] + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 64923 *** |