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Photographer’s Note

Santa Maria del Mar is an imposing church in Barcelona, Catalonia. Located in the district of La Ribera, it was built between 1329 and 1383, at the height of Catalonia's maritime and mercantile preeminence. It is an outstanding example of Catalan Gothic, with a purity and unity of style that are very unusual in large mediaeval buildings.
In contrast with the exterior, the interior gives an impression of light and spaciousness. It is of the basilica type, with its three aisles forming a single space with no transepts and no architectural boundary between nave and presbytery. The simple ribbed vault is supported on slender octagonal columns, and abundant daylight streams in through the tall clerestorey windows.
The interior is almost devoid of imagery of the sort to be found in Barcelona's other large Gothic churches, the cathedral and Santa Maria del Pi, after the fire which occurred in 1936 during anticlerical disturbances. Amongst the most notable of the works destroyed at that time was the Baroque retable by Deodat Casanoves and Salvador Gurri.
The construction of Santa Maria del Mar is the background for the best-selling novel La catedral del mar, by Ildefonso Falcones.

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Additional Photos by Felip Alum (Felip) Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Star Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 778 W: 68 N: 781] (3905)
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