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Around the Cathedral
Roman ruins, a Picasso, and a shoe museum
Casa de l'Ardiaca
Just to the side of the Cathedral facade in C/Santa Lucia, the 12th- to 14th-century Casa de l’Ardiaca (of the Archdeacon) is home to a municipal archive. In 1902, when the palace was owned by the lawyers’ college, Domènech i Montaner was called upon to create the charming tiled courtyard draped in wisteria, with its lofty palm and pretty Gothic fountain.
Domènech also gave the building Barcelona's most famous and beautiful mail slot. The architect refused to damage the ancient door, but built a Modernista slot on the side with swallows and a tortoise that expressed his opinion of lawyers – swallows, he explained, with wings to soar into the realms of truth, the tortoise plodding along at the pace of court procedures.
Opposite is the Romanesque Capella de Santa Llúcia (1268), founded by Bishop Arnau de Gurb, whose tomb is within. Long, straight C/ del Bisbe Irurita separates the Casa de l’Ardiaca from the medieval Palau Episcopal, the bishops’ palace, built on the Roman wall. It’s off limits, but you can look into the elegant Romanesque courtyard with its pretty arcade, another work of Bishop Gurb.
Sant Sever and the Shoe Museum
Images by Jaume Meneses