Today is September 11, and The Grandma commemorates the CatalanNational Day talking about one of the most important places in the history of Catalonia.
The Fossar de les Moreres, literally Grave of the Mulberries, is a memorial square in Barcelona, Catalonia, adjacent to the basilica of Santa Maria del Mar.
The plaza was built over a cemetery where defenders of the city were buried following the Siege of Barcelona at the end of the War of the Spanish Succession in 1714.
The plaza features a memorial to the fallen Catalans of the war, with a torch of eternal flame and a heroic poem by Frederic Soler, El Fossar de les Moreres.
In the aftermath of the War of Spanish Succession, Catalonia suffered a loss of autonomy. The subsequent royal decrees known as the Decretos de Nueva Planta abolished the furs of Catalonia as well as institutions that dated back to the time of the Crown of Aragon and beyond. At a later date the public use of the Catalan language was banned for public documents.
Given this tumultuous history connected with the decrees and the war, the Fossar de les Moreres is a place of remembrance every year during the National Day of Catalonia, Diada Nacional de Catalunya in Catalan.
The holiday commemorates the date on which Barcelona fell, 11 September, and Catalans yearly pay homage to the defenders of city who were killed and are buried at the memorial.
Today, The Grandma and her friends have celebrated the National Day ofCatalonia, a day that remembers the last day before Catalans lost their rights and freedom in front of the Bourbon troops in 1714.
More than three hundred years after and in spite of the efforts of different Castilian and Spanish governments and monarchies to eradicate Catalan culture and symbols, especially the language, Catalan people remember us every day that the most important treasure to keep our culture alive is the conscience of the people of being that they want to be. We were, we are, we will be. Only the people save the people.
Estimats catalans i estimades catalanes. Visca Catalunya!
The National Day of Catalonia, in Catalan Diada Nacional de Catalunya, is a day-long festival in Catalonia and one of its official national symbols, celebrated annually on 11 September.
It commemorates the fall of Barcelona during the War of the Spanish Succession in 1714 and the subsequent loss of Catalan institutions and laws.
The Army of Catalonia that initially fought in support of the Habsburg dynasty's claim to the Spanish throne was finally defeated at the Siege of Barcelona by the armies of the Bourbon king Philip V of Spain on 11 September 1714 after 14 months of siege.
That meant the loss of the Catalan constitutions and the institutional system of the Principality of Catalonia under the aegis of the Nueva Planta decrees, and the imposition of absolutism.
The holiday was first celebrated on 11 September 1886. In 1888, coinciding with the inauguration of the Barcelona Universal Exposition, a statue in honour of Rafael Casanova was set up, which would become the point of reference of the events of the Diada.
The celebration gained popularity over the following years; the Diada of 1923 was a great mass event, with more than a thousand floral offerings, acts throughout Catalonia and a certain institutional participation. But the demonstrations caused 17 wounded, five policemen and 12 protesters, and several arrests. The dictatorship of Primo de Rivera banned the celebration. During the Second Spanish Republic (1931–1939), the Generalitat deCatalunya, the autonomous government of Catalonia, institutionalized the celebration.
It was suppressed by the Francoist Dictatorship in 1939, and relegated to the family and private sphere, but continued to be celebrated clandestinely.
The monument of Rafael Casanova was removed. Since 1940 the NationalFront of Catalonia took advantage of the day to carry out some propaganda actions: distribution of anti-fascist leaflets and clandestine hanging of senyeres.
It was celebrated again publicly for the first time on 11 September 1976, one year after the death of Francisco Franco, and it was followed by a huge demonstration in Barcelona demanding the restitution of Catalan autonomy the next year, on 11 September 1977, in which the Casanova's statue was repositioned in its place, and the celebration was reinstated officially in 1980 by the Generalitat de Catalunya, upon its restoration after the Francoist State, becoming the first law approved by the also restored Parliament of Catalonia.
Nationalist organizations, political parties and institutions traditionally lay floral offerings at monuments of those who led the defence of the city such as RafaelCasanova and General Moragues, marking their stand against the king Philip V of Spain.
Typically, Catalan independentist organize demonstrations and meet at the Fossar de les Moreres in Barcelona, where they pay homage to the defenders of the city who died during the siege and were buried there.
Throughout the day, there are patriotic demonstrations and cultural events in many Catalan villages, and many citizens wave senyeres and estelades. The event has become more explicitly political and particularly focused on independence rallies in the 2010s.
Today, September 11, TheGrandma celebrates The NationalDay of Catalonia with her friends visiting some of the most important places to pay homage: el Fossar deles Moreres and the statueofRafael Casanova in Barcelona and RafaelCasanova's tomb in Sant Boi de Llobregat.
The National Day of Catalonia, in Catalan Diada Nacional deCatalunya, is a day-long festival in Catalonia and one of its official national symbols, celebrated annually on 11 September.
It commemorates the fall of Barcelona during the War of the Spanish Succession in 1714 and the subsequent loss of Catalan institutions and laws.
The Army of Catalonia that initially fought in support of the Habsburg dynasty's claim to the Spanish throne were finally defeated at the Siege of Barcelona by the army of the Bourbon king Philip V of Spain on 11 September 1714 after 14 months of siege. That meant the loss of the Catalan constitutions and theinstitutional system of the Principality of Catalonia under the aegis oftheNueva Planta decrees, and the establishment of absolutism.
The holiday was first celebrated on 11 September 1886. In 1888, coinciding with the inauguration of the Barcelona Universal Exposition, a statuein honor of Rafael Casanova was set up, which would become the point ofreference of the events of the Diada.
The celebration gained popularity over the following years; the Diada of 1923 was a great mass event, with more than a thousand floral offerings, acts throughout Catalonia and a certain institutional participation. But the demonstrations caused 17 wounded, five policemen and 12 protesters, and several arrests. The dictatorship of Primo de Rivera banned the celebration. During the Second Spanish Republic (1931–1939), the Generalitat deCatalunya (the government of Catalonia) institutionalized the celebration.
It was suppressed by Francoist Spain in 1939, and relegated to the family and private sphere, but continued to be celebrated clandestinely. Themonument of Rafael Casanova was removed.
Since 1940 the National Front of Catalonia took advantage of the day to carry out some propaganda actions: distribution of anti-fascist leaflets, clandestine hanging of senyeres, etc. It was celebrated publicly for the first time again on 11September 1976, followed by a huge demonstrationdemanding Catalan autonomy in Barcelona the next year, on 11 September 1977, in which the Casanova's statue was repositioned in its place, and the celebration was reinstated officially in 1980 by the Generalitat de Catalunya, upon its restoration after the Francoist State, becoming the first law approved by the restored Parliament of Catalonia.
Nationalist organizations, political parties and institutions traditionally lay floral offerings at monuments of those who led the defence of the city such as RafaelCasanova and General Moragues, marking their stand against the king Philip V of Spain.
Typically, Catalan nationalists organize demonstrations and meet at the Fossarde les Moreres in Barcelona, where they pay homage to the defenders of city who died during the siege and were buried there.
Throughout the day, there are patriotic demonstrations and cultural eventsin many Catalan villages and many citizens wave senyeres and estelades. The event has become more explicitly political and particularly focused on independence rallies in the 2010s.
She's working in a new project in Barcelona.She's a main character in a historic film, a beautiful story about the citizens of Barcelona during the XIV century and how they built one of the most incredible buildings of the city.
The Grandma, who is still in Belgrade, has received the news with emotion and happiness. She's very proud of Lurdes and very happy for her. In her youth, The Grandma worked as a tourist guide and she remembers clearly how people enjoyed when they discovered the secrets of the cathedral of sea: Santa Maria del Mar.
It's a great honour for The Grandma sharing this information of one of the most important free guides nowadays, our Wiki:
Santa Maria del Mar (Saint Mary of the Sea) is an imposing church in the Ribera district of Barcelona, 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 is very unusual in large medieval buildings.
Santa Maria del Mar, Barcelona
The first mention of a church of Santa Maria by the sea dates from 998. The construction of the present building was promoted by the canon Bernat Llull, who was appointed Archdean of Santa Maria in 1324. Construction work started on 25 March 1329, when the foundation stone was laid by king Alfons III of Catalonia, as commemorated by a tablet in Latin and Catalan on the façade that faces the Fossar de les Moreres.
The architects in charge were Berenguer de Montagut, designer of the building, and Ramon Despuig, and during the construction all the guilds of the Ribera quarter were involved. The walls, the side chapels and the façades were finished by 1350. In 1379 there was a fire that damaged important parts of the works.
Finally, on 3 November 1383 the last stone was laid and on 15 August 1384 the church was consecrated. In 1428 an earthquake caused several casualties and destroyed the rose window in the west end. The new window, in the Flamboyant style, was finished by 1459 and one year later the glass was added. The images and the Baroque altar were destroyed in a fire in 1936. The chapel of the Blessed Sacrament, adjacent to the apse, was added in the 19th century.
From the outside, Santa Maria gives an impression of massive severity that belies the interior. It is hemmed in by the narrow streets of the Ribera, making it difficult to obtain an overall impression, except from the Fossar de les Moreres and the Plaça de Santa Maria, both of them former burial grounds. The latter is dominated by the west end of the church with its rose window. Images of Saint Peter and Saint Paul occupy niches on either side of the west door, and the tympanum shows the Saviour flanked by Our Lady and Saint John.
Details of iron workers on the main door
The north-west tower was completed in 1496, but its companion was not finished until 1902.
In contrast with the exterior, the interior gives an impression of light and spaciousness. It is of the basilica type, with its three aisles forming a single space with no transepts and no architectural boundary between nave and presbytery. The simple ribbed vault is supported on slender octagonal columns, 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.
According to the art historian Josep Bracons, the basic unit of measurement used in Santa Maria del Mar was the mediaeval foot of 33 centimetres. Measured in this way, the side chapels are 10 feet deep, the width of the side aisles is double this, while the central aisle is four times as wide, that is, 40 feet. The total width of the church is thus 100 mediaeval feet, which is also equal to the maximum height of the building.
I don't know if it will be the best temple in the world.
