The Basilica of Saints Justus and Pastor ( ca, Església dels Sants Just i Pastor) is a

basilica In Ancient Roman architecture, a basilica is a large public building with multiple functions, typically built alongside the town's Forum (Roman), forum. The basilica was in the Latin West equivalent to a stoa in the Greek East. The building ...

Barcelona Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ci ...

Catalonia Catalonia (; ca, Catalunya ; Aranese Occitan: ''Catalonha'' ; es, Cataluña ) is an autonomous community of Spain, designated as a '' nationality'' by its Statute of Autonomy. Most of the territory (except the Val d'Aran) lies on the nort ...

. In 1948 this church became the sixth in Barcelona to receive the rank of minor basilica, a title that was granted by Pope Pius XII.

History

The construction of the

Gothic Gothic or Gothics may refer to: People and languages *Goths or Gothic people, the ethnonym of a group of East Germanic tribes **Gothic language, an extinct East Germanic language spoken by the Goths **Crimean Gothic, the Gothic language spoken b ...

church that we can see today began on February 1 of 1342 and lasted until 1574. Bernaus, M. ''Sants Just i Pastor of Barcelona'' inside ''L'Art Gòtic a Catalunya: Arquitectura I''. Barcelona, 2002. Publisher Enciclopèdia Catalana. It was built on the old Romanesque church and the site of the former chapel of Sant Celoni. In 1363 the first three sections of the nave were finished, the vault of the feet would be finished in the following century. The construction of the façade and the belfry lasted until the 16th century, and the master builders

Pere Blai Pere Blai (1553–1621) was a Spanish architect. He probably studied under his father, master of the fountains in Barcelona, and his brother. He was in relationship with Jaume Amigó, influenced Blai's knowledge of Renaissance architecture and l ...

, Joan Safont and Joan Granja participated. During the 19th century the choir passed from the center of the nave to the

apse In architecture, an apse (plural apses; from Latin 'arch, vault' from Ancient Greek 'arch'; sometimes written apsis, plural apsides) is a semicircular recess covered with a hemispherical vault or semi-dome, also known as an '' exedra''. ...

, and for this the

altar An altar is a table or platform for the presentation of religious offerings, for sacrifices, or for other ritualistic purposes. Altars are found at shrines, temples, churches, and other places of worship. They are used particularly in paga ...

was moved forward. The

façade A façade () (also written facade) is generally the front part or exterior of a building. It is a loan word from the French (), which means ' frontage' or ' face'. In architecture, the façade of a building is often the most important aspect ...

was also reconstructed in Gothic Revival style between the years 1880 and 1887, the work of Josep Oriol Mestres. other reforms were the one of the chapel of the Santíssim in 1904 by August Font i Carreras, when in 1944 the

polychromy Polychrome is the "practice of decorating architectural elements, sculpture, etc., in a variety of colors." The term is used to refer to certain styles of architecture, pottery or sculpture in multiple colors. Ancient Egypt Colossal statu ...

of the nave and the vaults of the 19th century were eliminated. In 1946 it was restored to the orders of the architect Jeroni Martorell i Terrats. In 1948 received the title of

minor basilica In the Catholic Church, a basilica is a designation given by the Pope to a church building. Basilicas are distinguished for ceremonial purposes from other churches. The building need not be a basilica in the architectural sense (a rectangular ...

, granted by the Pope Pius XII.

References

{{Barcelona landmarks Basilica churches in Spain Roman Catholic churches in Barcelona Roman Catholic churches completed in 1574 Roman Catholic churches completed in 1887 16th-century Roman Catholic church buildings in Spain