Plaça de Santa Maria
Point 1
The Basilica of Santa Maria is one of the most notable architectural and artistic ensembles of Catalan baroque. It is a building that has to be discovered little by little: from outside to in, until you reach its great treasure, the Chapel of Sorrows.
The church of Santa Maria of Mataró, documented since 1054, was then a small pre-Romanesque or Romanesque church. It was not until the sixteenth century that a Gothic temple was built. As the city had no wall, it was agreed to strengthen the church to make it the only secure redoubt for the townspeople in the event of danger. The order was received in 1546 by the prestigious military engineer Benedito de Ràvenna, who was responsible for the defence systems of Gibraltar, Perpignan and Barcelona. At that time the bell tower, the highest point of the temple, took on the functions of a watchtower.
The current building was built from 1675, according to the project of the Milanese architect Ercole Turelli, established in Barcelona. The construction meant a notable extension of the old Gothic church, which had become small due to the growth in the population. Of the old construction only the base of the bell tower and the pointed arches of the side chapels remain. The main façade is from the mid-nineteenth century and is eclectic in style. Having said that, it’s worthwhile going in.
Point 2
Once inside you can see that the basilica has a Latin cross floor plan, with a large central nave without columns. The roof has a half-point vault, with semi-circular windows for light. The side chapels, finished in a pointed arch, are framed by composite columns. The cross flanks the nave with two large spaces crowned with domes.
Of all the chapels, it is worth stopping at the modernist Chapel of the Sacrament, the work of the architect Emili Cabañes from Mataró. And in the Chapel of the Rosary, where there is the original altarpiece built at the end of the seventeenth century by the townsman Antoni Riera i Móra, with sculptures by Lluis Bonifàs.
Hey, and don’t forget to look over the entrance door! The Basilica of Santa Maria has the largest organ in Catalonia, built by Gaietà Estadella, who also built the organs of Sant Cugat del Vallès and Sant Pere de les Puelles. Don’t go yet. Have you seen the Chapel of Sorrows?
Point 3
If the Basilica of Santa Maria is one of the main landmarks of the Catalan Baroque route, it is thanks to the Chapel of Sorrows, begun before the War of Succession and completed two decades later, in 1708.
The Ensemble of Sorrows was an initiative of the Venerable Congregation of Sorrows. In 1697, this brotherhood bought land by the Basilica of Santa Maria to build a chapel with a crypt, a sacristy and a boardroom. The Barcelona painter Antoni Viladomat, considered the best Catalan painter of the first half of the 18th century, was entrusted with decorating the chapel.
It is no exaggeration to say that it is one of the most sumptuous of our baroque complexes, since practically all the walls and ceilings of the rooms are painted. In the chapel, we contemplate a set of fabrics that represent the Stations of the Cross and Our Lady’s Sorrows. On the first floor is the Boardroom, an octagonal floor space fully decorated with oil-painted fabrics representing the apostles and evangelists, presided over by Mary’s Assumption on the ceiling. The building is completed by a crypt to bury the members of the congregation and a choir with a latticed balcony.
