The cloister
Paired columns with carved capitals, all different.
Josep Renalias — CC BY-SA 3.0 · Rafa Esteve — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Olga Gairin — CC BY-SA 3.0 · Enric — CC BY-SA 4.0
**A 12th-century Romanesque Benedictine monastery with a carved cloister — and today the archaeology museum** — outside the old city walls. Built in the **12th century** in the **Catalan Romanesque** manner: ⚠ **grey stone, round arches, thick walls and small windows** — ✅ **the opposite of the soaring Gothic in the cathedral nearby**; **and the comparison between them is direct and instructive**. ✅ **Its cloister is the finest part**: **small paired columns with carved capitals** — ⚠ **each capital different**: **beasts, foliage and scriptural scenes**. ✅ **Its octagonal tower** is one of Girona's marks. ✅ **And it holds the Catalan archaeology museum** — displays from prehistory to the Visigoths.
Paired columns with carved capitals, all different.
A Romanesque tower and a mark of the city.
From prehistory to the Visigoths.
Placa de Santa Llucia 8, 17007 Girona, Spain
The Arab Baths**A bathing hall with a dome on eight columns and a light-well in the roof — and1 minute walk4.4
Girona Cathedral**The widest Gothic nave in the world — twenty-two metres without a single colum2 minutes walk4.6
The Jewish Quarter**Among the best-preserved medieval Jewish quarters in Europe — narrow dark lane4 minutes walk4.4
The Onyar Houses**A row of coloured houses standing with their feet in the river — and their col7 minutes walk4.4**The difference is in how the roof is carried — everything else you see follows from that.** ✅ **Romanesque (about 1000–1200)**: ⚠ **rests on **the round arch** and the barrel vault** — ✅ **which push outward strongly along the whole length of the wall**; **so the wall must be very thick**, ⚠ **and windows small and few, because every opening weakens it**. ✅ **The result**: **heavy buildings, relatively low, dark, solid-looking** — **like fortresses**. ✅ **Gothic (about 1150–1500)**: ⚠ **rests on three innovations together**: **(1) the pointed arch** — **directing thrust downward more than outward**; **(2) the ribbed vault** — **gathering loads at defined points rather than spreading them along the wall**; **(3) the flying buttress** — **propping those points from outside**. ✅ **The result**: ⚠ **the wall no longer carries anything** — **so it can become glass**; ✅ **hence the vast windows, the stained glass and the enormous height**. ✅ **How to tell them at a glance**: **round arch = Romanesque, pointed arch = Gothic**; **thick wall and small windows = Romanesque, glass wall and height = Gothic**. ⚠ **And many churches hold both** — **begun Romanesque and finished Gothic**.