The Basilia of la Seu
The Gothic Basilica of Santa Maria de la Seu, built on the Puigcardener Hill, is the principal architectural and artistic icon of the city. Highlights include a set of altarpieces from the fourteenth to sixteenth centuries; a museum (with many valuable objects), stained glass windows, the Romanesque cloister, the 50-metre high bell tower, the three main doors and a spectacular system of buttresses and arches supporting the vaults. The imposing construction began in 1328, directed by the master builder Berenguer de Montagut, the artifex of Santa Maria del Mar in Barcelona, and it was finished in 1488. When Ignatius arrived in 1522, only the basic form of the basilica, the head, the nave and the lateral chapels had been built. After this, the bell tower, the Blessed Sacrament chapel and the façade on the west was completed. Built on a single floor, and 30 metres high and 33 metres wide, it is the second widest Gothic church in Europe, after the Cathedral of Girona, and represents one of the best examples of this artistic period. Built thanks to the contributions of the various Guilds, the faithful and the Town Council, the Basilica of la Seu is a reflection of the medieval splendour of the city: an era of economic prosperity that turned it into one of the most important towns in Catalonia. The Seu was visited by Ignatius on the same morning he came to the capital of the Bages region. The pilgrim from Loyola came daily and prayed in the chapel of San Antonio Abad, which is currently that of Saint Joseph. According to the autobiography of Ignatius, in Manresa his advisers included the Canon of the Seu, Joan Bocotavi, a very spiritual man preaching there, who in order to overcome the demons which tormented him, was told one day in Confession, “to write down everything he could remember.”
The chapel of San Antonio Abad, where Ignatius often prayed, was funded by the Guild master shoemakers and currently houses the chapel of Saint Joseph. One of the sculptures displayed in the same chapel bears witness to this fact.
The Basilica of la Seu, situated on the Puigcardener Hill, is the most emblematic icon of Manresan architecture and was one of the principal sources of inspiration for Saint gnatius during his stay in the city