The cathedral was constructed during the 13th to 15th centuries on top of a former Visigothic church. The Gothic_like façade is much more recent: from the 19th century.
It is dedicated to Saint Eulalia, patron saint of Barcelona, a young virgin who, according to Catholic tradition, suffered martyrdom during Roman times. One story is that she was exposed naked in the public square and a miraculous snow fall in mid spring covered her nudity. The enraged Romans put her into a barrel with knives stuck into it and rolled it down a street (according to tradition, the one now called 'Baixada de Santa Eulalia').
The cathedral has a secluded Gothic cloister where thirteen white geese are kept (it is said that Eulalia was 13 when she was murdered).
Population of the province of Barcelona is 5,226,354 (est.
Barcelona was a stronghold for the anarchist cause -anarchist opposition to the call-up of reservists led to the city's Tragic Week in 1909- siding with the Republic's democratically elected government during the Spanish Civil War (1936-39).
Barcelona is a major hub for RENFE, the Spanish state railway network, and its main suburban train station is Sants Estació (which is under renovation and enlargement at present in order to prepare for the arrival of the AVE system).
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