Basilica of Saints Justus and Pastor, Gothic church in Gothic Quarter, Spain
The Basilica of Saints Justus and Pastor is a Gothic church on Plaça de Sant Just in Barcelona's Gothic Quarter. It has a single nave of five bays with ribbed vaults and polychrome keystones, a polygonal apse and six rectangular chapels between the buttresses on each side. The main facade, designed in the 16th century, has a semi-octagonal bell tower on the right; the left tower was never finished.
Construction started in 1342 on the site of a previous Romanesque church and continued for over two centuries until 1574. This extended building period reflects how architectural styles and techniques evolved from medieval times through the Renaissance.
The church is named after Saints Justus and Pastor, two boys martyred in Roman Barcelona. The chapel of Saint Pacian holds a reliquary with the remains of Bishop Pacian, found around 1590 and venerated here since. Since 2002 a replica of the Virgin of Candelaria, patron of the Canary Islands, is displayed, donated by the Casa Canaria de Cataluña.
The church stands on Plaça de Sant Just, a small square reached on foot through the narrow lanes of the Gothic Quarter. Since 2015 the bell tower and terraces have been open to visitors, and the excavated Visigothic remains are displayed on site.
In 1723, when the floor was raised to dig the tomb of the perpetual vicars in front of the main altar, workers found a mosaic of white and blue stones, wells and galleries. These suggest a Roman castellum aquae stood at the highest point of the small hill where the church was built.
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