Baixada de Santa Eulàlia

Look at the corner, at first-floor height. Beneath a small canopy of iron and mosaic, the figure of a girl gazes down at you: this is Saint Eulalia, Barcelona's old patron saint. The short, steep lane you're standing in takes its name from one of the cruellest scenes in her legend.

1Thirteen years, thirteen tortures

According to tradition, Eulalia was a thirteen-year-old girl who refused to renounce her faith during the persecution of the emperor Diocletian, in the early 4th century. The story credits her with thirteen torments, one for each year of her life. In one of them she was shut inside a barrel full of broken glass and nails, which her executioners rolled down this slope. That is why this lane is called the Baixada de Santa Eulàlia, Saint Eulalia's Descent.

2What historians say

Here it pays to tread carefully. The cult of Saint Eulalia in Barcelona is old and well documented: her remains are venerated in the cathedral crypt, where they were moved in 1339. But whether she really existed is debated. Some historians have suggested that Barcelona's Eulalia may be a double of Saint Eulalia of Mérida, whose martyrdom is very similar and documented earlier.

The cult is historical; the barrel of glass rolling down this street belongs to legend.

The plaque beneath the niche carries verses by the poet Jacint Verdaguer on her martyrdom. Every February, during the Santa Eulàlia festivities, the lane fills with flowers.

3What to look for

• The niche with the saint's figure and its iron-and-mosaic canopy.
• Verdaguer's verses on the plaque below.
• The slope of the lane: picture the barrel of the story rolling down it.