La Seu: the Vow, the Light and the Walled-in Lady

You end the route at the Portal del Mirador, the cathedral's great doorway facing the sea. At sunset the stone turns gold, and it is easy to see why La Seu has gathered so many stories.

1The king's vow

In September 1229, the fleet of James I the Conqueror sailed from Catalonia towards Mallorca and was caught in a violent storm. The king himself describes it in his chronicle, the Llibre dels fets. Tradition adds that, at the height of the tempest, he promised the Virgin a great church if they reached the island safely. The cathedral was built, of course; the vow itself belongs to popular memory.

2The figure of eight

Twice a year, on 2 February and 11 November, shortly after sunrise, sunlight pours through the great rose window above the altar and projects its image just below the rose window on the opposite façade. The two wheels of light form an eight. This is the Festa de la Llum, a real phenomenon that draws hundreds of people every year.

3The walled-in lady

According to local chroniclers, in 1576 a noble widow, Elisabet Safortesa, asked to live enclosed as a recluse beside a chapel of the cathedral, and spent about thirteen years there, communicating with the outside world through a small window. Tradition adds that for centuries some people claimed to hear her prayers as they passed the walls.

Elisabet Safortesa studied alongside Catalina Thomàs, the Beata you met at the start of this route.

4What to look for

• The tympanum of the doorway, showing the Last Supper.
• The pinnacles and gargoyles crowning the buttresses.
• The bay, from the balustrade, as the sun goes down.