Today I visited Santa Maria del Mar – Saint Mary of the Sea – the incredible 14th century church which is at the centre of the novel Cathedral by the Sea by Ildefonse Falcones.
The title in Catalan is L’Esglesia Del Mar
I am reading this great fat heavy weight of a book in Catalan at the moment – slowly, like the progress of the medieval men who had to carry each stone on their backs from Montjuic to the Born.
The church, which at that time was by the edge of the sea, was designed by the architect Berenguer de Montagut and the foundation stone was laid on 25th March 1329 – the last stone put in place in 1383.
I sat on one of the benches and looked up at the beautiful ceilings. High up, flying between window ledges, there was a bird, too far away to see what it was. I wondered if this was its home or was it trapped?
Is this book in Catalan or Spanish. If it’s in Catalan, where did you find it?
-ben
Hi Ben
You didn’t leave an email address so I will reply here – hope you see it!
The book is available in both Catala and Castellano (and english I think) I bought it in Barcelona – perhaps in the big book shop on Portal de L’Angel, can’t remember now.) It’s very interesting about the history and in spite of my critisisms I have enjoyed reading it.
Kate
Hi Ben
Just had a look and I think it is called Happy Books. Here is the web site http://happybooks.com/
If you are not in Barcelona then you could try their internet shop. Kx
I checked Happy Books and I could not find their online store. Do you know if this version is in Catalan. http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/54984.La_Catedral_del_Mar
I actually don’t speak catala. I am trying to learn and I think this book may help me learn.
-Ben
Hi Ben Now I see I used the castellano name! Sorry and I will change it on the post too. In catala it is L’Esglesia del Mar and the link you gave me was to the spanish version. The ISBN is 978-84-8346-620-9
I must warn you it is a great lump of a book – 666 pages. I have been learning Catalan for a year and have someone on hand to help me but I still find it hard going sometimes. I just read and let the gist of it flow over me and sometimes write interesting words in my vocabulary book but I certainly don’t understand it all. If you are interested then perhaps I can recommend other books which could be less daunting. Great that you are learning Catalan – are you in the US? I am loving it – the newspapers are good and of course they are online.
Hope this helps
Kate
Thanks. I found it on Amazon. 🙂
-Ben