Exterior
The church has a Baroque façade (begun in 1606, finished in 1961 in the upper part), preceded by a staircase completed in 1607. The sculptures decorating the three orders of the façade were executed by local sculptors in the 1960s. Other exterior features include the Gothic portal of St. Michael, in the northern side, and the southern portico of the Apostles, from the 14th century: it originally featured sculptures of the Twelve Apostles, executed by Antoni Claperós in the 1460 and now disappeared aside from two, depicting St. Peter and St. Paul, now in the church's capitular halls.
The church has two bell towers. The oldest one, entitled to Charlemagne, is the surviving one of the two once featured by the first Romanesque church (the other disappeared in the 14th century). Begun in the early 11th century, it has a square plan with six levels separated by friezes with Lombard bands, and with double mullioned windows. The new bell tower, begun in 1590 and completed (with a changed design) in the 18th century, has an octogonal plan. It houses six bells, the oldest one dating to 1574.
Read more about this topic: Girona Cathedral
Famous quotes containing the word exterior:
“The exterior must be joined to the interior to obtain anything from God, that is to say, we must kneel, pray with the lips, and so on, in order that proud man, who would not submit himself to God, may be now subject to the creature.”
—Blaise Pascal (1623–1662)
“It’s not a pretty face, I grant you. But underneath its flabby exterior is an enormous lack of character.”
—Alan Jay Lerner (1918–1986)
“There was never yet an uninteresting life. Such a thing is an impossibility. Inside of the dullest exterior there is a drama, a comedy, and a tragedy.”
—Mark Twain [Samuel Langhorne Clemens] (1835–1910)