Lleida, La Seu Vella, #43, Catalunya, 2020
La Seu of Lleida
“La Seu Vella” translates from the Catalan into English as “the old cathedral.”
This structure (officially in English the Cathedral of St. Mary of the Old See) sits atop the hill above the town of Lleida and is visible for miles around. You couldn’t miss it if you tried.
Something religious has been atop this mound ever since Visigoth times (and perhaps even before) so the air is heavy with history.
For such a spectacular collection of buildings, though, it is in a very unfortunate state today. War, abandonment, pouring rains, and a couple of hundred years as an army barracks hasn’t done it any favors.
From the looks of things, there is a public (government) effort to halt and reverse the flow of entropy and parts of La Seu are slowly being refurbished, rebuilt, and reclaimed. Imagining the glory of what it once was will surely occupy many a visitor’s little grey cells since there is none of the ornate decoration you might normally see in a typical enormous European cathedral.
The Images
Let’s start with turrets and walls under a suitably stormy sky (for photography, clear, blue skies are the worst!). The wind and rain erosion, and the resulting on-again-off-again reparations to the stone work, are all quite apparent as you circumnavigate the beast (like a dragon missing some of her scales):
Lleida, La Seu Vella, #2, Catalunya, 2020
Lleida, La Seu Vella, #3, Catalunya, 2020
Lleida, La Seu Vella, #4, Catalunya, 2020
A much newer section of wall:
Lleida, La Seu Vella, #5, Catalunya, 2020
The multi-tonal stone work is ideal for monochrome treatment. This area really shows off the quadruple ravages of war, neglect, the elements, and time:
Lleida, La Seu Vella, #8, Catalunya, 2020
Lleida, La Seu Vella, #9, Catalunya, 2020
Lleida, La Seu Vella, #11, Catalunya, 2020
Note the classic “chrismon,” or christogram, above the doorway:
Lleida, La Seu Vella, #13, Catalunya, 2020
More exterior erosion:
Lleida, La Seu Vella, #14, Catalunya, 2020
The refurbished main entranceway… now there are stones, but were there once alligators in the moat?
Lleida, La Seu Vella, #41, Catalunya, 2020
Lleida, La Seu Vella, #16, Catalunya, 2020
Searching for silhouettes….
Lleida, La Seu Vella, #18, Catalunya, 2020
Lleida, La Seu Vella, #20, Catalunya, 2020
Lleida, La Seu Vella, #40, Catalunya, 2020
Moving inside the actual cathedral, which is slowly undergoing repairs:
Lleida, La Seu Vella, #17, Catalunya, 2020
Lleida, La Seu Vella, #19, Catalunya, 2020
Lleida, La Seu Vella, #21, Catalunya, 2020
Lleida, La Seu Vella, #38, Catalunya, 2020
Lleida, La Seu Vella, #22, Catalunya, 2020
Lleida, La Seu Vella, #27, Catalunya, 2020
Very little of the original interior decoration remains, unfortunately. This is one example–and the photographs obviously had to be in color:
Lleida, La Seu Vella, #30, Catalunya, 2020
Lleida, La Seu Vella, #31, Catalunya, 2020
More interior shots:
Lleida, La Seu Vella, #32, Catalunya, 2020
Lleida, El Seu, #33, Catalunya, 2020
Lleida, La Seu Vella, #35, Catalunya, 2020
I’ll offer this up as a translation challenge to a truly endangered species–the classical scholar:
Lleida, La Seu Vella, #37, Catalunya, 2020
In this photograph, a lot of the more recent restoration can be seen:
Lleida, La Seu Vella, #39, Catalunya, 2020
Back outside for more exterior shots and a city view:
Lleida, La Seu Vella, #46, Catalunya, 2020
Lleida, La Seu Vella, #48, Catalunya, 2020
Lleida, La Seu Vella, #49, Catalunya, 2020
Lleida, La Seu Vella, #50, Catalunya, 2020
More amazing erosion at the entrance/exit:
Lleida, La Seu Vella, #51, Catalunya, 2020
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