GERONA, a city of Spain, the chief town of the province of Gerona (one of the four into which Catalonia was divided), is situated about 54 miles N.E. of Barcelona on the railway to Perpignan in France, near the junction of the Ter and the Ona. The older part of the town occupies the steep slope of the hill of the Capuchins, and with its old-fashioned buildings presents a picturesque appearance against a background of loftier heights; while the newer portion stretches down into the plain and beyond the river, which adds to the effect of the scene by a bridge of three arches. The old city walls with their bastions still remain, though in a dilapidated state; and the hill is crowned by what were at one time very strong fortifications. At present Gerona is a comparatively insignificant place, although it is the seat of a bishop, has four parish churches, an instituto, a seminary, a public library, and a theatre, numbers about 15,000 inhabitants, and carries on the manufacture of paper and cotton and woollen goods. To the ecclesiologist, however, it offers unusual attractions. The cathedral is one of the grandest specimens of Gothic architecture in Spain, the nave being the widest pointed vault in Christendom, as it measures no less than 73 feet from side to side, while Albi, the next in size, is only 58 feet, and Westminster Abbey is only 38. The old cathedral on the same site was used as a mosque by the Moors, and on their expulsion in 1015 it appears to have been very greatly modified, if not entirely rebuilt. During the 14th century new works were again carried out on an extensive scale; but it was not till the beginning of the 15th that the proposal to erect the present magnificent nave was originated by the master of the works, Gullielmo Boffiy. “The keystone of the ...last division of the vault,” says Mr Street, “seems to have been placed in the time of Bishop Benito, so lateas circa 1559,” and in 1581 the same bishop laid the first stone of the bell tower. “At the east end of the nave three arches open into the choir and its aisles, which with their many subdivisions give an extraordinary impression of size to the vast vault of the nave, and make it look larger than it really is.” The general appearance of the exterior is rather ungainly, but there is a fine approach by a flight of 86 step3 to the façade, which rises in tiers and terminates in an oval rose-window. Among the interior decorations the most remarkable is the retablo and baldachin of the 14th century; and among the tombs may be mentioned those of Bishop Berenger (oδ. 1408), Ramon Berenger (Cap de Estopa), and the Countess Ermesinda {pb. 1057). The collegiate church of San Feliu (St Felix) is mainly of the 14th century, but it was considerably modified in the 16th, and its façade dates from the 18th. It is one of the few Spanish churches that can boast of a genuine spire, and it thus forms a striking feature in the general view of the town. Besides the tomb of Alvarez and the sepulchre of the patron saint, it contains an image of St Narciso, which, according to the local superstition, had the power of producing swarms of poisonous flies, as was sufficiently proved by the destruction of the French investing the city in 1285 and again in 1684. The Benedictine church of San Pedro de los Gallos is an interesting Romanesque building of early date; and in the same vicinity is a small church worthy of notice as a rare Spanish example of a transverse triapsal plan.
Gerona is the ancient Geruηdα, a city of the Ausetani. It boasts that it is the place in which St Paul and St James first rested when they came to Spain; and it became the see of a bishop about 247. For a considerable period it was in the hands of the Moors, and their emir, Soleiman, was in alliance with Pepin about 759. It was taken by Charlemagne in 785; but the Moors regained and sacked it in 795, and it was not till 1015 that they were finally expelled. At a later date it gave the title of count to the king of Aragon’s eldest son. Into the details of its later vicissitudes it is needless to enter; but its historians tell how it has been besieged no fewer than twenty-five times in all, and that only four of the sieges have resulted in its capture. The investment by the French under Marshal Hocquisicourt in 1653, that of 1684 by the French under Marshal Belfond, and the successful enterprise of Marshal Noailles in 1694, are the three great events of the 17th century. Surrendered by the French at the peace of Ryswick, it was again captured by Marshal Noailles in 1706, after a brilliant defence; and in 1717 it held out against the Austrians. But its noblest resistance was yet to be made. In May 1809 it was besieged by the French, with 35,000 troops, under Verdier, Augereau, and St Cyr; forty batteries were erected against it, and a heavy bombardment maintained; but under the leadership of Mariano Alvarez it held out till famine and fever compelled a capitulation on 12th December. The French, it is said, had spent 20,000 bombs and 60,000 cannon balls, and their loss was estimated at 15,000 men.
See Juan Gaspar Roig y Jalpi, Besinnen de las Grandezas, &c., Barcelona, 1678; J. A. Nieto y Samaniego, Memorias, Tarragona, 1810; Street, Gothic Architecture in Spain.
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