The Gothic District is the central heart of the medieval part of Barcelona city and was surrounded by walls until the middle of the 19th century.

Through its labyrinth of ancient streets, we reach the Cathedral, whose origins date back to the 13th century. Construction on the current cathedral began in 1298, under Archbishop Bernat Pelegrí and the government of King Jaume II "The Just". The work on the Cathedral’s current facade remained unfinished until the end of the last century; it was architects J.O.Mestres and August Font i Carreras who finished the work, taking inspiration from a drawing from the 15th century by Mestre Carlí.

The nearby Plaça del Rei is the historic centre of the district where the Museu d’Història de la Ciutat (The City History Museum) is found. Plaça del Rei is the most noble of old Barcelona’s city sites. At one end, the facade of the Palau Reial Major (Royal Palace) rises up and the Salón del Tinell is located.

This district is the historic and political centre of Barcelona. In Plaça de Sant Jaume, we find the city hall and the Palau de la Generalitat, the seat of the Catalonian Government.

Constructed between 1329 and 1383, Santa María del Mar is one of Barcelona’s gothic churches, located in the Ribera area. The master builders were Berenguer de Montagut and Ramón Despuig.

It appears that the whole Ribera population actively took part in the construction, in particular the dockers, known as the “robbers of Ribera”, who carried the enormous rocks needed to construct the church one by one on their backs, from the beaches and the boats that had brought them to Barcelona up to the Born square itself.