Chapel of Saint Olegarius
This chapel occupies the Romanesque apse bay on the right and dates from the 13th century. The figure of St. Olegarius stands on a high- relief frontal representing the saint granting the fiefdom of Tarragona to Prince Robert d’Aguiló. Both were carved by Francesc Bonifàs i Massó in the 18th century and were part of the original retable that was dismantled in 1936.
The column on the left has some polychrome remnants of hangings adorning the lower part of the apse, and beside them is one of the walls that flanked the door onto the old choir; it is crowned by carved corbels and heraldic emblems. The cathedral belltower stands over this chapel.
Gardens and hermitage of Santa Tecla la Vella
The space of the Garden of Santa Tecla is located where two thousand years ago the Imperial Cult Enclosure was erected, presided over by the Temple of Augustus. In the 6th century, during the Visigothic period, the northern sector was transformed into an episcopal space with the cathedral, the baptistery, the cemetery and the episcopal palace. After the Islamic period and with the Christian restoration of the city in the 12th century, the space once again became a cemetery in the shadow of the medieval cathedral. In the middle of the 13th century, the hermitage dedicated to Santa Tecla was built, called “la Vieja” to distinguish it from the cathedral of Santa Tecla that was still being built, with a funerary and liturgical function, possibly initially linked to the neighboring Hospital de Santa Tecla.
The plan of the chapel is rectangular. The entrance is decorated as a triumphal arch, with a granite stone tympanum. Two ribbed semicircular bodies are supported by corbels and pillars with capitals and laurel leaf crowns decorated with plant motifs. The front wall is decorated with two arches with checkered motifs. The sobriety of the architecture and decoration denote the artistic influence of the Cistercian order so present in the territory. In the 14th century, a higher chapel was added to its eastern part, transforming the plan of the building into an “L” shape.
The chapel, over time, was used to bury bishops, illustrious canons and other personalities: Archbishop Bernat de Olivella (a trusted man of King James I), Canon Bernat de Ribes (died in 1320) or the hospitable Joan Ferrer de Busquets (died in 1491, whose funerary coffin still preserves the polychromy). The chapel is presented to us as a magnificent example of funerary art of all times: a holy sepulcher from the 16th century, from the Escaladei charterhouse; a sarcophagus with strigilada decoration from the 4th century, perhaps reused by a deceased from the Visigothic or medieval times, etc. Some medieval nobles also carved their recumbent portraits, such as the 14th century knight of the Queralt family. We still have two beautiful tombs from the 16th century, one of the Archdeacon of San Fructuoso, Joan de Soldevila, who died in 1502, and the other of Canon Francesc Vives, who died in 1523. A burial in the pavement, dated 1686, shows that in the chapel laymen such as Isidro Torrell and his relatives were buried. The tomb of King James I, who was inside the cathedral, is also preserved in the chapel. The remains of the monarch arrived at the cathedral in 1843 and remained there until 1952, when they were definitively transferred to the royal pantheon in Poblet.
The chapel also houses other interesting pieces such as the crosses of Vallmoll and Forés, both from the 14th century, the cross of Santa Maria de Maldà from the 15th century or the heraldic group and monumental inscription that presided over the façade of the University of Tarragona, founded in 1572. by Cardinal Gaspar de Cervantes, a relative of the famous writer Miguel de Cervantes. In the garden we can also admire the cross of Tamarit from the 16th century or the monument built in 1913 that crowned a cross, now disappeared, to commemorate the sixteenth centenary of the Edict of Milan in 313, by which the Emperor Constantine tolerated the Christian religion in the Roman Empire.
Belltower and bells
It has three sections: the first, with a square floorplan, was built towards 1200 in the time of the Archbishop Rodrigo Tello; the second –also square– dates from 1316, and is in grey dressed stone, and was financed by the prelate Gimeno de Luna. The final section was built in 1330 on the orders of the Archbishop John of Aragon.
It has a height of 70 metres and contains 19 bells cast between 1250 and 1867. The largest of all –known as the “Capona”– dates from 1509, weighs 5,188 kg and is housed in the belfry on the top. This is the bell that strikes the hours to call worshippers to prayer. There is a spiral staircase to access the bell tower and has different rooms, such as the Monks Room, Clocks Room and Bells Room. The Cathedral preserves seventeen bells and two more beside to the dome.
Bell Room
- “Senyals” from 1250
- “Fructuosa” from 1313
- “Maria Assumpta” from 1314
- “Classica Robertina” from 1315
- “Prima I” or “Ave Maria”, cast by Isidre Fages in 1573
- “Tecla”, cast by Jaume Pallès in 1777
- “Prima II”, cast by Josep Pomarol in 1859
- “Clàssica” or “Maria Immaculada”, cast by Josep Pomarol in 1867
- “Sorda I” or “Maria Immaculada II”, cast by Josep Pomarol in 1867
- “Miserere” or “Micaela”, cast by Ramon Pomarol in 1905
Monk’s Room
- “Les Hores” from 1380
- “Tecla I”, cast by Josep Pomaros in 1867
- “Dels Quarts II”
- “Tecla II”
Beside the dome, there are two more bells:
- “Vedada” or “Ave Maria”, cast by Joan Sorelló in 1728
- “Maria Barbara”, cast by Jaume Mestres in 1772
“Capona” is found on the little temple at the top of the Belltower and is the biggest one, which strikes the hours and the prayers, cast by Antonio Fenodi in 1509 and which weighs 5188 kilos. In the peak of the bell tower there is “dels Quarts”, cast by Antonio Fenodi in 1509.