Editing Girona (section)

== Main sights ==

{{See also|Category:Museums in Girona}}

Girona is a popular destination for tourists and Barcelona day-trippers - the train journey from Barcelona Sants to Girona takes approximately forty minutes on high-speed trains, eighty with express ones and ninety with regional ones. The old town stands on the steep hill of the Caputxins to the east of the river Onyar, while the more modern section stands on the plains to the west. The city has a number of ''[[Art Nouveau]]'' buildings including the ''Farinera Teixidor'' by Rafael Masó.

=== Cathedral ===
[[File:Cathedral in Girona.JPG|thumb|upright|Girona cathedral during the annual flower exhibition]]
The ancient cathedral, which stood on the site of the present one, was used by the Moors as a mosque, and after their final expulsion was either entirely remodelled or rebuilt. The [[Girona Cathedral|present edifice]] is one of the most important monuments of the school of the Majorcan architect Jaume Fabre and an excellent example of Catalan Gothic architecture. It is approached in ninety steps. An aisle and chapels surround the choir, which opens by three arches into the nave, of which the pointed stone vault is the widest in Christendom (22 meters). Among its interior decorations is a retable which is the work of the Valencian silversmith Pere Bernec. It is divided into three tiers of statuettes and reliefs, framed in canopied niches of cast and hammered silver. A gold and silver altar-frontal was carried off by the French in 1809. The cathedral contains the tombs of [[Ramon Berenguer II, Count of Barcelona|Ramon Berenguer]] and his wife.

=== Old fortifications ===
The old fortifications are another popular sight. Historically, these have played a vital role in protecting Girona from invaders for hundreds of years. The city wall of the old town was an important military construction built in Roman times in the 1st century BC. It was thoroughly rebuilt under the reign of Peter III the Ceremonious in the second half of the 14th century. The Roman wall was used as a foundation. At the start of the 16th century, the wall was absorbed into the city. The walled precinct lost its military value. Bit by bit, the wall was degrading, as parts were gradually altered from the inside and the outside. The walls and lookout towers that make up these fortifications are split in two - a small section to the north of the old town and a much larger section to the east and south. It is possible to walk the walls and climb the towers, where visitors can enjoy panoramic views of Girona and the surrounding countryside.

=== Sant Feliu ===
[[File:Girona 095.JPG|thumb|upright|The Collegiate Church of Sant Feliu, as seen from the river Onyar]]
The [[Collegiate Church]] of [[Church of St. Felix, Girona|Sant Feliu]] is noteworthy from an architectural point of view. Its style is 14th-century Gothic, the façade dating from the 18th, and it is one of the few Spanish churches that possesses a genuine spire. It contains, besides the sepulchre of its patron and the tomb of the valiant Álvarez, a chapel dedicated to St. Narcissus, who according to tradition was one of the early bishops of the see.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/travel/2002/feb/14/spain.gerona |title=Catalonia got the cream |first=Jon |last=Dennis |date=14 February 2002 |access-date=29 May 2016}}</ref>

=== Sant Pere de Galligants ===
[[File:Sant Pere de Galligants.JPG|thumb|left|upright|Sant Pere de Galligants]]
The [[Benedictine]] church of the monastery of [[Sant Pere de Galligants]] is in the early Romanesque style, dating to about the year 1130, though the monastery dates to about 950. The monastery slightly predates the [[Monastery of St. Daniel (Girona)|Monastery of St. Daniel]].

=== Plaça de la Independència ===
[[File:Girona 007.JPG|thumb|right|The Independence Square monument honors the city's defenders during the sieges of 1808 and 1809.]]
The Plaça de la Independència is one of the best-known and busiest squares in Girona. Located in the Mercadal district in the city centre, it is also known as Plaça de Sant Agustí, after the former Convent of Sant Agustí. Its name refers to the 1808–1814 War of Spanish Independence, part of the larger [[Peninsular War]], against [[Napoleon|Napoleon Bonaparte]].

The interest of the square lies in its 19th-century style, despite its being surrounded by identical austere neoclassical buildings with porches dedicated to the defenders of the city of Girona during the [[Third Siege of Girona|1808 and 1809 sieges]].
 
However, the symmetrical proportions of the square correspond more to contemporary interventions than its architectural past. The municipal architect Martí Sureda was the first to conceive an arcaded square with closed and neoclassical loops, and with some buildings having matching aesthetic proportions. The development of the area followed this scheme only in part. The construction of the first theatres in the city transgressed the concept of Martí Sureda. Until the 18th century, what that architect had imagined could not be completed. This part of the city in [[Noucentisme]] style is a romantic and timeless creation that nowadays captivates inhabitants and visitors. Today the area has great vitality because of the spread of cafés and restaurants, including some businesses well known for their history like the Café Royal, Cinema [[Albéniz]] and [[Casa Marieta]].<ref>{{cite web |title = Diari de Girona / 20 d'agost del 2000|url = http://streaming.ajgirona.org:9090/pandora/cgi-bin/Pandora.exe?xslt=show_pdf;publication=Diari%20de%20Girona;sort_publication=diari.de.girona;day=20;mes=08;año=2000;page=006;id=0000258777;filename=20000820;collection=pages;url_high=pages/Diari%20de%20Girona/2000/200008/20000820/20000820006.pdf;lang=ca;pdf_parameters=search=%22marieta%22&view=FitH;encoding=utf-8 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20141104001329/http://streaming.ajgirona.org:9090/pandora/cgi-bin/Pandora.exe?xslt=show_pdf;publication=Diari%20de%20Girona;sort_publication=diari.de.girona;day=20;mes=08;a%C3%B1o=2000;page=006;id=0000258777;filename=20000820;collection=pages;url_high=pages/Diari%20de%20Girona/2000/200008/20000820/20000820006.pdf;lang=ca;pdf_parameters=search=%22marieta%22&view=FitH;encoding=utf-8 |url-status = dead |archive-date = 2014-11-04 }}</ref>

=== Cases de l'Onyar ===
[[File:Casas del Oñar (Cases de l'Onyar) en Gerona o Girona. Cataluña, España.jpg|thumb|Houses on the river Onyar]]

Characteristic of Girona are the picturesque houses overlooking the river Onyar. These were built over many years and give the flavour of a small Mediterranean city. The façanes are painted according to a palette created by Enric Ansesa, James J. Faixó and the architects Fuses and J. Viader.

One of these houses (at Ballesteries 29, Girona) is [[Masó House|Casa Masó]], the birthplace of the architect [[Rafael Masó i Valentí|Rafael Masó]] and an example of [[Noucentisme]] in Girona. Since 2006 it has been the headquarters of the [http://www.rafaelmaso.org Fundació Rafael Masó]. The river façade can be recognised by its unique white color.

=== Jewish heritage ===
[[File:Jewish Quarter Gerona.jpg|thumb|upright|A lane in the Jewish Quarter. Girona's Jewish community was lost as a result of the Expulsion.]]
Today, the historic Jewish quarter or ''Call'' has been restored. In 1492 the Jewish community was forced to choose between conversion and expulsion. After the Jews left, the neighborhood was sealed off and new houses were built over the old ones.<ref name="Alberch"/> When the dictator Francisco Franco died in November 1975, interest in the region's cultural history was revived. Some of the old buildings were excavated leading to the discovery of the home of [[Nahmanides]], which was sold to the city in 1987.<ref name=":0">{{Cite news |title=Catalonia Pays Homage to Nachmanides |url=https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/culture/2005-02-01/ty-article/catalonia-pays-homage-to-nachmanides/0000017f-ded0-db22-a17f-fef1231f0000 |access-date=2024-01-10 |work=Haaretz |language=en}}</ref>

A rectangular indentation that once held a [[mezuzah]] can be seen on the doorway of an old building on Carrer de Sant Llorenç, while Centre Bonastruc ça Porta on Carrer de la Força is the site of a 15th century synagogue. The Center hosts the Girona Museum of Jewish History<ref name="JHM">{{cite web |work=Patronat Call de Girona |title=The Museum of Jewish History |url=https://www.girona.cat/call/eng/museu.php |access-date=18 November 2022}}</ref> and the [https://www.girona.cat/call/eng/institut.php Nahmanides Institute for Jewish  Studies].<ref name="Alberch" /> Excavations also turned up 1,200 old documents, including Talmudic commentary, accounts of domestic life, a description of the ancient synagogue and the names of Girona Jews who converted to Christianity in 1492.<ref name=":0" />