Basílica de Santa Maria

The Basílica de Santa Maria is a Gothic church in Castelló d'Empúries, a small market town in Catalonia's Girona province, and one of the most substantial examples of Catalan Gothic architecture in the region. Despite its cathedral-like scale, it was always a parish church — a fact that makes the ambition of its proportions particularly striking. On 15 August 2006, Pope Benedict XVI elevated it to the rank of basilica minor, formally recognising its ecclesiastical significance. Protected as a Bé Cultural d'Interès Nacional, the highest heritage category in Catalonia, the church retains a largely intact Gothic interior with the wide, hall-like nave characteristic of the Catalan Gothic tradition.