Tortosa: The Only Renaissance Patio in Catalonia

Tortosa sits on the Ebro at the head of its delta. Its cathedral stands on the site of a Romanesque one begun in 1158; the first stone of the Gothic cathedral was laid in May 1347, and the Baroque façade begun in the 1620s was left unfinished in 1757. Round the corner the Reials Col·legis are the most important Renaissance buildings in Catalonia: the college of Sant Jaume and Sant Maties was begun in 1564 to educate young converted Muslims, and after the Moriscos were expelled in 1610 it took in the poor boys of the city instead. Its courtyard is the first, and only, Renaissance patio in Catalonia.