On the site of a Romanesque predecessor, Manresa's elegantly austere basilica is a gem of Catalan Gothic architecture, commissioned in 1322 yet 160 years in the making. Beneath its 1592 bell tower, an original Romanesque entryway leads into the neoclassical 18th-century cloister, strung around a 19th-century (also neoclassical) chapel with a Gothic portal. In the sombre interior, you'll find four impressive Gothic altarpieces and Catalonia's second-widest nave (after that of Girona's cathedral).
The basilica's museum opens Sunday only (noon to 1.30pm). From the walled hilltop grounds, there are views down to the 12th- to 13th-century Pont Vell, the bridge where St Ignatius is said to have first arrived in Manresa.
