The University of Miami Frost Chorale, under the direction of Dr. Joshua Habermann, will perform at Barcelona's Santa Maria del Mar on Tuesday, May 17, 2011 at 8 PM.The first communities in what is now Barcelona were founded within the confines of the seaport, overlooking the "Mare Nostrom" and its old church in which Barcelona’s co-patron Saint Eulalia’s relics were buried in A.D. 303 following her martyrdom. This church, combined with a succession of churches on site, was referred to as "Santa Maria de las Arenas". During the Middle Ages, the first homes outside the walls emerged as the sailing quarter and ultimately led to the creation of the “La Ribera” district, of which Santa Maria de las Arenas became the community’s parish. The devout members of the parish pledged to construct a beautiful church on the existing site. On March 25, 1329, the first stone was laid on the site of the present Santa Maria del Mar, also known as the “Cathedral of the Sea,” located on Santa Maria Street in Barcelona. The temple was consecrated by the Bishop of Barcelona, Pere de Planella, on August 15, 1384. It took fifty-four years of continuous construction to complete the structure. The basilica’s Catalan Gothic style, a style characteristic of purity and unity, is very unique for a medieval building of its massive size. The construction of Santa Maria del Mar even served as the background inspiration for the best-selling novel La cathedral del mar, published by Spanish author Ildefonso Falcones in 2006. Tourist reviews of the site not only compliment the beauty of the structure itself, but also rave about the acoustics of the interior. Many visit the church merely to attend musical performances.
