\b0 The cathedral overlooks the whole city of Tarragona from a hilltop. It stands on the s
ite occupied by a temple of Jupiter in the \b \cf4 \ATXht170 Roman\b0 \cf0 \ATXht0 era and later, by an Arab\b \b0 mosque, bearing witness to the layers of different civilizations, styles, and cultures that are characteristic of Spanish art.\par
The c
athedral was built between 1120 and 1330. While the apse, still in the \b \cf4 \ATXht175 Romanesque \b0 \cf0 \ATXht0 style, has the appearance of a fortress, in the rest of the church it is possible to follow the evolution of the \b \cf4 \ATXht175 Gothic\cf0 \ATXht0 \b0 style, from its early sober and austere forms to the ornamental excess of Flamboyant Gothic.\par
The majestic facade has a beautiful double portal decorated with statues of saints and surmounted by a delicate thirteenth-century rose wind
ow.\par
The interior, with a nave and two aisles, is filled with \b \cf4 \ATXht178 Plateresque\cf0 \ATXht0 \b0 and baroque works. One of the chapels in the apse houses the \i Retable of St Thecla\i0 , patron of the city, so finely carved and engraved t
hat it resembles a work of goldsmith's art (1430).\par
