Cathedral by the sea

Filming of the television series began in the summer of 2016 and ended in December of that year. 2500 people were involved, 220 animals and 2000 costumes were sewn. Nearly 80% of the scenes were filmed outdoors, including in front of the Cathedral of Santa Maria del Mar in Barcelona, ​​as well as in Extremadura , Castile La Mancha , Castile and Leon , Madrid , Aragon and Catalonia .

The project was created by many people who previously worked on the Isabella series (one of the most successful and famous Spanish historical television series in the world): director Jordi Frades, producers Haume Banakolocha and Joan Bas, cameraman Theo Delgado, composer Federico Husid, artists the costumes of Marcelo Pacheco and Pepe Reyes, edited by Carlos H. Sanavia. The star of the Isabella television series Michelle Henner performed one of the most significant female roles in The Cathedral by the Sea.

The plot of the series as a whole quite accurately follows the literary source and describes the life of Arnau Estanyola - the son of a dependent peasant who achieved a high position in society. The story begins in 1320 with the wedding of Arnau's parents and covers the period of his life from birth to the elderly.

Arnau's mother was raped by the seigneur, who decided to use the right of the first night , and was forced to become a prostitute. The father escaped, saving his son, and found shelter in the house of his sister and her rich husband in Barcelona. The first years of his life Arnau lived with his cousins, but could not make friends with them. The death of one of the children, who was accused of nine-year-old Arnau, led to the fact that Bernat and his son were expelled from the house of relatives.

Arnau made friends with his peer named Joao, whose father refused him, and his mother was imprisoned for adultery. The boys became named brothers. The execution of Bernat for participating in the rebellion, which he went to feed the children, forced them to settle in life independently. Joan became a monk, and later an inquisitor , and Arnau became a bastard (stone-porter) at the construction of St. Mary's Cathedral by the sea . The fates of the brothers were divided; Juan left Barcelona to study, and Arnau, torn between his wife and mistress, fled from both and became a soldier.

Returning to Barcelona as a mature man, he discovered that the city was devastated by the plague , and his wife was dead. During the Jewish pogrom, Arnau saved Jewish children, for which their father generously rewarded him, helped to become a money changer and start his own business. Arnau became rich, for his services to the crown he received the position of sea consul and pupil of the king as a wife. Arnau, in love with his adopted daughter Mar, neglected his wife, who in return hated him.

As a result of the conspiracy, Arnau almost became a victim of the Inquisition , but old friends helped him escape and maintain his position in society. At the end of the series, in 1384, the sixty-three-year-old Arnau with his wife Mar and a grown-up son look at the fully completed Cathedral by the Sea, which was built throughout their lives.