La Seu Vella de Lleida, a photo from Lleida, Catalogne

Photographer's Note

The city of Lleida (Lérida in Spanish) is the second largest city of Catalonia population wise, but it doesn't attract many visitors, at least compared with the rest of Catalonia, however I am surprised that it is so poorly represented in TE.

La Seu Vella means "The Old Cathedral". Its construction began in 1203, on the place where there stood the main mosque of the city, which had been built in 832 on the place of an older Visigoth church. It is a mix of Romanesque and Gothic in style and its construction only finished in the 15th century. It stop being used as a cathedral in the early 18th century, when it began being used as a military fortress (see below), something that only ended in 1948. A new cathedral was built in the down town between 1761 and 1781.

The town had some importance in the past, having been the capital of an Iberian kingdom, the Ilergetes, who were allies of the Carthaginians during the Punic Wars that opposed the latter to the Romans in the 3rd and 2nd century BC. In 49 BC Julius Caesar fought a battle outside its city walls during the second Roman civil war. The city had some importance during the Roman period. The Visigoths ruled there from the late 4th century until the arrival of the Muslim forces in the early 8th century. Throughout the 9th to early 12th centuries, it was the capital of a Muslim kingdom that ended when the Almoravids conquered the Al-Andalus (the Muslim possessions in Iberia) in the first years of the 12th century. In 1149 it was conquered by Ramon Berenguer IV, a Christian prince who ruled much of what is now Catalonia.

The town was in great decline in the early years of the 18th century, when during the War of the Spanish Succession it aligned with the coalition that was formed against the claims of Philip V, a grandson of Louis XIV, to the Spanish throne. Following the victory of Philip in 1707, he ordered that the cathedral was completely destroyed as a punishment to the city and because it had been a key defence stronghold because of its strategic location on a hill overlooking the whole region. The order was never followed through, maybe because the whole area of the cathedral kept being used by the military until 1948. Another punitive action taken by Philip V was the shutdown and demolition of the university that had been established in 1297.

Question: Do you notice any magenta or red cast on the sky? When I use the supposedly correct colour profile of my monitor in Gimp, I notice it, but it doesn't show in other programs.

WS: a view of the door that stands near the lower right corner.

Location (latitude, longitude): 41.6179,0.62765

ribeiroantonio, Morac, Emile, gracious, feather, robiuk, lucasgalodoido, adores, parbo, trekks, danos, ilDottore, Didi, Docarmo, riclopes, JCG, pablominto, Charo, josepmarin, Pitoncle, foldvarygery trouve(nt) cette note utile

Critiques | Translate

ribeiroantonio (22730) 2008-11-02 20:06

Primeiro, eu não noto nenhuma tonalidade magenta ou vermelha no céu, que acho que até está muito azulinho e também muito limpinho, sem grão algum. Aliás toda a foto é bastante boa apesar da torre estar ligeiramente inclinada.
Gosto muito da nota que está verdadeiramente informativa. E hoje, como é que o edifício é usado? Voltou a ser a catedral?
António

[workshop] [compare] +

cuneyt-sb (6576) 2008-11-02 21:28

Hi Stego
Long time i didnt pass from TE,
HAd many work and etc.
İm back , nice to see all my friends around,
Good compo and lovely blue captured,
Congrats

Morac (27725) 2008-11-02 21:57

Bonjour José,

La superbe lumière permet de bien mettre en évidence l'architecture de cette cathédrale et la majesté du clocher s'élançant vers ce ciel d'azur.
Bonne journée
Marc

Rafer (0) 2008-11-03 4:18

Interesante imagen llena de luz y con unas notas insuperables..saludos

Emile (20352) 2008-11-03 7:45

Hola Jose.
Muy buena foto captada con excelentes detalles y un gran foco, tiene muy buenos colores y una gran perspectiva desde tu POV.
La catedral tiene una arquitectura sobria, fuerte como podemos observar en tu WS de la puerta. Gracias por tu interesante nota.
Abrazos mi amigo.

sunamoon (10) 2008-11-03 10:06

Me gusta esos contraste y al fondo la torre gotica,
es interesante su estructura, desde la torre tiene que haber unas vistas maravillosas, buen equilibrio de la foto, buen trabajo.

Un saludo,
Elena

carmia (5482) 2008-11-03 10:28

Bellisima imagen de la Seo, un encuadre y definicion excelentes. Saludos. cARME.

gracious (20025) 2008-11-03 10:43

Ola Stego,
Excellent image of architectur against the beautiful blue sky, what a awesome colour contrast indeed!
the image is so sharp with every details on the structure spot on!
thank for the notes regarding this place as well
greeting
Tony

luighi (5303) 2008-11-03 10:58

Hola Jose , espectacular la imagen , si señor , eres un gran maestro del que aprender.Perfecto manejo de luz y del color y una definicion excelente .

Un abrazo amigo.

Luis

feather (51130) 2008-11-03 13:33

There's no magenta colour cast on my monitor. I've noticed many times that the auto colour correct feature actually gives my images a colour cast. Best to rely on your eyes, although I must say I'm notoriously bad for spotting colour casts. The architecture of the "old cathedral" is wonderful and you have captured it in great detail. I also like the close detail view in the WS. It looks like it was worth making a detour from the normal tourists places.
You take the prize for the most links!;D
Kath

robiuk (10807) 2008-11-03 15:49

Ola, Jose!
your post made me wish to go online and book a ticket to
Spain only to see this place.
I like the way you framed this one and the sky is perfectly
alright (no red/magenta cast when seen on my monitor).
Cheers,
Robi

lucasgalodoido (26918) 2008-11-03 16:27

Olá José,
acho interessante como mesmo sendo países tão próximo, Espanha e Portugal tenham arquiteturas tão distintas. Aqui você capturou bem detalhes dessa Igreja, e gostei das cores também. Belo trabalho amigo.
Parabéns e Abraço

adores (46979) 2008-11-03 17:30

Olá José!
O céu está muito bonito e o pov muito bem escolhido! Gosto dos detalhes góticos e a nitidez da pedra ficou muito boa. Por agum motivo há locais bastante esquecidos no TE e às vezes até são bem interessantes.

parbo (11092) 2008-11-03 17:59

Olá José,

Details and sharpness are eye catching on La Seu Vella. This is an interesting architecture with differently colored tones on facades and precise stone works. I liked also your wider view for showing the entrance.

Parabéns e Abraço!

Ertugrul

rakeshgupta (2672) 2008-11-03 20:53

Hi Jose,
Thanks for the detailed notes on this nice architecture. I really liked the sharpness here but a little less would be much better particularly where the high tower is meeting the sky.
I like the way you managed the perspective with relation to the horizontal wall at the bottom most.
I opened the image in GIMP and it is showing perfectly there.
Thanks for sharing.
Rakesh

testmaniac (13508) 2008-11-03 20:58

Hi Stego,very nice architecture photo! Good composition and excellent details.
TFS

Phil

John_F_Kennedy (43797) 2008-11-04 3:21

What a lovely old church which looks like a castle. Excellent shot with nice colours and good composition. I really love these old places with this intersting architecture.
Best wishes,
Achim

zeynepe (0) 2008-11-04 6:41

Ola Jose,
Thanks to you, we have opportunity to visit Lleida :)
The architectural details against the clear blue sky ( no magenta or red :D) looks splendid.
Your note is superb as always, with a very good supporting information.
Warm regards :D
Zeynep

danos (110407) 2008-11-04 8:10

Ola Jose,
nice the perspective of La Seu Vella with it's splendid sharpness and clarity.The placement of the tower in the scene is well managed as your informative and careful note.I like the contrast and the brilliant light of this almost unknown city of Catalonia,among the TE members.Well done.

Have a nice afternoon,Danos

trekks (14348) 2008-11-04 8:27

Ola Jose

I quite like the proportion of the cathedral with the sky, and the tower at the left side rising up high to break the blue.

The color gradient of the sky is well captured without CPL for this saturation. And the DOF is good for the building from left corner to the tower.

tfs, bill

ilDottore (5252) 2008-11-04 14:38

Hi Jose,
Beautiful shot in wonderful natural colours.
Very careful composition.
Also perfect sharpness.
Greetings from Dublin!
Chris

Didi (61589) 2008-11-05 5:13

Salut messire José
Bien que nous avons une vue partielle de cette cathédrale, nous profitons pourn observer certains détails de l'architecture acec cet original campanile, c'est très appréciable.
Amitiés

jmdias (102802) 2008-11-05 15:19

zé

passei ao lado desta cidade umas duas vezes mas nunca pude parar para conhecê-la de perto. gosto muito das formas simples e rústicas da catedral e da torre ao mesmo tempo elegante e de formato diferente. lindo trabalho com foa luz e cores e enquandramento

abraços

jorge

vascao (192) 2008-11-05 17:46

Olá, José
Curioso em uma abertura tão pequena (f/9) um foco tão curto, não? Parece que tanto o primeiro plano como aquele além da torre estão desfocados. O céu me parece perfeitamente azul.
A Catedral é magnífica. A composição, feita de seu ponto de visão, dá uma perspectiva soberba à imagem. Um lugar que eu, sem dúvida, gostaria de conhecer.
[]'s
Sergio

denisn72 (8314) 2008-11-05 17:57

Hi José
An old and impressive cathedral. The point of view is perfect as well as the details. Excellent colours and exposure. I like the style and the architecture of the building. Very informative note and really useful. Well done!
Best regards
Denis!

Docarmo (9767) 2008-11-05 19:36

Olá José,
Gostei deste formato com altura um pouco maior que 600, deu mais peso à imagem, tornando-a mais compatível com a imponência da catedral. Tenha sido por "crop" ou por "stitch", ficou muito bom. Quanto à cor, não vejo "cast", nem magenta, nem vermelho no céu. Há uma mudança para lilás suave no horizonte (à esquerda, ao fundo), que me parece bem natural. Uma foto muito bonita! Também muito bonita a foto do WS, onde, mais uma vez, dás show de "low-angle shot".
Parabéns!
MCV

Graal (103040) 2008-11-05 22:57

Hi Jose,
an interesting place and presentation. Good note and links about theme. I like the WS and quality of photos also. Solid photojob.
Gr., Aleksander

riclopes (35577) 2008-11-06 1:13

Olá José, a torre é espectacular e este ângulo é perfeito para lhe dar relevância rodeado de todo este céu azulinho. A nitidez não é perfeita mas a falta dela lá ao fundo não me incomoda nada e não vejo nenhum 'red cast' no céu que está bem bonito. O WS é daqueles ângulos que eu gosto de ver, embora aí se note mais falta de nitidez de imagem - se calhar estavas num dia de tremuras... ;-) Quanto à correcção de perspectiva e vejo que estas conversas nunca mais vão acabar pois há sempre diferentes opiniões e gostos...O que vejo aqui parece-me muito bem, mas confesso que o António me convenceu - neste caso é dar prioridade ao objecto principal da imagem que é a torre, por isso é mais agradável vê-la totalmente direita mesmo que não seja o mais 'natural' para este PDV. Seja como for esta foto está linda.
Um abraço,
ricardo

JCG (35153) 2008-11-06 11:28

Bonsoir José,

Tout d'abord merci pour cette complète et instructive accompagnant cette belle et lumineuse photo de cette architecture riche en détail. Pour ma part je ne note pas dans l'image de dominante magenta dans le ciel, son très beau bleu met bien en évidence ce grand clocher. Merci José.

Avec toutes mes amitiés et une très bonne soirée,

Jean-Charles

pablominto (53746) 2008-11-09 2:37

Hello Jose,

The holy buildings have seen many destinies up through the centuries!
I like the point of view and the resulting composition, and the fine light results in impressive sharpness in all details...
Good colour palette, well framed!

Greetings,
Pablo -

Bluejeans (64251) 2008-11-09 11:53

Oi amigo ,
Que magnifico contraste entre a igreja e o céu , é bem antiga pela sua arquitectura , bons detalhes , deve ser um lugar muito interessante para visitar , parabéns!!!
Um abraço Gonçalo

Charo (51290) 2008-11-10 12:13

Hola Jose,
Ya veo que este verano pasado, te movistes por diferentes lugares de España. He leído lo que te pregunta Antonio y he de decir por lo que se, que su uso es el de una catedral normal, no en vano es la primera catedral cristiana (no se si del mundo o sólo de España), sus primera construcción data del año 832.
El punto de vista no me convence mucho ya que no se ven los bajos del edificio, se que desde la parte de abajo en la ciudad, hay una perspectiva magnífica. Pero me gusta como resalta la torre sobre el resto del edificio.
La luz y los detalles, excelentes.
Um abraço,
Charo

paura (25802) 2008-11-11 3:55

José,
Beleza de céu, amigo. Qual a marca do polarizador que vc utiliza? A construção é magnífica e o resultado final muito bom.

Abraço

Paulo

josepmarin (59385) 2008-11-19 9:04

Olá José,
elegante toma de esta maravilla de Seu Vella en Lleida. Yo cumplí con mi servicio militar obligatorio en esta ciudad, y cada día subíamos al amanecer a este lugar para hacer la instrucción. El frío que he pasado en invierno aquí!!!
Me gusta tu foto, el encuadre es muy bueno, la luz y el colorido están perfectos, y me trae muchos recuerdos.
Un abrazo,
Josep

Pitoncle (3745) 2008-11-23 8:38

Bonjour José,
Très agréable publication bien composée et où le sujet est valorisé sans aberration dans l'élévation ; une belle lumière éclaire la scène et permet de discerner la finesse des détails architecturaux.
A bientôt sur TE pour de nouvelles aventures.
Gérard

xuaxo (6854) 2009-07-07 9:17

Olá José,
Bonitos detalhes, principalmente na torre. Acho que a foto tem boa nitidez, excepto o canto inferior esquerdo.
Cumprimentos,
Francisco