The horse of Sant Jordi

Point of interest (12) Plaçeta de Moncada.

Now we are on what was the stately main street from the 13^th to the 18^th century. It is Carrer Moncada. Here you will find the Cervelló palace, the three-hole tower, the Palace of the Count of Llió, the Picasso Museum, the Marcus Chapel and the Hostel of Good Luck. All of these buildings have survived over the centuries. Read the legend of The horse of Sant Jordi.

Carrer de les Mosques (“Street of the Flies”) is the narrowest in the city, where there was the old money house. The counts and marquis left their mark on this part of the city with their castles and legends.

Legend: The horse of Sant Jordi and the Duke of Moncada.

In the middle of the Middle Ages, the best Catalan knights took part in the crusades war to free the Holy Land from the hands of non-believers and people against the law of Jesus Christ.

One of the hardest battles was the taking of Antioquia, in which the Catalans played a very active role. Among them was the Duke Moncada; his horse was killed in battle, and it fell to the ground. The duke furiously launched the cry of the Catalans –“Sant Jordi come, come!”

The duke suddenly found next to him a handsome young knight, riding on a fiery white horse covered in a shining golden breastplate, in the middle of which stood out a great red cross. The unknown knight gave him his horse. Moncada found himself riding again, riding towards the walls of the besieged city, sword in hand, thinking.- Perhaps while I am risking my life to get the Moors out of a land that is not mine, back in our lands the Saracens are attacking our land, taking advantage of the fact that the best of us are in distant lands.

Battle

The duke of Moncada dropped his sword with such bravery and fury that he made a large gap in the wall where he entered the city, later followed by many warriors who in the blink of an eye took over the city.

Tired of killing Moors and in the midst of the fury of the battle, he realised that the people were not fighting. So, they threw themselves at his feet to thank him for freeing them from the Moors. They were not people from Antioquia, they were people like those from his land, they spoke like him.

The Duke did not understand what was happening to him, and speaking with the citizens he learned that the city he had conquered was not Antioquia, but Barcelona, in the land of Catalonia. No matter how much he thought about it, he did not know what had happened to him.

The Knight Sant Jordi who he had invoked when he lost his horse, appeared to him, and when he cursed himself for fighting in the Holy Land, thinking that his effort would be better in his lands, Jordi understood his desire and in a breath brought him from the Holy Land to Catalonia and his sword opened a hole in the walls of Barcelona. As a result of his effort the walls of the two cities of Barcelona and Antioquia fell.

Now, after this story let us cross through the streets of artisans. Do not miss the names of the streets in the old Catalonia. These names correspondingly the different trades where craftsmen worked close to each other.