The Cathedral of Santa María de Gerona is located at the highest point in the city; It has the widest Gothic nave in the world, with a total width of 22.98 meters. Its construction began in the 11th century in the Romanesque style, continuing in the 13th century with the Gothic, conserving only the Romanesque cloister from the 12th century and the tower from the same period dating from 1040; it was finished in the 18th century.

There is news of the evolution of the cathedral and its different stages of construction from the year 1015, when it was in a sorry and dilapidated state. Bishop Pedro Roger (son of Roger II de Cominges, Count of Carcassonne), and brother of Ermesenda de Carcassona, Countess of Barcelona and Gerona, was in charge of carrying out the important repairs on the walls and wooden roofs. To meet these expenses, he sold the church of San Daniel to his brother-in-law, the Count of Barcelona Ramón Borrell, for which he received 100 ounces of gold.

Four years later, in 1019, he generously endowed the building, with which the works of a cloister and its dependencies could begin, expanding in 1031 and 1064, always in the Romanesque style.

There were also renovating works on the head of the church, which was consecrated again in 1038. Two important works that probably come from the Roussillon workshops date from this date: the episcopal chair and the altar that was also luxuriously covered with gold thanks to a special bequest from Countess Ermesinda of 300 ounces of gold.

The courtyard or primitive cloister was transformed during the 12th century. In 1081, the construction of the bell tower that rested on the south side of the cloister had begun and it was finished in 1117 from the second floor.

At the end of the thirteenth century there was a proposal for works to transform the headboard that was considered insufficient for the liturgical worship of the time. For this purpose, in 1292, the treasurer Guillén Jofré made a donation of 10,000 Catalan salaries. But it was not until 1312 that the project was formalized. The change consisted of the expansion of the head with an ambulatory and nine chapels commissioned from Enrique de Narbona.

Once this space was finished, the architect Guillermo Monry continued the extension of the section of the choir immediately to the presbytery, completing this work in 1368. At this point it was necessary to unite the new part with the Romanesque floor by means of a transverse nave that would serve as cruising.

In 1417 the master of the cathedral Guillermo Bofill took charge of the new construction, imposing a reasoned criterion as to the technique to be followed. This is how the huge nave was built, measuring 50 m long by 23 m wide and 34 m high.

The master Bofill did not see the work completed as the last section was built as early as the sixteenth century, by master José Ferrer. In 1604 the Romanesque frontispiece that was still preserved was demolished.