Building images of prosperity: The Catalan Merchant Hall of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries (Spain)

The emergence of new civic building types in late medieval Europe is a testament to the tremendous growth of cities at this time. The role of these buildings in the life of the city remains obscure today, however, due to the emphasis of medieval studies on ecclesiastical art and architecture. This dissertation brings to light one form of this new civil architecture, the Llotja de Mar, or maritime merchant hall, of the late medieval Crown of Aragon. The Llotja was a center for wholesale trade, banking, and the governing of the port, which was first conceived in fourteenth-century Barcelona during a time of economic crisis. In the dissertation, I argue that the citizens of Barcelona constructed the Llotja to create an image of prosperity for their city, hoping to resolve economic tensions and improve their prospects in foreign trade. Both the architectural form and the functions of the Llotja in Barcelona are analyzed and reconstructed, in order to assess the impact of the new institution on the economy of the late medieval city. The image the Llotja projected architecturally functioned both as signifier of the new status of the merchant in society and as herald of the prosperous city in the fifteenth century.