Palace of the Generalitat of Catalonia

In 1289, the Catalan 'Corts' or Parliament – considered as of the year 1300 as representing the totality or 'generality' (Generalitat) of Catalonia – formed a commission to collect the taxes that the Corts granted the king.

It consisted of deputies from the three estates: military or noble, ecclesiastical, and popular or royal (representatives of the guilds and citizens of towns directly subject to the king).

At the start of the 15th century, that Diputació del General, or Generalitat, replaced to some degree royal power by implementing the decisions of the Catalan Corts.

The exercise of these functions gave rise to the oldest part of the current Palau de la Generalitat (1403), one of the few mediaeval buildings in Europe that is still today the seat of the institution that originally built it.

The Statute of Autonomy of 1932 granted Catalonia a parliament, its own justice system (with the Tribunal de Cassació or High Court), and its own police force.

In 1934, his successor, President Lluís Companys, completed the unification of autonomous political power through the suppression of the provincial civil governors, a role created by the Madrid Government in the 19th century.

Its president, Lluís Companys, defender of Republican constitutional legality, was tried by a court martial, sentenced to death and shot at Montjuïc Castle (1940).

The original façade of the building, facing the Carrer del Bisbe, was also built in the flamboyant Gothic style, as was the chapel of Sant Jordi.

[1] The four dark granite columns of the main entrance were originally sculpted in Troy and brought first, together with 45 more, to Tarragona on the occasion of Emperor Hadrian's stay in the city, which took place during the winter of 122–123 DC.

[3] After the War of Spanish Succession and the Nueva Planta Decree in 1716, the Royal Audience established its headquarters at the Palau, without taking much account of the rich architecture of the building.

Later, in the 19th century, the architect Miquel Garriga i Roca was commissioned to do some building repairs, mainly on the façade on the Carrer de Sant Honorat and the Gothic gallery.