Courtyard of the Forn de la Canonja

The Forn de la Canonja is a 15th-century building, dating back to a time when the area was part of the Canonry of Santa María, now the Tortosa Cathedral. As the name suggests, the building housed the oven where the bread for the canons was baked.

The oven itself occupied the space of the current covered terrace, where the chimney and part of the opening for inserting firewood and coal are still preserved. One of its entrances leads to Plaça Palau, where the Palau gate is located. In that era, this was the only large entrance to the temple, as the l’Olivera gate and the baroque façade gate were added later, in the 17th and 18th centuries.

In the mid-15th century, due to the construction of the new Gothic cathedral that would replace the old Romanesque building, the oven was moved right next to the temple’s refectory.

Currently, in the courtyard of the Forn de la Canonja, you can see newly constructed stairs that connect the two floors of the Cathedral Museum. At the Palau gate, there is a replica of the figure of the Christ of Palau. The original piece, from the 15th-16th centuries, was restored and moved to the permanent exhibition in the cathedral.