The Gothic door of the Apostles, also undergoing restoration, was built in the 14th century, and designed to be the monumental entrance to the cathedral. It owes its name to the twelve apostles whose images once presided over it. All the images were smashed to bits during the Civil War. The same thing happened to the statue of the Virgin which used to top the central pedestal, although this image was subsequently reconstructed. This Virgin is known popularly as the Virgin Blau since, as the name indicates, the statue’s forehead sports a bruise (blau means “bruise” in Catalan).

Do you want to know why? Legend has it that when the images on this door were being sculpted, the master sculptor directing the work left on a trip but, to keep the work going, he ordered one of his apprentices to sculpt the Virgin’s face. When he came back from his trip and saw the perfectly modelled face his apprentice had created, the master sculptor lost his mind. Furious with envy, he grabbed a hammer and threw it at the Virgin’s face, hitting her on the forehead and producing a bruise. However, the master sculptor’s luck was much worse, since, according to the legend, the hammer rebounded and killed him.

Currently, the Virgin Blau can be seen in front of the main altar of the other cathedral of Lleida, the Seu Nova.