Capella de Sant Sebastià

Capella de Sant Sebastià is a small chapel built into the corner of the Can Ximenes building in the historic center of Mataró, right where Carrer de Barcelona meets Plaça de Santa Anna.

Where exactly is the Chapel of Sant Sebastià in Mataró?

The chapel occupies the ground floor of the Can Ximenes building, at Carrer de Barcelona 2, on the corner with Plaça de Santa Anna. This is the old town core of Mataró — an easy spot to walk past without noticing, since from outside it reads as part of the building facade rather than a stand-alone religious structure. The site sits at coordinates 41.538209, 2.445034. It's also one of the stops on Mataró's official audio-guide walking route, which signals that the city treats it as a genuine heritage landmark rather than a minor architectural footnote.

How did the chapel come into existence, and why Saint Sebastian?

The story starts in the 17th century, when Mataró's town walls still included the Barcelona Gate (Portal de Barcelona). A chapel was built directly over that gateway and dedicated to Saint Sebastian, a saint traditionally invoked as a protector against plague outbreaks. Placing a plague-saint's chapel above a city gate was a common gesture of the period: the structure was meant to symbolically guard the entrance and ward off disease arriving from outside.

What happened to the chapel once the town walls came down?

In 1856, the Barcelona Gate was demolished along with the rest of Mataró's medieval fortifications — a typical move for a 19th-century town shedding walls that had started to constrain its growth. The chapel, however, wasn't lost in the process. It was given a new home inside Can Ximenes, a neoclassical building newly erected on the same spot. That relocation let the chapel survive the urban overhaul, even though it lost the defensive context that had originally justified its existence.

Why did the chapel need rebuilding in the 20th century?

In 1936, during the Spanish Civil War, the chapel was burned down — a fate shared by many religious sites across Catalonia during that conflict. It stayed in that damaged state for decades. Restoration came only in 1985, carried out alongside a broader reconstruction of the Can Ximenes building itself. As part of that work, a new sculpture of Saint Sebastian was installed, created by the Catalan sculptor Pere Coll. That sculpture, not any pre-war element, is what visitors see inside the chapel today.

What should visitors know before stopping by?

The chapel standing today is really a stack of historical layers: a 17th-century origin and dedication, a 19th-century relocation triggered by the demolition of the city walls, wartime destruction, and a late-20th-century rebuild with a new sculpture. Physically, it's a modest recessed niche set into the corner of a residential building — not a freestanding structure you can walk around, but a piece of the streetscape that rewards paying attention. It's listed in Catalonia's inventory of architectural heritage, which confirms its status as a protected historical element rather than mere facade decoration.

Frequently Asked Questions

Where exactly is the Capella de Sant Sebastià located? On the corner of Carrer de Barcelona and Plaça de Santa Anna in central Mataró, on the ground floor of the Can Ximenes building.

Why is the chapel dedicated to Saint Sebastian? In Catholic tradition, Saint Sebastian was invoked as a protector against plague, which is why the chapel built over the city gate in the 17th century was dedicated to him.

Does the chapel still have its original 17th-century decoration? No. The structure was burned down in 1936 during the Spanish Civil War, and the sculpture seen today dates from the 1985 restoration, made by sculptor Pere Coll.

Can the chapel be visited without a guide? Yes. It sits on a visible street corner in the city center and is one of the stops on Mataró's self-guided audio tour, which makes it easy to find while exploring on foot.