The Royal Shipyards of Barcelona are a Gothic civil architectural complex located on the city's seafront, and construction began at the end of the 13th century, during the reign of Peter the Third of Aragon.

From the beginning, they were used to build the galleys of the fleet of the Crown of Aragon. The reign of Alfonso the Magnanimous was the period of greatest activity; in 1423, twelve galleys were built at a time. In 1571, the Royal Galley of John of Austria, the flagship in the Battle of Lepanto, was built in these shipyards. In the 18th century this activity was transferred to the Arsenal of Cartagena, and as a result of the defeat against the Bourbons in the War of Succession in 1714, an artillery barracks of the Spanish army was installed in the building in Barcelona, until 1935, when it was ceded to the City Council, which used it as a Maritime Museum, opening it on 18th January 1941.

During the reign of Pedro the Third of Aragon between 1280 and 1300, construction began on the shipyards, which consisted of a large walled building with a rectangular floor plan and four towers at the corners, two of which still exist.

According to the only surviving construction log from the period between 11 April 1383 and 15 August 1384, it is known that four storerooms were built and work on the roof of the northern half of the building was carried out. The materials used were ashlars of stone from Montjuïc, sand from the beach near the building site, wood from the Baix Ebre and the Gavarres region, and cordage and brickwork from Valencia.

Under the reign of John I of Aragon, a major extension was carried out, due to the growing need for ships for Catalan merchants and the Crown of Aragon; an agreement was signed between the king and the city of Barcelona in 1390 for the extension of the shipyards and the creation of an adjoining royal palace, with a square open to the sea, modelled on the Palazzo Ducale and the Piazzetta di San Marco in Venice. The palace was never built; modern excavations have only uncovered the foundations.

The most important alterations were the covering of the central courtyard, the construction of the Porxo Nou (New Porch) consisting of two floors with a portal and a courtyard with staggered merlons on the outside facing the sea.

The Gothic complex, dating from 1381, consists of eight naves with eighteen bays separated by square pillars measuring 77 centimetres on each side and 6 metres high; from each pillar there are two main arches and two semi-circular arches that support the roof beams with a gabled roof. At the end of the 15th century there were already sixteen naves built.