Rambla tour

Barcelona wouldn’t be Barcelona without the Rambla. A wander up and down this famous boulevard is a ritual well worth observing, just to soak up the atmosphere and admire the buildings which connect the tradition and the modernity. It's a walk through the life and history of the city.
La Rambla is a natural Ariadne's thread to follow in order to discover many of the treasures of Barcelona right on each of its sidewalks or only a few meters away in its side streets. Let's have a Rambla tour, an opportunity to see or visit a museum (2), palaces (3)(9), the opera (5), a church (6), a food market (8) with 2 famous tapas bars, Picasso's favorite café (10), an extravagant concert hall (11), many buildings designed or decorated by the master's of the "Modernista" architectural movement and, last but not least, the most famous pastry/chocolate shop (7) of Barcelona.

The route is materialized on the map by a blue line, indented where there is a point of interest mentioned below. The tour includes 11 major sites, represented on the map by a blue rectangle, and which have in this blog their own page of description and pictures that one can access by clicking on their name. Each of these pages has a "back" link at the end to return to the present tour page. All these pages can be selected by clicking the "Rambla Tour" label in the right column of the blog". The other links open in a new tab/window the maps, pictures,pages external to this blog.
 
Where La Rambla meets the sea, stands the Mirador de Colom (1), the Colombus Monument. A lift inside the column takes you to the viewing gallery at the top, 60 metres above the ground, for a unique opportunity to admire this part of Barcelona from the air. Nearby is the Museu Maritim (2), the Maritime Museum, specifically devoted to naval history in the Mediterranean.
Rambla, 39. Turning on the left, Carrer Nou de la Rambla leads to Palau Güell (3), designed by the young Antoni Gaudí with a wonderful blend of medieval opulence and the architect’s unique exuberant style.
Rambla, 44. Turn on the right, walk only 40 meters and you are on Plaça Reial (4), a really royal square with an elegant fountain and two streetlamps, work of young Antoni Gaudi again. We leave the square by its northern corner (Les Quinze Nits Restaurant), and turn left into Carrer Ferran. Molly’s Fair City (at number 7), an Irish pub, still has the original interior and exterior decoration in clearly Modernista style.

Rambla, 45-47. (map). Almost opposite Plaça Reial’s porticos is the Hotel Oriente , built in 1842 when the old religious school of Sant Bonaventura was converted into a thriving inn. The hotel, which discreet facade, remodelled in 1881, features the sculptures of two angels standing above the arch of the main entrance, preserves in its ballroom the magnificent structure of a 17th-century cloister with square pillars and an old rectangular refectory covered with a vault. It has accommodated such distinguished guests as the writer Hans Christian Andersen, the actor Errol Flynn, the bullfighter Manolete and the soprano Maria Callas.

Rambla, 51-65. Continuing up the Rambla one comes to one of the most emblematic buildings of the city: El Gran Teatre Del Liceu (5), Liceu Opera. 

• On the left, the route could leave La Rambla momentarily to make a detour down Carrer Sant Pau at number 9-11. (map). Hotel España was decorated in 1902-1903 by one of the fathers of Modernisme, Lluís Domènech i Montaner. The sculptor Eusebi Arnau made the splendid alabaster chimney in one of the dining rooms and the painter Ramon Casas made the marine sgraffito work, which features a coffered skylight that casts gentle lighting on Casas’s work. Domènech i Montaner completed the work with two ingenious wooden wainscots. One of them, of meticulous design, is decorated with blue tiles representing the Spanish provinces, the other one, of Roman type, depicts floral themes. 

Rambla, 72. On the other side of the street, the route comes to an establishment with a long tradition that has Modernista decoration on the facade, Camiseria Bonet (Bonet Outfitter's), a former outfitter’s shop founded in 1890, which changed ownership in 2002, and now sells souvenirs, but has kept its outer decoration virtually untouched. 
Rambla, 74. (map). In the adjoining building is the Cafè de l'Opera, a café with a cosy atmosphere opened in 1929 on the premises of the former La Mallorquina chocolate shop. Featuring inside, the well-preserved original furniture: the Thonet chairs and the nineteenth-century mirrors with female figures suggesting characters from different operas. 
Now the Route comes to Pla de la Boqueria, presided over by the Mosaic Ceràmic de Joan Miro placed here in 1976, now an emblematic image of the most popular street in Barcelona.

Rambla, 82. (map). You will find the Casa Bruno Cuadros, a very interesting pre-Modernista building by Josep Vilaseca, the designer the Triumphal Arch of 1888. This ancient house, known popularly as “the Umbrella House”, was restored in 1883, incorporating oriental features such as the decoration of the facade with sgraffito work and stained glass, the Egyptian-style gallery on the first floor and the Chinese dragon that protrudes from the corner of the building. The old shop of the building, today occupied by a bank, has ornamental elements of Japanese inspiration in wood, glass and wrought iron.
Close by on the right, on Carrer Cardenal Casañas, 16, the church of Santa Maria del Pi (6) built between 1319 and 1391 in the purest Gothic style is nestled between two picturesque squares, the Plaça del Pi and Plaça Sant Josep Oriol

• At the turn of the 20th century Modernisme became a daily presence and made works of art out of the most vulgar articles. The desire for renewal, was translated into a social use of art, an anonymous and popular art that dignified any design: baker’s shops, cake shops, chemist’s, clothiers or perfumeries were treated with the same respect in their decoration as the mansions of the bourgeoisie. In 1909, the magazine L’Esquella de la Torratxa summarised in a single phrase the Modernista fever : “Barcelona is destined to be the Athens of Art Nouveau”. 

Rambla, 77. The best example of the Modernista fever that ran through Barcelona is provided by two almost adjoining buildings on the Rambla. Casa Doctor Genové by Enric Sagnier i Villavecchia (1911) housed a chemist’s shop and its laboratory until 1974 (now replaced by a Basque tapes bar).Sagnier designed a building with a slightly Gothic appearance featuring a large central window, blue mosaics and a pointed entrance arch, with a magnificent relief of Aesculapius that recalls the original use of the building.
Rambla, 83. Almost next to it, the Antiga Casa Figueras, currently houses Pastisseria Escribà (7), a cake shop with an elaborate Modernista decoration by Antoni Ros i Güell (1902), with an abundance of mosaics, stucco, wrought iron, stained glass and wooden furniture in chocolate colour.

Rambla, 91. One does not have to walk too far to find the Mercat de La Boqueria (8), the oldest and most famous market in the city. Isn't it time for lunch ? The market hosts 2 famous tapas bars El Quim and Pinoxo.
The Boqueria is set in the central section of the Rambla-perhaps the most colourful and exuberant one: the Rambla de les Flors owes its name to the score of flower stalls that have been open all year round since Corpus Christi Day in 1853.
Rambla, 99. A few steps from the Boqueria one finds the Palau de la Virreina,(9), Vicereine's Palace, built for the former Viceroy of Peru, Manuel Amat i Junyent, and the Vicereine María Francisca Fivaller. In the late 1980s it became the offices of the Municipal Culture Area. Next to it, on the ground floor of number 97, is the venerated music shop, Casa Beethoven, founded in 1880 by the musical publisher Rafael Guàrdia.  
Rambla, 105. Continuing up the Rambla we find one of the most attractive Romantic buildings in the city, Casa Francesc Piña, also known as “El Regulador” after the jeweller’s shop that occupies the ground floor, today Joieria Bagués. This building by Josep Fontserè (1850) has a terra cotta and white-painted facade with pink stucco work, featuring false columns with capitals and bas-reliefs decorating the upper floors. 

Rambla, 107. At the corner of Carrer del Carme, you will find the Església De Betlem, built between 1680 and 1732 by Josep Juli. It is one of the few examples of Baroque art in Barcelona, but in its structure it remains faithful to the precepts of previous Catalan Gothic architecture, with a wide single nave flanked by chapels. Of the doors giving onto the Rambla, one was designed by Francesc Santacruz in 1690 and portrays Christ the Child; the other, portraying Saint John the Baptist, was designed in 1906 by Enric Sagnier taking Santacruz’s work as a reference. During the Civil War of 1936-39, its polychrome work, carvings, Italian stuccos and marbles were irreparably damaged. Since 1952, the church has kept an image of Our Lady of the Foresaken, by Mariano Benlliure.  

• A small detour from the main route leads you up Carrer del Carme, which conceals two Modernista treasures : only a few metres from the Rambla, the popular store El Indio (Carme, 24) (map), decorated in 1922 by Vilaró i Valls in the purest Modernista style, and further along, the Muy Buenas (Carme, 63), an establishment with a Modernista facade of wood that still has part of its original furniture, such as the old marble bar, which is over a century old

Rambla, 118. (map). On the opposite side of the street is the Palau Moja, a property of the Marquis of Comillas built between 1774 and 1789 by the Mas i Dordal brothers, when the Rambla was transformed into an avenue. The long facade, decorated with ochre and reddish bays, rises above a portico and has a simple central pediment. The building, decorated with paintings by the Neo-Classical painter Francesc Pla, “El Vigatà”, still has the original furniture and the room where the catalan “national poet” Jacint Verdaguer, a protégé of the Marquise, wrote his famous patriotic epic poem "L'Atlàntida". The Comillases, related to the Güells, also occasionally commissioned works from Gaudí, who thus became acquainted with Verdaguer and, as in the Pavellons Güell,  used his poetry as an inspiration. The palace currently houses the Culture Department of Catalunya.

The route continues up La Rambla, known here as “Rambla dels Ocells” (Rambla of the Birds), because of the stalls selling pets that alternate with the popular newsstands of La Rambla. On the way to Plaça de Catalunya, the route has two important sites. 
Rambla, 115. The first is the Reial Acadèmia de Ciències i Arts (Royal Academy of Sciences and Arts), built in 1883 by Josep Domènech i Estapà on the ruins of a former Jesuit school. In this building the architect was a pioneer in the use of ornamental and stylistic resources that would be such a success years later in the Modernista movement. As well as the Reial Acadèmia, the building currently houses the Poliorama Theatre and the Viena restaurant (map). Its most distinguishing feature is the clock on the facade that is popularly acknowledged to set the official time of Barcelona. Another element of interest on the facade is its elegant bay window. The dome and domed tower that crown the building originally housed a meteorological and astronomical observatory. 
Rambla, 121. (map). The second site is the Farmàcia Nadal, a chemist’s shop dating from 1850, which was later transformed into a charming shop featuring multi-coloured mosaics and four red advertising lamps, a good example of Noucentisme (a post-Modernista neoclassical movement).

The tour could now go directly to its end, Plaça Catalunya, but a large detour to our right will allow us to see interesting and important buildings. In fact we saved the most spectacular one for the end. 
Crossing the Rambla, we find Carrer Canuda and Carrer Santa Anna. 

• A short way into Santa Anna is Casa Elena Castellano (Santa Anna, 21), a 1907 building by Jaume Torres i Grau, a typical Modernista house with its bay windows and floral ornaments. 

Canuda, 6. (map). After a few metres you will find the former Palau Sabassona of medieval origin. Since 1836 this building is the Ateneu Barcelones, one of the emblematic cultural entities of the city. Three small jewels remain from Josep Maria Jujol i Gibert and Josep Font i Gumà’s 1906 Modernista remodelling : the lift cabin, one of the first to be installed in the city; the reading rooms of the library; and the Romantic-style hanging garden. 
Continuing down Carrer Canuda you will come to Plaça de la Vila de Madrid, where you can see the remains of a Roman necropolis discovered in 1954 during the redevelopment of the site of the former Discalced Carmelite monastery that had been demolished after the Civil War. The square, redeveloped in 2003, stands on an old Roman access road to the city, and a small section of the original paving can still be seen. The road was flanked by the remains of monolithic funerary monuments and modest tegulae. Carrer Canuda leads into Portal de l’Àngel. 
Portal de l’Àngel, 20-22. A few metres to the left is the building of a gas company, Catalana de Gas, Gas Natural, a monumental and eclectic building designed by Josep Domènech i Estapà (1895). It was originally built for the Societat Catalana per a l’Enllumenat del Gas, and now contains an interesting Gas Museum exhibiting equipment that shows the evolution of technology for this energy source (tel.: 900 150 366, visits must be booked in advance. Anyone interested ?). 

Montsió, 3 bis. Going back down Portal de l’Àngel and turning into the small Carrer Montsió, after a few metres you will come to the most popular Modernista tavern Els Quatre Gats (10). Continuing along Montsió, turn into Carrer de n’Amargós until Carrer Comtal, which takes you to Via Laietana, a wide avenue designed in the second half of the nineteenth century to open a direct access to the old port in an imitation of the North American business centres of the time. The development of this road took several decades, and masters of Modernisme like Domènech i Montaner and especially Puig i Cadafalch contributed to the project.

Via Laietana, 50. A short walk up Via Laietana takes us to the Gremi Dels Velers (Sailmaker's Guild), which is the local association of silk producers since 1764. This magnificent baroque building is decorated by sgraffito representing Atlantes and Cariatids. 
Sant Pere Més Alt, 6. Slightly hidden behind it one of the essential jewels of Modernisme in Barcelona: the Palau De La Mùsica Catalana (11) (Palace of Catalan Music), commissioned by the Orfeó Català choral music organisation to the architect Lluís Domènech i Montaner in 1904. The first stone of the new building was laid on Saint George’s day 1905 and the construction went on for three years. The result was a lavish concert hall for performances of Catalan choral music.
If you go round the Palau along Carrer Amadeu Vives and Carrer Ortigosa you will return to Via Laietana.

Via Laietana, 56-58. In front of you stands the triangular building Caixa de Pensions i d'Estalvis de Barcelona, which  currently houses the Administrative Law Section of the High Court of Justice of Catalonia. This Neo-Medieval work (by Enric Sagnier, 1917) bears on its facade a sculpture by Manuel Fuxà conceived as an allegory of thrift, and a spectacular Gothic arch with stained glass windows. 
On the right is another building, also designed by Sagnier, known as Annexe to the Caixa de Pensions (Jonqueres, 2). Here the architect used predominantly white stone decorated with a few Valencian tiles, but it has more modern lines and is one of the first examples of contemporary office buildings in the city.

At Via Laietana, turn right towards Plaça d’Urquinaona. From this square, the route continues to the left towards Plaça de Catalunya, the nerve centre of the city and the end of Rambla tour 

La Rambla

La Rambla can be considered a series of shorter streets, each differently named, hence the plural form Les Rambles (the original Catalan form; in Spanish it is Las Ramblas). From the Plaça de Catalunya toward the harbour, the street is successively called the Rambla de Canaletes, the Rambla dels Estudis, the Rambla de Sant Josep, the Rambla dels Caputxins, and the Rambla de Santa Mònica. Construction of the Maremàgnum in the early 1990s resulted in a continuation of La Rambla on a wooden walkway into the harbour called the Rambla de Mar.
La Rambla is exactly 1.2 kilometres long and nearly everyone who visits Barcelona walks along it. La Rambla was laid out in 1766, following the contours of the medieval city walls that had bounded this part of Barcelona since the 13th century.  The locals took it to their hearts straightaway. In Barcelona, a city of narrow, winding streets, the Rambla was the only space where everyone could stroll and spend their leisure time. And we mean everyone. 
Because of its central location, the Rambla became a meeting place for all the social classes. .

Gradually, leisure and cultural attractions found the perfect location on La Rambla. The convents disappeared and florists and newsstands set up there premises here. As you walk along, you’ll see landmark buildings, such as the greatest theatre of Barcelona’s opera, the Gran Teatre del Liceu, the Palau de la Virreina and the spectacular Boqueria Market. This human river, with its street artists, tourists and locals, who still come here for a stroll, take us on a journey through this microcosm of contemporary Barcelona.
Where La Rambla meets the sea, we find the Mirador de Colom, a unique opportunity to admire this unique, green artery of pedestrians from the air and the Maritime Museum (Museu Marítim), specifically devoted to naval history in the Mediterranean. The old port offers other attractions such as leisure venues, restaurants, an IMAX theater, and an aquarium.

In the historical center, close to La Rambla, may be found La Catedral de Barcelona, the Plaza Sant Jaume that houses the buildings of the Generalidat of Catalonia and Barcelona’s City Council, as well as the narrow streets of the Gothic quarter, the Raval and the Born area.

The promenade is crowded during the day and until late in the night. It is full of kiosks that sell newspapers and souvenirs, flowers and birds, street performers, cafes, restaurants and shops. Near the port are found smaller local markets and the shop-fronts of painters and draftsmen. One of the side streets, only a few metres long, leads to the Royal Square (Plaça Reial), a plaza with palm trees and porticoed buildings containing many pubs and restaurants, and in which stamp and coin collectors gather on the weekends.

Most of the time there are many more tourists than locals occupying the Rambla, which fact has changed the shopping selection, as well as the character of the street in general. For this reason also it has become a prime target of pick pockets.

The Spanish poet Federico García Lorca once said that La Rambla was "the only street in the world which I wish would never end." The name rambla refers to an intermittent watercourse in both Catalan and Spanish. This is reflected in the undulating design on the pavement which is also decorated with a mosaic by Joan Miró. This work was the second of three sculptures that were commissioned to welcome tourists. The first was at the airport and had been commissioned in 1968. The other was Dona i Ocell in the centre of the city.

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Sources : barcelona-tourist-guide / wikipedia / barcelonaturisme

See Barcelona on the original map

Mirador de Colom

This major landmark on the Rambla (map) was built in 1888 for the Universal Exhibition as a tribute to Christopher Columbus, who chose to disembark in the port of Barcelona on his return from America. Inside, a lift raises the 51mts high of the column, made of cast iron and Corinthian style, to the viewing gallery. 

If you look north, you’ll be able to make out the Gothic Quarter, the Cathedral, Santa Maria del Mar and the bustling Rambla. 

If you look towards the sea, to the east, following the coastline, you will be able to see the Olympic Marina and the modern Forum. 

To the south, stands Montjuïc Hill, with its castle at the top.

And, finally, if you look west, you’ll see Collserola Natural Park, the vast green lung surrounding the city of Barcelona.

And in its top, dominating the sky of Barcelona, the statue of Christopher Columbus holding a navigational chart in his left hand, and pointing to the route to America with his right.

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Museu Maritim

The Museum Marítim is located by the waterfront in one of Barcelona’s finest landmark buildings: the Reials Drassanes, the medieval shipyards which are a unique example of civic Gothic architecture. The royal arsenals date from 1378 and are the biggest and most complete Medieval dockyards in the world. The seafaring cities of Venice, Genoa, and Valencia all had impressive arsenals, but only vestiges remain. In contrast, Barcelona's shipyards, with their majestic arches, columns, and gigantic vaults, are a preciously intact. This complex, which before the coastline receded sat right on the water's edge, was used to dry-dock, construct, and repair ships for the Catalan-Aragonese rulers. During the 18th century, the place went into decline, mainly due to the dissolution of naval construction. Right up until the Spanish Civil War, it served as an army barracks.  MAP IT

The open space once used for shipbuilding is an ideal setting to display the collection which began as a small nautical museum in 1929. The museum is a gem for those who love Naval history.
Its collection titled "The Great Adventure of the Sea" is homage to Catalonia's maritime history. 

The most outstanding exhibit occupies an entire bay. It is a reconstruction of La Galería Real of Don Juan of Austria, a lavish royal galley, the original was used as the flagship in the important battle of Lepanto 1571. In 1971, following extensive documentation, this model was built in celebration of the vessel's most glorious achievement 400 years earlier. The ship headed an alliance of Spanish, Venetian, Maltese, and Vatican vessels in a bloody battle against a Turkish squadron. The so-called "Holy League" won, effectively ending Ottoman rule in the Mediterranean. There is an excellent film re-creating the battle, which you watch onboard, and you can view the galley's elaborate hull, hold, and deck where each of its 59 oars were manned by the sailors.

Other exhibits chart the traditional fishing techniques and sailing as sport through neat little caravels and draggers, snipes, and sloops. The art of wooden shipbuilding, the charting of the oceans, and the launch into the steam age are also covered. 

Particularly fine is the collection of late-19th-century mastheads, navigational instruments, and models of the Compañía Trasmediterránea's fleet (this local company still operates the Barcelona-Balearic islands route). The collection also boasts a small model of Ictíneo, one of the world's first submarines designed by the Catalan visionary Narcís Monturiol.

On Barcelona’s Moll de la Fusta quay, a few metres away from the Museu Marítim, the schooner, the Santa Eulàlia, is a wonderful example of a historic three-masted vessel, which has been restored to the delight of anyone wishing to learn a little bit more about our country’s seafaring past.  MAP IT

Barcelona’s Museu Marítim bought this historic and unique vessel at auction in 1997: at the time the ship was known as Sayrernar Uno. Following painstaking refurbishment, which faithfully restored its original appearance, the schooner was moored at the Moll de la Fusta quay in Barcelona’s old harbour, the Port Vell, and renamed in honour of one of Barcelona’s patron saints, Santa Eulàlia. This restoration project, which was the first of its kind in Spain, represented a step forward in disseminating our remarkable seafaring heritage. In addition to this, the restored schooner was also refitted as an operative vessel, meaning that it is not just a visitor attraction but also acts as a flagship for the museum when it sails the waters of the Mediterranean. 

This old ship, which was built in Torrevieja in 1918 and named Carmen Flores, is a wonderful floating ambassador for the museum, and a fine example of a three-masted schooner, which you can discover as you stroll along the quayside or, better still, climb aboard and find out about all the secrets of sailing.

Opening time: From April 1st to October 31st:
Tuesday to Friday, from 12pm to 7.30pm. Saturdays, from 2pm to 7.30pm. Sundays & public holidays, from 10am to 7.30pm.
Apparently it is also possible to navigate on this boatl every Saturday from 10 to 13, on reservation the day before at telèfon 933 429 920. 12€/adult. 
Museum web site  

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Palau Güell

Chimneys of the Palace

Barcelona’s Palau Güell (Catalan pronunciation: [pəˈɫaw ˈɣweʎ], English: Güell Palace) was designed by the young Gaudí and is a wonderful blend of medieval opulence and the architect’s unique exuberant style. Completed in 1890, the building was the private residence of Gaudí’s patron, Count Güell. The Palau Güell was designated UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1984. (map)

Gaudí was aware that Güell wanted to show off his wealth to his friends and acquaintances (the house was to be used for exhibitions, concerts and other events) and he created an unusual, bold architectural project. He made innovative use of traditional building techniques, as well a wide variety of materials, with particular emphasis on more expensive ones such as marble. In Palau Güell, Gaudí combined the typical square structure of Catalan medieval palazzos and exquisite wooden coffered ceilings with innovations such as the parabolic arch which became a hallmark of his work. However, Antoni Gaudí didn’t just create a palazzo in Barcelona, he created a metaphor too, as the building rises up, like Güell, from poor beginnings, represented by the austerity of the basement and ground floor, to wealth, as embodied by the riot of colour on the roof. Indeed, the ground floor, with its simple grey marble, contrasts magically with the interplay of colours and forms of the 20 sculptural chimneys on the roof, which are covered in broken pieces of ceramic tile, marble and stained glass and are the iconic symbols of the Palau Güell.


Guests entered the home in horse drawn carriages through the front iron gates, which featured a parabolic arch and intricate patterns of forged iron-work resembling seaweed and in some parts a horsewhip. Animals could be taken down a ramp and kept in the livery stable in the basement where the servants resided, while the guests went up the stairs to the receiving room. The ornate walls and ceilings of the receiving room disguised small viewing windows high on the walls where the owners of the home could view their guests from the upper floor and get a 'sneak peek' before greeting them, in case they needed to adjust their attire accordingly. The main party room has a high ceiling with small holes near the top where lanterns were hung at night from the outside to give the appearance of a starlit sky. Palau Güell was used in Antonioni's film The Passenger as a backdrop for the first meeting between Jack Nicholson and Maria Schneider.



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Next : Plaça Reial
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Sources : wikipedia

barcelonaturisme.com/Palau-Guell
barcelona-tourist-information 

Plaça Reial

In about 1835, many of Barcelona’s religious buildings disappeared as a result of the confiscation of properties. This was the case with the former Capuchin convent which was demolished leaving a huge vacant plot behind. (map)

The current Plaça Reial was built a few years later. The architect was Francesc Molina, and he designed a luxurious square with the aim of extolling the monarchy. King Ferdinand VII, who was king at the time, was to be immortalised as a statue depicting him on horseback in the centre of the square. 

The monument never came to fruition and, in its place, stands the fountain of the Three Graces. The two streetlamps on both sides of the central fountain were designed by the young Antoni Gaudí. Decorated with the attributes of the god Hermes, the patron of shopkeepers: a caduceus (a messenger’s wand with two snakes wound round it) and a winged helmet, they were put in place in 1879.

Around them, the royal palm trees grace the square lending it an exotic touch. There are uniform, noble buildings on every side with porticoes and terracotta decorations. They were the home of important Barcelona families, although this luxurious appearance has been somewhat toned down by a more bohemian atmosphere.

Today, the square is a busy nightlife hub, and the porticoes conceal restaurants, bars and some of Barcelona’s most popular nightspots. 

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El Gran Teatre Del Liceu

The Gran Teatre del Liceu was built in 1847 and is a unique cultural facility in Barcelona and one of Europe’s leading opera houses. Located on the Rambla, every year it hosts major opera and ballet productions and symphony concerts. (map)

The history of this emblem of Barcelona has been marked by fire. The original opera house, built by Miquel Garriga in 1847 on the site of a Trinitarian monastery, was burnt down in 1861 and rebuilt by Josep Oriol Mestres. On the exterior, its simplicity is only broken by its characteristic facade with a central body of three large windows, but on the interior it is one of the most lavishly decorated opera houses in the world. After the theatre burnt down again in 1994, it was rebuilt once more, this time by the architect Ignasi de Solà-Morales, who restored it to its original lavish style and recovered the rooms with trompe l’oeil and Pompeiian paintings.

Despite the sobriety of its architecture, it features a canopy of wrought iron over the main entrance and sgraffito work that pays homage to Calderón de la Barca, Mozart, Rossini and Moratín. Almost at the corner of the Rambla and Carrer Sant Pau, the building of the Liceu houses a truly elitist sanctuary: the Cercle del Liceu, a traditional and aristocratic private institution, an old club in the purest English style, which conceals in its inner rooms memorable works by the Modernista painters Ramon Casas and Alexandre de Riquer, and stained glass decorated with Wagnerian themes by Oleguer Junyent.  

The five-tier auditorium seats 2,292, making the Gran Teatre del Liceu on Barcelona’s Rambla one of the world’s biggest opera houses. The season of opera, dance and music runs from September to July. There are also guided tours of the main areas of the theatre, allowing visitors to enjoy every detail and the magnificence of its architecture. Highlights include the main auditorium, the foyer and hall of mirrors, as well as the Cercle del Liceu (This last one, only visit on guided tours).
Guided tour: 10.00 am, daily (1 hour 10 min)
Express tour: 11.30 am, 12.00 midday, 12.30 pm and 1 pm, daily (20 minutes).

The program for this coming fall : Celebration of  the bicentenary of Verdi's birth ( Sunday Oct. 6 : Excerpts from Giovanna d’Arco, I masnadieri, Jerusalem, Stiffelio, Il trovatore, La Traviata, Les vêpres siciliennes and Un ballo in maschera ). Prices : 8,50 €, 23 €, 32 €, 44 €, 59 €, 78 €, 99 €, 133,75 €

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Mercat de La Boqueria

La Rambla’s history is the Boqueria Market’s history. The evolution from a past of peddlers to a modern and charming present, full of colour and life. The market is a metaphor for Barcelona’s life. (map)

From ancient times there had been, more or less in the same place, an open-air market in which the farmers  sold their products to the inhabitants of the walled city. Famous for the quality of its merchandise, the market occupies the former site of the Discalced Carmelite monastery of Sant Josep, which was burnt down in July 1835.

The first of Barcelona’s local markets was opened on Saint Joseph’s day, on the 19th of March 1840, after four years of work. The market was built as a large porticoed square with Ionic columns under which the travelling tradesmen of the city could offer their varied products.

Marquis Campo Sagrado, Catalonia’s general captain, started to establish the rules for this travelling market in an area that became a large square after the convent was gone. With time the Boqueria Market of Barcelona transformed itself in a modern market.  A few years later, in 1914, it incorporated the gas illumination and an attractive metal roof designed by the engineer Miquel de Bergue was added. The market and its surroundings have been restored in recent years to the way they were in the early 20th century. 

Nowadays, the third and fourth generation of sellers proudly show the oldest and most complete food market of Barcelona. They offer us vegetables, meat, fish and thousands of other products in stalls with great charm and imaginative presentation. Boqueria Market is a space full of life, history and unquestionable architectural value 

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