Monument to Ramon Berenguer the Great

Plaça Ramon Berenguer el Gran, Barcelona

This life size bronze equestrian statue of Ramon Berenguer III was sculpted by Frederic Marès and inaugerated in 1950. Located in Plaça Ramon Berenguer el Gran, the monument is a replica of an earlier statue which was created by Josep Llimona for the Barcelona Universal Exposition of 1888. The Count, who ruled Barcelona from 1097…

Homage to the Blanquerna School

Homenaje a la Mutua Escolar Blanquerna

This large bronze statue of two children is the work of Catalan artist Núria Tortras. The statue, which portrays a girl reading and a boy playing, is located on the pavement opposite Plaça de Blanquerna and was inaugurated in 1998. The Blanquerna School (Mutua Escolar Blanquerna) was founded in 1923 and used the then revolutionary…

The Shoe Museum

Hemp shoes frm China and Catalonia

Possibly Barcelona’s smallest museum, El Museu del Calçat (Literally: the footware museum) occupies 2 small rooms in a 16th century renaissance style building which was previously the headquarters of the Shoemakers Guild. The museum houses a small collection of shoes from around the world as well as historic documents and other articles related to shoemaking.…

The World Begins With Every Kiss (The Kiss Mural)

El Món Neix en Cada Besada (The World Begins With Every Kiss) by Joan Fontcuberta

Approaching the Kiss of Freedom mural in Plaça d’Isidre Nonell you’d be forgiven for assuming it’s a large graffiti. As you get closer, you’ll realise that it is, in fact, a mosaic made up of thousands of tiny ceramic tiles. Each individual tile is printed with a photo of a person, a place, a moment,…

Discover the Awesome Graffiti and Street Art of Poblenou

Over the last few years Barcelona’s once industrial Poblenou neighbourhood has begun a steady transformation from area full of disused factories to one of hi-tech office blocks, stylish hotels and modern apartment buildings. Many of the abandoned factories have been torn down. Some have been restored and converted into offices. Others stand derelict awaiting redevelopment, trapped in a kind…

Monument to Doctor Bartomeu Robert

Monument to Doctor Bartomeu Robert

Plaça de Tetuan is a tiny green oasis on Gran Via in Barcelona’s Eixample district. The small tree-lined plaza is dominated by a 12m high Art Nouveau monument to Doctor Bartomeu Robert built in 1904 by Josep Llimona. The monument took 6 years to complete and was originally installed in Plaça de la Universitat. After the Spanish…

Barcelona Design Museum – DHUB

Barcelona Design Museum

The new Barcelona Design Museum opened during December 2014. The museum explores the role of design in our daily lives through 4 permanent exhibitions which were previously housed in the Museum of Decorative Arts, the Ceramics Museum, the Barcelona Textile Museum and the Cabinet of Graphic Arts. The museum occupies 4 floors of the futuristic…

Plaça d’Espanya

View of Plaça d'Espanya from the Les Arenes shopping centre

Plaça d’Espanya was built for the 1929 International Exhibition and was originally flanked by purpose-built hotels designed to house people visiting the exhibition. Only one of the hotels remains and nowadays the square is basically a large roundabout with an impressive fountain in the middle and magnificent views of the Palau Nacional and Montjuïc. The…

El Fossar de les Moreres

El Fossar de les Moreres - The grave of the mulberry trees

In the heart of the Ribera district, the Fossar de Les Moreres is a sombre reminder of Barcelona’s turbulent history. The site has been a burial ground since medieval times and in 1714 citizens who died defending the city during the siege of Barcelona were buried here in a mass grave. Because of this the…

The Encants Vells Flea Market

The Encants Vells' ultra modern canopy was built in 2013

Barcelona’s Encants Vells, also known as the Mercat de Bellcaire, is one of the oldest flea markets in Europe and dates back to the 14th Century. In 2013 Els Encants relocated to a stunning new purpose built 3 story structure opposite the Agbar Tower. The emblematic mirrored canopy houses 500 stalls; a mixture of junk shop, antiques…

Monument to Doctor Trueta

The Doctor Trueta Monument on the Rambla de Poblenou

Josep Trueta Raspall was born in the Poblenou neighbourhood of Barcelona in 1897. He studied medicine at the University of Barcelona and in 1921 started working as an assistant surgeon in the Hospital de la Santa Creus I Sant Pau. By the onset of the Spanish Civil War in 1936 Dr. Trueta had already started…

Barcelona Cable Cars

Barcelona Port Cable Car

Barcelona has two cable cars that offer visitors fantastic aerial views of the city and provide easy access to the castle and other attractions on Montjuïc. Barcelona Port Cable Car The Transbordador Aeri del Port (Port Cable Car) was built for the 1929 Barcelona Universal Exposition and links the Barceloneta beach to Montjuïc. The red…

Statue of Pau Claris

Monument to Pau Claris,Passeig Lluis Companys, Barcelona

This bronze statue of Pau Claris was inaugurated in 1880 and originally stood on what is now Via Laietana. It was withdrawn from public display during the Spanish Civil War, as were other monuments to famous Catalan figures such as Dr Bartomeu Robert and Rafael Casanova. In 1977 the statues were restored and reinstated in…

Sir Winston Churchill Monument

Detail of the Winston Churchill Monument, Barcelona

Sir Winston Churchill and Barcelona Winston Churchill was undoubtedly one of the most important figures of the 20th Century. His leadership inspired the British people to stand up for freedom during the second world war. Hitler backed Franco and used the Spanish Civil War to perfect techniques which were later used by the Nazis in…

Fernando Botero’s Fat Animal Sculptures

Botero's Cat

Two of Barcelona’s most photographed sculptures bear the unmistakable hallmark of Colombian artist Fernando Botero.  According to Wikipedia the artist’s trademark style is called Boterism and depicts people and animals in “exaggerated volume”. The Cat from the Raval Known locally as either “El Gato del Raval” or “El Gato de Botero” this over-nourished alley-cat was…

Monument to Francesc Macià

Portrait of Francesc Masia

Francesc Macià i Llussà was President of the Generalitat de Catalunya from 1932 until his death in 1933. Born in September 1859, Macià grew up in Vilanova i la Geltrú (a medium-sized town approximately 50 kilometres south of Barcelona). After a spell in the Spanish army, he fought for Catalan independence and formed the political…

Joan Miró Welcomes You to Barcelona

Miro's Pla de l'Os mosaic on Barcelona's famous La Rambla

In 1968 Joan Miró was commissioned to create a giant mural to welcome visitors arriving at Barcelona airport. The Barcelona-born artist liked the idea so much that he decided to donate three works of art to the city, welcoming visitors arriving by air, land and sea. Joan Mirós Mural at Barcelona Airport The giant mural…

Rafael Casanova Monument

The Rafael Casanova Monument by Rossend Nobas

Rafael Casanova was the Councillor in Chief of Barcelona during the war of the Spanish succession. He is a Catalan national hero and was wounded defending the city when it fell to Bourbon troops on September 11th 1714. Catalan politicians and public figures lay floral tributes in front of the statute as part of the…

Barcelona Motorcycle Museum

Vintage Bultaco and Montesa motorcycles

Unfortunately the Barcelona Motorcycle Museum is no longer open to the public. The museum closed in 2018 and the collection was moved to the museum’s other location in Basella (Lleida). More information here. This small museum in the heart of Barcelona’s Gothic quarter houses a collection of approximately 70 classic motorbikes. The museum’s collection is…

The Born Cultural Centre

The Born Cultural Centre

Designed by Antoni Rovira i Trias and inaugurated in 1876, the “Mercat del Born” was Barcelona’s first cast-iron covered market and is the largest of it’s kind in Europe. It was the city’s central food market right up-until 1971 when the new Mercabarna wholesale market opened in the Zona Franca. The abandoned market building fell…