Who isn’t familiar with the story of David and Goliath? The epic tale of a young shepherd boy who, armed with only a slingshot and a few stones, killed a fearsome giant and went on to become king of Israel. Over the centuries the story has become a synonym for the struggle between good and…
Category: Attractions
Monument to Ramon Berenguer the Great
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
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
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)
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,…
Santa Maria del Mar – Barcelona’s Cathedral of the Sea
The Basilica de Santa Maria del Mar was built during the 14th century on a site which was once occupied by a Roman Amphitheatre. The church took 55 years to build and is a rare example of pure Catalan Gothic architecture (most churches and cathedrals are a combination of styles). The simplicity of design and…
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 Antoni Viladomat i Manalt
This bronze statue of Antoni Viladomat I Manalt by Catalan artist Torquat Tasso was one of a series of eight monuments depicting Catalan heroes inaugurated in 1886. In 1959 most of the statues were melted down and used to make a replacement for the statue of Mare de Déu de la Mercè, which tops the…
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…
La Monumental – Bullring and Bullfighting Museum
The Plaza de Toros Monumental was built in 1914 and is the world’s only Art-Nouveau bullring. It was the last active bullring in Catalonia and finally closed in 2011 when bullfighting was banned by the Parliament of Catalonia. The building now houses a small bullfighting museum. Visiting the La Monumental Bullring I’ve never been to a…
Barcelona Design Museum – DHUB
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
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…
Where to See Christmas Nativity Scenes in Barcelona in 2024
Plaça de Sant Jaume If you’re in Barcelona at Christmas time you shouldn’t miss the large nativity scene in Plaça de Sant Jaume. The nativity occupies about a quarter of the plaza and the design changes every year. The nativity scene shown below is from 2014 and was a recreation of the Roman city of Barcino.…
The Dark History of Plaça de Sant Felip Neri
When I took this photo, I was planning on writing an article explaining how the bullet-scarred walls of the Església de Sant Felip Neri church are a monument to the people executed here by Franco’s troops during the Spanish Civil War. I’m not entirely sure where I got that version of events from, but it…
El Fossar de les Moreres
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
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
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 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
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
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
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
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
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…
Joan Miró Park and the Woman & Bird Sculpture
The main attraction at Joan Miró Park is the 22m high Woman and Bird Sculpture (Dona I Ocell). This somewhat phallic tiled statue was constructed in 1983, just a few months before Miro’s death. Although the the main body of the sculpture might look inherently masculine, the vertical black hole on one side indicates that…
The Magic Fountain of Montjuïc
I have to admit that the first time I visited the Magic Fountain, I was pretty sceptical. Let’s face it, an illuminated fountain that changes colour in time to music sounds pretty cheesy! All I can say is forget any preconceived ideas you might have and check it out. The sheer volume of water in…
Rafael Casanova Monument
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…
MUHBA Via Sepulcral Romana – Roman Burial Ground
The Via Sepulcral Romana dates back to the first century AD. During the period of the Roman Empre cemeteries were built outside the city limits. In this case the tombs lined the road between Barcino (Barcelona) and nearby Sarria. The cemetery was discovered in the 1950s when buildings which had been badly damaged by bombs…
The “Maja Madrilenya” Fountain
The “Maja Madrilenya” is a 5m high white marble fountain in Plaça Vila de Madrid (just off La Rambla). The statue was unveiled in 1956 and is the work of Catalan sculptor Lluís Montané Molfulleda. So what exactly is a Maja? “Majas” or “Majas Goyescas” date back to 18th century Madrid. At the time women’s…
Barcelona Motorcycle Museum
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
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…