Situated in an impressive Art Nouveau building in central Barcelona, the Antoni Tàpies Foundation was inaugurated in 1984 to promote modern and contemporary art. The museum houses temporary exhibitions by Antoni Tàpies and other artists and an extensive library of books and journals dedicated to art. On the roof, there are two large sculptures, which…
Tag: eixample
The Twenty-Metre Tall Granite Obelisk in Plaça Cinc d’Ors
If you keep walking along Passseig de Gràcia, past La Pedrera, towards the Vila de Gràcia, you’ll come to a large and rather chaotic intersection called Plaça Cinc d’Ors. The plaza, which is really just an overgrown roundabout, takes its name from one of the cards in a pack of Spanish playing cards; the Cinc…
Monument to Lluís Companys (Statue of a girl with a handkerchief)
Born in Tarrós in 1882, Lluis Companys was one of the founding members of the Catalan political party Esquerra Republicana de Catalunya and served as president of the Generalitat de Catalunya from 1934 until he was executed in 1940. The first part of the twentieth century was a time of political unrest and upheaval in…
Plaça de Mossèn Jacint Verdaguer
Plaça de Mossèn Jacint Verdaguer is basically just a large and fairly busy roundabout in the l’Eixample district of Barcelona. The plaza would probably go unnoticed if it wasn’t for the twenty-metre high monument which stands in the middle and the giant neon owl that stares down from the roof of a nearby building. Monument…
Statue of Little Red Riding Hood
Who isn’t familiar with the story of Little Red Riding Hood? The tale of a young girl and her grandmother who are saved from a fierce wolf by a burly woodcutter. The Little Red Riding Hood fountain in Barcelona portrays a smiling Red Riding Hood casually stroking a friendly-looking wolf. Presumably, inspired in the girl’s…
Fountain of Diana
Located on the intersection of Gran Via and Roger de Lluria, the Fountain of Diana is a six and a half metre tall marble fountain topped by a statue of the Roman goddess Diana the huntress. The Renaissance styled Fountain by Venancio Vallmitjana was commissioned by Barcelona city council in 1913. Apparently, the young goddess…
Monument to Narcís Monturiol : Inventor of the Steam Powered Submarine
Located on Avinguda Diagonal, this four and a half metre concrete and bronze monument to inventor and political activist Narcís Monturiol i Estarriol was inaugurated in 1963. Created by Josep Maria Subirachs, the monument includes a replica of Monturiol’s most famous invention, the steam-powered submarine Ictíneo II, first launched in the Port of Barcelona in…
A Thoughtful Bull and a Very Flirtatious Giraffe (Statues)
The streets of Barcelona are often likened to an open-air museum or art gallery. From the famous Art Nouveau architecture to monuments, sculptures and street art, there’s something to catch your eye at every turn. Two of the most unusual statues are Thinking Bull (Brau Pensador) and Flirty Giraffe (Girafa Coqueta) which are located at…
Barcelona Balconies by Cité Création
Balcons de Barcelona (Barcelona Balconies) is a large scale Trompe l’oil style mural painted on the southwest elevation of an apartment building in the l’Eixample neighbourhood, near the Sagrada Familia. Part of a campaign called Barcelona posa’t guapa (Barcelona get pretty) the mural was painted in 1992 in the run-up to the Olympic games. Despite…
The Cerdà Houses and the Origins of the Eixample District
In the 1850’s Barcelona was booming and the medieval walls which surrounded the Gothic Quarter were torn down to allow the city to grow. The city council asked several architects and city planners to submit plans for a new suburb which would envelope surrounding villages such as Gràcia, Sarría and el Clot. The councillors initially…
Sagrada Familia: Tips for Visiting Gaudi’s Masterpiece
Antoni Gaudi’s unfinished masterpiece, La Sagrada Familia, is one of the world’s most popular tourist attractions. In this post, we answer some common questions and share tips to help you make the most of your visit, including how to avoid the queues. The Sagrada Familia receives approximately 4.5 million visitors each year. The number of…
Las Arenas – Bullring Turned Shopping Centre and Viewpoint
The Las Arenas de Barcelona bullring was inaugurated in 1900 and was the second of 3 bullfighting rings built in Barcelona. Designed by Catalan architect August Font i Carreras, the plaza had a capacity for nearly 15,000 spectators. During the 1970s, as bullfighting became less popular, the arena faced declining attendance and finally closed in…
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…
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…
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…
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…
The First ÚS Barcelona Street Art Festival
The ÚS Barcelona urban art festival took place on the site of the old Encants Vells market on February 1st 2014. The event was sponsored by Barcelona city council and the Rebobinart organisation. The idea behind the festival was to make use of a part of the city which is undergoing transformation to promote urban…
L’Ou Com Balla: Dancing Eggs !
If you like quirky and unusual traditions then you’ll love L’Ou Com Balla aka The Dancing Egg which takes place every year as part of Barcelona’s Corpus Christi celebrations. Basically the idea is that an egg is placed in a fountain and dances suspended by a jet of water. There are a total of 12 eggs…
Museum of Catalan Modernism
The Museum of Catalan Modernism opened in 2010 and contains furniture, paintings and sculptures from two private collections exhibited in a modernist building on Carrer Balmes. The museum includes works by most of the major exponents of the genre, including Antoni Gaudi, Joan Busquets, Eusbei Arnau, Josep Llimona and others. The museum occupies two floors,…
Three Charming Art Nouveau Fountains by Josep Campeny
One of the things that makes Barcelona such a great place to live is the fact that, no matter how long you spend here, there’s always something new to discover. Everyone is familiar with sights such as the Sagrada Familia or the Pedrera, but I suggest you spend a few hours simply exploring and going…
The Roger de Llúria Monument
This bronze statue of Roger de Llúria was constructed in 1885 by Catalan artist Josep Reynés. The statue is located on Passeig Lluis Companys, just opposite the main entrance to the Ciutadella Park and was originally part of a series of 8 statues of Catalan heroes. Who was Roger de Llúria? Roger de Llúria was…
The Arc de Triomf
The Arc de Triomf was built in 1888 as the main entrance to the Exposición Universal de Barcelona. It was designed by the Catalan architect Josep Vilaseca i Casanovas and features sculptures by Josep Reynés, Josep Llimona and Manel Fuxa. The 30 metre high mudejar style brick arch is the focal point at the end…