Monument to Lluís Companys (Statue of a girl with a handkerchief)

Monument to Lluís Companys, Barcelona

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…

Monument to Anselm Clavé

Monument to Anselm Clavé

Josep Anselm Clavé was a musician, composer, writer and political activist. A committed socialist and founder of choral societies aimed at working-class people, Clavé played an important role in the development of popular Catalan culture during the nineteenth century. Monument to Josep Anselm Clavé Inaugurated in 1888, the monument consists of a bronze statue by…

Monument to Francesc Cambó

Francesc Cambó i Batlle

Born in Verges in 1876, Francesc Cambó was a wealthy conservative politician, lawyer, author, philanthropist and Catalan nationalist. He founded the Regionalist League, was member of the Spanish government, promoted Catalan culture and collected art (a large part of his collection is on display in Barcelona’s MNAC museum). Shortly after the Second Spanish Republic was proclaimed in…

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…

Catalonia’s National Day – La Diada de Catalunya

Human towers in front of the El Born Cultural Centre - La Diada 2016

Every year on the 11th of September, thousands of Barcelona residents take to the streets to celebrate a public holiday called La Diada de Catalunya or National Day of Catalonia. Often refered to as simply La Diada, the day comemorates the fall of Barcelona to the French and Castilian troops of Phillip V of Spain during the War…