Many of Barcelona’s squares and plazas feature large and impressive statues. Some of the statues are decorative works of art, while others are monuments which honour famous people. Some of the monuments honour kings or heroes of yesteryear. Others feature famous artists, writers, politicians and wealthy businessmen. One such monument was the statue of Antonio…
Tag: statues
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…
Monument to Simón Bolívar
Sometimes referred to as the George Washington of South America, Simón Bolivar was a Venezuelan soldier and politician who fought to liberate Venezuela, Columbia, Peru, Ecuador, Panama and Bolivia from Spanish rule. The bronze statue of Simón Bolívar by Julio Maragall, which stands near the seafront in Barcelona, is replica of a similar monument in…
Júlia, the Life-Sized Concrete Mammoth Statue in the Parc de la Ciutadella
The Parc de la Ciutadella is Barcelona’s oldest and most central public park. Located on the edge of the old town, the park dates back to 1869 when the eighteenth-century citadel, which had previously occupied the site, was handed over to the city council. Home to Barcelona Zoo, the Catalan Houses of Parliament, a small…
Monument To The Catalan Volunteers
Monument to the Catalan volunteers (Monument als Voluntaris Catalans) is a bronze statue by Catalan artist Josep Clarà located near the boating lake in the Parc de la Ciutadella. The statue is a memorial to the approximately 900 Catalans who fought with the allied forces during World War One, many of whom had enlisted as…
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…
Desolation by Josep Llimona
Desolation (Catalan: Desconsol) is one of the best known and most evocative statues by Catalan sculptor Josep Llimona i Brugera. Born in Barcelona in 1863, Josep Llimona is widely considered to be the most influential sculptor of the Catalan Modernism artistic movement. His earliest commissions were mostly monuments and funerary statues. In fact, Desolation is…
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…
Monument to Frederic Soler
Better known by his pen name Serafí Pitarra, Frederic Soler was a Catalan playwright who wrote over a hundred plays as well as several books of poetry. The white marble monument which was erected in his memory stands directly opposite Barcelona’s oldest theatre, Teatre Principal. Biography of Frederic Soler Frederic Soler i Hubert was born…
Carmela by Jaume Plensa
Carmela is one of four sculptures by Jaume Plensa which were exhibited at the Palau de la Musica Catalana in 2016. The statue was such a hit with the neighbours that they started a petition on change.org asking the organizers and Barcelona city council to keep it there indefinitely. Carmela Sculpture Carmela was created from…
Monument to the Heroes of 1809
Commonly referred to as the Monument to the Martyrs of Independence, The Monument to the Heroes of 1809 is dedicated to eight people who were executed after a failed attempt to drive occupying French troops out of Barcelona. The Martyrs of Independence During the Peninsula War (1807 – 1814) Barcelona was occupied by Napoleon’s army…
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…
Monument to Sportspeople of the Sea
The monument to sportspeople of the sea (Catalan: Esportistes del Mar) by Joaquim Ros i Sabaté is one of 3 monuments commissioned by the Real Asamblea Español de Capitanes de Yate during the 1960s, all of which are located in Barcelona’s historic harbour (el Port Vell). The rusty iron statue which represents a yacht at…
Monument to Joan Salvat-Papasseit
Joan Salvat i Papasseit was born in Barcelona in 1894. After his father died in 1901 Salvat grew up in a naval orphanage where he received only the most basic education. He left school at the age of twelve to begin an apprenticeship in a perfumery. Inspired by the anarchist revolution which took place in…
Stargazers (Miraestels) by Robert Llimós
A few metres from the Rambla del Mar walkway, two pristine white figures float silently in the waters of Barcelona harbour. The 3.55m polyester and fibreglass sculptures, their gaze turned up to the heavens, were designed by Robert Llimós and built by local shipbuilder Marina 92. The Stargazer (Catalan: Miraesteles) statues are 2 of a…
Christopher Columbus Monument and Viewpoint
The Columbus Monument Barcelona’s Columbus Monument (Catalan: Mirador de Colom) was erected in 1888 for the Universal Exposition. The 60m high iron column is topped by a bronze statue of the famous Italian explorer who is portrayed holding nautical charts and pointing out to sea. Although the monument is a tribute to the man who discovered…
Onades (Waves) by Andreu Alfaro
If you arrived in Barcelona by ferry or cruise ship, you will already be familiar with the Onades (waves) sculpture by Andreu Alfaro Hernández. Likewise, if you took a taxi from the airport to the city centre, depending on which area of the city you are staying in, there’s a good chance that you will have seen…
Cobi – Barcelona’s Olympic Mascot
With it’s heady mix of culture, beaches, history, architecture and night-life Barcelona is one of Europe’s top tourist destinations. The tourist boom started in 1992 when the city hosted the Olympic Games and embraced the opportunity to promote and reinvent itself. Cobi – Barcelona’s 1992 Olympic Mascot No Olympic Games would be complete without an…
Antoni Llena’s Chicken Wire Tribute to Castellers
Located in Plaça de Sant Miquel behind Barcelona’s City Hall, this unusual 26.5m high stainless steel tower by Antoni Llena i Font was unveiled in 2012 during the Feast of Santa Eulalia. The statue is titled Homenatge als Castellers and is a tribute to the emblematic human towers which are a traditional feature of public…
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…
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…
Monument to Francesc Cambó
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…
Parc de l’Espanya Industrial
A stones throw from Barcelona’s main railway station, the Parc de l’Espanya Industrial is best known for the 12m high dragon sculpture by Andrés Nagel. The sculpture doubles as a childrens’ slide and is commonly used by skaters and BMXers (Note the “BMX or die” slogan spray painted above one of the ramps). The park gets…
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…
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…
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…
El Pont del Petroli – Badalona
The 275m Pont del Petroli was constructed in the 1960s by the CAMPSA oil company. Originally used for unloading oil tankers, the jetty was abandoned in the 1990s and soon became popular with local SCUBA divers. In 2003 Badalona City Council purchased and refurbished the jetty adding a weather station at the far end. In 2009…
