The skyscraper at the corner of Portal de l'Àngel rises as a stark, white limestone block, looming over the low-slung stone of the Gothic Quarter. When it opened in nineteen twenty-nine, its thirteen floors made it the tallest building in…
Spanish Civil War Sites
This walking tour traces the dramatic events of the 1930s conflict through the physical scars, tragic ruins, and revolutionary hubs left on Barcelona's historic streets.
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1. Telefónica Building (Barcelona Telephone Exchange)
2. Hotel Continental Barcelona
The Hotel Continental Barcelona features a balcony draped in heavy, ornate ironwork that overlooks the Rambla. This building served as the private residence of the Malda family before transforming into a hotel in the early twentieth…
3. Teatre Poliorama
The Teatre Poliorama carries a sharp, triangular profile that fits perfectly into the junction of the Rambla deis Estudis. Beneath its ornate facade sits the former Royal Academy of Sciences and Arts, which served as the city’s official…
4. Basílica de Santa Maria del Pi
The Basílica de Santa Maria del Pi is defined by its massive, single-nave interior and a detached, octagonal bell tower that reaches high above the surrounding neighborhood. Built in the fourteenth century, the church sits on a site where…
5. Plaça de Sant Felip Neri
The walls of the church fronting the square are pockmarked with hundreds of small, jagged indentations. These scars are from an aerial bomb dropped during the Spanish Civil War in nineteen thirty-eight. Most of the people gathered in the…
6. Palau de la Generalitat de Catalunya
The Palau de la Generalitat features a Renaissance facade on Plaça de Sant Jaume that hides a much older medieval core. This seat of Catalan government occupies a site used for administration since the early fifteenth century. When the…
7. Plaça de George Orwell
The Plaça de George Orwell stands out because of the towering, three-legged steel sculpture by Francesc Torres that dominates its center. Locals often call this place the Plaça del Tripi, or Trip Square, due to the city's heavy…
8. Casa Francesc Cambó i Batlle
The Casa Francesc Cambó i Batlle stands out for the massive stone balcony that wraps around its corner, supported by heavy, curved brackets. Francesc Cambó, a powerful politician and financier, commissioned the building in nineteen…
9. Prefectura Superior de Policia Nacional a Catalunya
The Via Laietana police headquarters is a stark, gray stone building marked by a small, metal emblem of the Spanish police near the entrance. During the final years of the Franco dictatorship, this building became the primary center for…