Palau Güell

A Rich industrial Family named Guëll asked Gaudi to built this Palace. They lived all their life in the Palace.

The Guell Palace " Palau Güell" in catalan, was constructed in 1888 by Antoni Gaudi.In the lobby of the Palace, the light that falls through the windows is subdued by three huge parabolic arches formed by grey, smoothly polished stone pillars. The towering arches create the impression of a Gothic window; but the windows which Gaudi employed in Guell's palace are rectangular - in other words, serve as a counterpoint to the lines of the arches. These arches also reveal the first signs of his worries with Art Nouveau. The Art Nouveau elements of the entrance gate were also repeated inside the building. For one thing, there are lavish decorations on the pillars, of which there are a considerable number : from the thick, supporting, mushroom-shaped polished grey pillars made of snake-eye stone excavated from a quarry in the Pyrenees.

A hall spanning three floors forms the center of the building. It replaces, as it were, the normal inner courtyard, but at the same time creates the impression that one is standing in a huge Baroque church. This room is covered by a cupola in which Gaudi put numerous round holes. The twisted legs of the table recur in the building itself, namely, on the roof.

Monasteri Sant Pau del Camp

An air of countryside in the middle of the Raval. The cloister of the monastery Benedictine from the XII century will retain you for its quietness.

The church or monastery of Sant Pau del Camp (Spanish for Saint Paul of the countryside) is the oldest church in Barcelona. While the monastery now sits within the El Raval barrio of central Barcelona, it once sat outside the city; its rural location gave the church its name.
Construction began late in the ninth century, to replace a previous church destroyed by Muslim invaders in 985.

Hospital de la Santa Creu

Walk around the shaded gardens of this old hospital de La Santa Creu. Antoni Gaudi died here in 1926.

In 1401, six hospitals in the city of Barcelona merged to form the Hospital de la Santa Creu, a fine example of civilian gothic architecture. With the growth of the city and the advances in medicine in the 19th century, the centre was unable to meet the demands of the time and construction of a new building was proposed.

Thanks to the legacy of Pau Gil, a banker, the first stone of the new building was laid on January 15th, 1902. “Sant Pau” was added to the old name of “ la Santa Creu” to honour the wishes of its benefactor. The architect Lluís Domènech i Montaner was commissioned with the project.

Over the years, the Hospital de la Santa Creu i Sant Pau has become the most significant public building in Catalan modernisme.The architectural complex of Hospital de la Santa Creu i Sant Pau is an unmistakable landmark in the culture and heritage of Barcelona city in particular and in Catalonia in general.

Its architectural and patrimonial value extends beyond its urban location and the site has won European and international acclaim. In 1997, together with the Palau de la Música Catalana (one of the world's leading concert halls), it was declared World Heritage by UNESCO for its singular architectural and artistic beauty

Combining straight lines and curves in a continuous dialogue between the interior spaces and the light outside, the building, inaugurated in 1995, is a work by Richard Meier. It's about what is more interesting in this museum.

MACBA (Barcelona Contemporary Art Museum) is dedicated to works from the second half of the 20th century. There are few works in the permanent collection and once in a while interesting temporary exhibitions.

Macba - Barcelona

In1959 the art critic Alexandre Cirici Pellicer believed in the need to create a Museum of Contemporary Art in Barcelona.

Between 1960 and 1963, Cirici and Cesáreo Rodríguez Aguilera headed a group of individuals who began to put together a collection with the objective of constituting the basis for the future museum. In February 1963, the opening of the exhibition El arte y la paz, with a clear political commitment, exposed the narrow limits of what was then permissible.

In 1986 Barcelona City Council, invited the North American architect Richard Meier to take charge of the project for the new museum. The City Council's Department of Culture commissioned the art critics Francesc Miralles and Rosa Queralt to draw up a report which would serve to define the philosophy of the future museum. In 1987 the MACBA Foundation brought private enterprise into the project. The MACBA was officially inaugurated on the 28th of November of 1995.

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CCCB - Barcelona

CCCB The Barcelona Contemporary Culture Centre is a multidisciplinary institution which organizes exhibitions in particular on urbanism, music, dance, debates and readings.

This place is commonly frequented by people from Barcelona offering an astonishing architecture.

The Centre de Cultura Contemporània de Barcelona (CCCB) organizes and produces exhibitions, debates, festivals and concerts, programmes film cycles, courses and lectures, and encourages creation using new technologies and languages.

It promotes artistic research in fields such as multimedia, backs research into exhibition formats, exports its in-house productions to other national and international arts centres, museums and institutions, and generates debate, thought and reflection on the theme of the city and the public domain, as well as other issues of current affairs.

The CCCB also compiles materials that are available for public consultation, comprising its inheritance, its holdings and archives of exhibition formats, publications, digital archives, audiovisuals, and so on.

It is a space open to groups of independent artists, creators and programmers...

See the website for upcoming programme.

Boqueria Market - Barcelona

A visit to the Market of la Boqueria in Barcelona is advisable to enjoy an incredible contrast between colours and activity, ideal to discover why Mediterranean cuisine is internationally known due to its ingredients.

The best products from Catalonia in one place: fruit, vegetables, fish and seafood, tapas bars like El Quim and others...Just Perfect!!

About the history if the Boqueria Market

 
The first mention of the Boqueria market of Barcelona dates from 1217, when tables were installed near the old door of the city to sell meat. From December 1470, a market selling pigs occurred at this site. At this time, the Market had the name Mercat Bornet or was (until 1794) simply known as Mercat de la Palla (Straw Market).

At the beginning, the market was not enclosed and did not have an official statute, it was regarded as a simple extension of the market of Plaça Nova which then extended to the Plaça del Pi.
Later, the authorities decided to construct a separate market on La Rambla, housing mainly fishmongers and butchers. It is not until 1826 that the market is legally recognized and a convention held in 1835 decides construction of an official place.

Construction began March 19, 1840 under the direction of architect Mas Vilà. The market officially opened the same year, but the plans for the building were modified many times. The official inauguration of the structure was finally made in 1853. In 1911, the new fish market was opened and, in 1914, the metal roof that still exists today was constructed.

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More markets in Barcelona