Historic Cities · Spain
Barcelona through the ages
Barcelona is a city on the northeastern coast of Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second-most populous municipality of Spain after Madrid.
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Barcelona in 1350
Gothic Barcelona
Barcelona in 1350 is a compact, walled Mediterranean port ruled by its Consell de Cent as Gothic churches and merchant palaces push the skyline upward. The walk follows the harbour and the Ribera merchants into the Gothic heart, past the rising Santa Maria del Mar and the royal shipyards, through the Jewish call and the narrow lanes under the cathedral's shadow.
The skyline is a dense sawtooth of steep terracotta roofs, church towers and scaffolds: the cathedral and Santa Maria del Mar rise in dressed stone with flying buttresses and temporary timber platforms, the long low sheds of the Drassanes crowd the waterfront, and the Roman and medieval walls fence a compact town of narrow shaded lanes, pale limestone façades, ochre plaster and the glitter of the Mediterranean beyond.
The walk — 22 streets, squares and views
Montjuïc Hill View → Portal de Mar → Port of Barcelona → Drassanes Reials → La Ribera Quay → Santa Maria del Mar → Plaça del Born → Carrer de Montcada → El Call → Carrer de la Llibreteria → …
Step inside — 12 interiors
Consulate of the Sea · Great Shipbays · Ribera Warehouse Hall · Soaring Nave · Merchant Guild Hall · Merchant's Courtyard · Synagogue of the Call · Royal Stair of the Palau · Saló del Tinell · Saló de Cent · Cloister of the Cathedral · Great Meat Hall
Planned from the Wikipedia record: History of Barcelona.
Barcelona in 1888
Exposition Barcelona
Barcelona in 1888 is a city reshaping itself: the hated citadel has become the Ciutadella park and the city is hosting Spain’s first Universal Exposition. Walkers will pass the red‑brick Arc de Triomf, the new Columbus monument at the harbour and the expanding Eixample grid, moving between gaslit Ramblas, iron market halls and the new exhibition pavilions in the park.
The city presents a low, dense skyline of tiled roofs, church spires and industrial chimneys under bright Mediterranean light, punctuated by recent red‑brick and ironwork monuments from the Exposition. Passeig and Eixample boulevards carry horse trams and promenading bourgeois in dark coats and bustled skirts; La Rambla is shadowed by plane trees and gas lamps; the Ciutadella shows ornate fountains, glasshouses and the Neo‑Mudéjar Arc de Triomf in warm brick.
The walk — 22 streets, squares and views
Port Vell → Columbus Monument → La Rambla Lower → Gran Teatre del Liceu → Mercat de la Boqueria → Plaça Reial → Plaça Sant Jaume → Cathedral (La Seu) → Plaça del Rei → Passeig del Born → …
Step inside — 14 interiors
Column Base Rotunda · Auditorium of the Gran Teatre · Iron-and-Glass Market Hall · Arcaded Café Gallery · Saló de Cent Council Chamber · Cathedral Nave and Choir · Saló del Tinell Great Hall · Silversmith's Workshop · Born Market Iron Hall · International Exhibition Main Hall · Castle Café Hall · Hivernacle Tropical Conservatory · Triumphal Arch Vaulted Passage · Chamfered-Corner Café
Planned from the Wikipedia record: 1888 Barcelona Universal Exposition.
Barcelona in 1915
Modernisme Barcelona
Barcelona in 1915 is a city mid-construction: Modernista palaces and trencadís mosaics stand beside factory chimneys, while Gaudí's Sagrada Família rises with scaffolds over the new Eixample grid. The walk passes docks and promenades, the busy Passeig de Gràcia of the bourgeoisie, the crowded workshops of the Raval and Poblenou, and the glass-and-iron theatres where Catalan Modernisme shows its richest detail.
The skyline is a low Mediterranean tapestry of red-tiled roofs, church spires, and tall factory chimneys pierced by scaffolding at the Sagrada Família; broad avenues are lined with plane trees, cast-iron balconies, and stone façades scored with sinuous Modernista ornament. Sunlight falls on glazed ceramics and green-wrought iron, electric tram wires stitch the streets, and the scale alternates between intimate market lanes and the sweeping, bourgeois boulevards of the Eixample.
The walk — 22 streets, squares and views
Collserola Ridge View → Port Vell Quay → Passeig de Colom → Barceloneta Strand → La Rambla → Plaça Reial → Els Quatre Gats (Montsió) → Plaça de Sant Jaume → Portal de l'Àngel → Plaça de Catalunya → …
Step inside — 14 interiors
Maritime Customs Hall · Opera House Auditorium · Great Gothic Banquet Hall · Bohemian Café Salon · Sala de Cent Council Hall · Piano Nobile Drawing Room · Grand Salon and Staircase · Central Courtyard and Stairwell · Nativity Nave under Scaffolds · Hall of a Hundred Columns · Covered Market Nave · Concert Hall with Skylight · Central Parabolic Hall · Textile Mill Weaving Floor
Planned from the Wikipedia record: Modernisme.
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