Barcelona Architecture
The first important architectural landmarks date
back to the original nucleus inside the Barcelona's Roman walls,
the centre of which is the Plaça de Sant Jaume (St. James
Square). This first phase witnessed one of the crucial processes
in the life of the city: its Romanization.
The Mediaeval period gave Barcelona one of its remarkable architectural
gems, the Gothic quarter, which presents all the splendour of
an era epitomized by the Plaça del Rei, with its churches,
palaces, houses and chapels and the façade of the Cathedral.
Of note outside of the Gothic quarter are carrer Montcada and
its noble palaces, the historic Hospital de la Santa Creu, the
Drassanes shipyards and the monasteries of Sant Pau del Camp and
Santa Maria de Pedralbes. Fine examples of the architecture of
the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries can be found in Barcelona in
the churches of Betlem, the Mare de Déu de la Mercè,
the Casa de la Caritat, the Palau de la Virreina, the Labyrinth
in Horta and the various manor houses still to be seen in Barcelona.
In addition to relevant public buildings such as the Boqueria market, the University, the Gran Teatre del Liceu Opera House and the Plaça Reial, this period was marked by the construction of Barcelona's Eixample or New Town to a project by Ildefons Cerdà. Modernisme, too, has left an architectural legacy of the first order. The work of Gaudí (the Sagrada Família, the Casa Milà-La Pedrera, the Casa Vicenç, the Casa Batlló, Park Güell, etc.), Puig i Cadafalch (the Amatller and Martí houses, the Palau Macaya, etc.) and Domènech i Montaner (the Hospital of Sant Pau, the Palau de la Música Catalana) are all key points of reference in the history of architecture, while a number of them are also World Heritage sites.
There are a considerable number of very fine works of architecture constructed for the Universal Exhibition of 1929, many of which are on Montjuïc and around the Plaça d'Espanya (the Font Màgica, the Palau Nacional, the Poble Espanyol, the Mies van der Rohe Pavilion, etc.). The most recent architecture to be built in the city is in two phases: the first of these spans some 50 years, from the 40s to the 90s, and includes numerous residential blocks, the faculty buildings in Barcelona's university campus area, the Col·legi d'Arquitectes, the Fundació Joan Miró and the Trade office blocks; and a second that begins with the 1992 Barcelona Olympics and continues up to the present day. Of significance from this second phase are public amenities such as the Espanya Industrial park, the area around the Mapfre Towers or the Rambla del Raval, cultural facilities such as the MACBA, the CCCB, the Ciutat del Teatre, and the Auditori, and other new constructions being built for the Universal Forum of Cultures in 2004.
Barcelona guide