Cinema

Arc del Triomf
Pg. Lluís Companys
This monument was built for one of the most important events in the history of Barcelona: the 1888 Universal Exhibition. The chosen location was the Parc de la Ciutadella, as it provided the necessary space.
Many buildings were constructed for the event, but the Arc de Triomf was certainly one of the most outstanding. Designed by the architect Josep Vilaseca, the arch has become one of the most recognisable landmarks on Barcelona’s urban landscape and is an example of an architecture rooted in the triumphalist and historicist tradition. Designed as a gate of honour leading to the exhibition site, it was placed at the entrance to the Hall of Sant Joan (now the Passeig Lluís Companys). It was built from brick, a material that was beginning to be used at the time by the most innovative architects due to its artistic and expressive potential. The arch harks back to classical architecture with Mudejar elements. Particularly outstanding are the sculptural reliefs at the top. The relief on the front façade is by Josep Reyné, and depicts Barcelona welcoming its visitors, and the one on the rear, by Josep Llimona, symbolises prizes being given to the participants.

Carrer Allada Vermell
Carrer Allada Vermell
A street in the shape of a square in the “Venetian-country” style which arose from the renewal and refurbishment of the Ribera district following the 1992 Olympic Games. The compound name is due to the fact that the two streets joined up following the demolition of the block of houses that separated them. The name Allada, which was recorded in literature as long ago as the 15th century, probably comes from “garlic fields” (all is Catalan for garlic) and Vermell from the reddish substances used by the tanneries near the Rec Comtal. It comes as a pleasant surprise to see that two dark, narrow streets, so typical of the old part of town, have been transformed into a square where light and colour are part of the new urban landscape.

Carrer de les Caputxes
Carrer de les Caputxes
The unique Carrer de les Caputxes is reached from behind the Gothic fountain of Santa Maria. The name originates from the workshops where hooded capes were made, which were located there until the 16th century. The street features characteristic buildings that form a covered walkway with double arches and porticoes underpinned by octagonal Gothic columns and tile-clad, wrought iron balconies. These simple 18th-century buildings are a fine example of the way urban planning evolved in the city. Barcelona was hemmed in by its city walls and the only way it could grow was upwards.
The continuation of this street towards the Pla de Palau is called Canvis Vells, named after the money changers, or canvistes, who worked there in medieval times.

Carrer Ferran
Carrer Ferran
The Carrer Ferran links the Plaça Sant Jaume and La Rambla, and is one of Barcelona’s most atmospheric streets. In the 1920s many Barcelonians used to go there for a stroll and to admire the window displays of the city’s most elegant shops. From the end of the 19th century it was the home of some of Barcelona’s most important jewellers and silversmiths. The street was designed by the architect Josep Masía i Villa on a rectilinear ground plan and begun in 1824, and was in sharp contrast to the complex medieval streets in Barcelona at the time. Masía i Villa also designed the façade of City Hall. The street was originally known as Carrer de Fernando VII, as a tribute to the king at the time. However, he wasn’t a very popular monarch with the city’s inhabitants and they soon removed the epithet “seventh” (VII). As is the case with many of the city’s streets, its name has changed according to the particular historic situation. In the 1970s, with the arrival of democracy, the street regained its original name, but this time the “seventh” was officially removed.

Carrer Girona

Carrer Girona, a street on the right-hand side of the Eixample district, is part of the characteristic urban layout of this Barcelona neighbourhood, designed by the town planner Ildefons Cerdà (1859). It runs vertically from the sea to the mountains. The nomenclature of Eixample streets proposed by the writer Víctor Balaguer (1865), includes the name of this thoroughfare dedicated to the capital of the Gironès county, an early Iberian settlement subsequently occupied by the Romans (Gerunda). Construction work on the street didn’t begin until 18th May 1905, and the block between Carrer Mallorca and Avinguda Diagonal was the first part to be built on.

Casa del Gremi de Velers
Via Laietana 50
The Sailmakers’ Guild, or Gremi dels Velers (who made hand-woven sails and silken ropes), gained importance in the mid-18th century, when the crafts achieved major prominence. This prosperity led to the building of its own building located between the Via Laietana, the Carrer Sant Pere Més Alt and the Plaça Lluís Millet. The building is one of the few surviving examples of 18th-century guild buildings and was commissioned from the mason Joan Garrido. Construction began in 1760 and was completed in 1764, although the sign on the door reads “Guild of Sailmakers of this city 1763”. The building was extended in 1928 by the architect Jeroni Martorell in the same style (the extension included the entire section of the building overlooking the Plaça de Lluís Millet). The first floor still belongs to the guild (Col•legi de l’Art Major de la Seda, the institution representing the silk industry) while the others are used as private flats. Among the outstanding decorative elements on the façade are the sgraffiti showing classical depictions of caryatides and atlantes. Sgraffito was a widely used form of wall decoration in the 18th century, and involved scratching through a top layer of plaster to reveal a different layer of colour below. On the balcony on the corner, a chapel houses the sculpture of Our Lady of the Angels, by Joan Enrich.

Casa Milà - "La Pedrera"

La Pedrera, or Casa Milà, was designed by the Reus-born architect Antoni Gaudí (1852-1926) in 1905 for the Milà family. Building work took place between 1906 and 1910. This sculptural building stands at number 92, Passeig de Gràcia, and is one of the most unusual residential blocks that dot the city’s architectural landscape.

For the project, Gaudí joined forces with the architect Josep Maria Jujol, the iron workers, the Badia brothers, the master foundryman, Manyach, the builder, Josep Bayó, and the plasterer, Joan Beltran.

The most outstanding feature is the sinuous façade with its wrought-iron balconies replicating the natural forms that are a constant feature in Gaudí’s work. The rooftop is a dreamlike space with ceramic chimneys in the shape of warriors and a variety of avant-garde figures. The Casa Milà was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1984.

Cases Ramos
Plaça Lesseps
The Cases Ramos are three modernista buildings linked by a single façade and were built between 1906 and 1908 to a design by the architect Jaume Torres i Grau. They are characterised by the yellowish colours and natural forms, such as flowers and bees, on the façade. The building was commissioned by the shipbuilder Ricardo Ramos. The rear courtyard, which is on the corner of the Carrer Mont-Roig, contains a delightful, small modernista temple. Catalonia’s home-grown art nouveau, modernisme, is present throughout the building: in the graffitis, the balcony railings, plaster ceilings, the small details in the hallways and lifts, etc.
The Cases Ramos is a family-apartment block and stands in stark contrast to the small houses that surrounded it 100 years ago. It is the building that best represents the integration of the district of Gràcia into Barcelona. The building also included rental apartments and shops and was home to the Ramos family until they left for Mallorca at the outbreak of the Civil War in 1936. The first floor was inhabited for a time by the anarchist trade union, the CNT, and the Spanish Falangist Movement, until it was returned to its owners. The building fell into disrepair over the following decades to such an extent that there were plans to demolish it at the beginning of the 1970s in order to make way for the inner-city ring road. Fortunately, Antonio Moragues, who was the dean of the Architects’ Association at the time, took immediate action and asked for the building to be declared a National Landmark, thereby saving it from demolition.

Cathedral
Avinguda de la Catedral
The Cathedral was begun at the end of the 13th century during the reign of King Jaume II, and this is recorded by an inscription on the Doorway of Sant Iu. It was completed throughout the 14th and 15th centuries. The main façade and central tower were begun towards the end of the 19th century. The façade followed part of the project drawn up by the French master Carlí, which is preserved in the capitular archive and dated 1408. The Cathedral remains a medium-sized structure due to the fact that at the end of the 13th century, its main section was hemmed by buildings. It has three naves which are typical of Catalan Gothic architecture. Its two wings features a series of chapels placed between buttresses. It also has an adjacent cloister, two bell towers and a large central tower. Quadrangular in shape, the cloister is surrounded by four galleries with pointed arches separated by solid pillars, which open on to a central garden. From here you can see the 14th-century octagonal towers that appear in the film. The cloister also has a small pond with white geese that symbolise the virginal purity of Saint Eulalia, the Cathedral’s patron saint. Next to the Doorway of la Pietat, which comes out on to the street of the same name, stands a small temple with a Gothic fountain crowned by the figure of Saint Jordi (Saint George), and a fountain which is famous because every year, during Corpus Christi, an emptied eggshell is placed on top of the water jet, giving rise to the tradition known as “l’ou com balla”, or “dancing egg”.

Cementiri de Montjuïc
Carrer Mare de Déu del Port s/n
Montjuïc Cemetery, which is also known as the South-West Cemetery due to its location, was opened on 1st March 1883. It was designed by the architect Leandre Albareda, who also supervised the building work and built some of the important mausoleums in the cemetery. The first person to be buried here was Josep Fonrodona Riva, a Cuban of Spanish descent who was born in Matanzas, as is stated on his epitaph. Rius i Taulet was mayor at the time and he was the man behind the Ciutadella Park and many other initiatives which changed Barcelona for the good in the 19th century. This is one of the city’s biggest cemeteries and the only one that can be seen from the sea. This vast necropolis, with its broad avenues, contains over 150,000 graves, many of them of great architectural and sculptural interest, and is a perfect replica of the architecture of the Example district. The finest examples of Catalan art nouveau, modernisme, and the later noucentisme, can be found in both places. The people of Barcelona can feel proud of this cemetery that faces the Mediterranean, the sea that links cultures and showcases the history of the world.

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