Barcelona through the years

 

Romantic Barcelona

Barcelona was a Roman province in the first century. The foundation of Barcino which was a small province located around the mountain of Taber, took place in a land crossed by the two rivers, now known as Tarragona.

Nowadays you can still visit many of the Roman culture ruins such as the fortification wall, the Temple of Augusto, the necropolis and collections in the Museo d'Historia de Barcelona.

Gothic Barcelona

The modern structures and social environment come from the medieval expansion of the city.

Inside the new urban profile, when the third wall was constructed in the fourteenth century, the city opened the doors to a new Atlantic market and caused the fall of the ancient Mediterranean one.

While the artisan part of the city was strongly developing around Santa Maria del Mar and inside the La Ribera district, Barcelona was growing up around Placa Sant Jaume giving a new structure to politics and turning into today's gothic city. All these changes brought the merchants, navigators and professionals into the new commercial city.

Neoclassic Barcelona

The XVIII century started and ended with two significant battles: the military fall of 1714 during the Succession War and the war against the Napoleon troops in 1808.

Antoni de Capmany stated that Barcelona of the nineteeth century was experiencing a new economic boom. After all the movements that occurred in the previous century, the politic of the Borbones, the creation of new Indian and cotton fabrics and the commercial freedom with America, Barcelona was starting a new life. It was a city governed by the military force, where soldiers built the fortaleza de la Ciutadella to protect and rule it and where the new ideas brought about the improvement of the Ramblas, the Raval and the main streets, reforming the ancient neoclassic style.

Modern Barcelona

From the proclamation of the Constitution of Cádiz in 1812 until the Republic of 1873, Barcelona took part in the new political and social changes that the whole state was going through. The time of revolutions, strikes, acts of violence were evidence of the strong tensions within the city: These tensisons led to the destruction of the military ciutadela and the Exposición Universal taking place in 1888. Also, some new urban reforms were adopted to solve the degradation problems and lack of public spaces.

Barcelona, an industrial city nicknamed “the little Manchester ”, inaugurated the first railway in 1848 and created the unions UGT in 1888 and the CNT in 1910.

Barcelona in the twentieth century

Barcelona became a new cultural capital where scientific and technical advances were occurring. The new industrial and politic generation created the modern metropole that is Barcelona , known as the “big Barcelona ”. All the acts of violence together with the ”pistolerismo” in the twenties, the Second Republic, the revolutions and the bombs of the war destroyed the city in 1939, took away the heart and the memories and brought the city to face a long post-war period.

Dark Barcelona

With the end of the Spanish civil war in 1936, Barcelona suffered a strong rupture with its past and its ambitions and illusions gained with the Republic of 1931.

The first years of the post- war period were characterised by the black market, the popular cinemas and street parties to face the poverty and the sadness of the new regime.

Olympic Barcelona

The Barcelona 's Olympic Games in 1992 renovated the city. Barcelona became known as a welcoming and open city complete with Mediterranean hospitality and tradition.

Barcelona´s candidature for the XXV Olympic Games celebrated in 1992 was awarded in Barcelona in January 1981 by the mayor, Mr. Narcis Serra, to the President of the Olympic Internacional Committee, Mr. Joan Antoni Samaranch.

Barcelona 2000

The city we see today and where we enjoy living is a new Barcelona that follows the Mediterranean tradition, it's open to other cultures and offers and gains substantially from tourists.
Despite all the changes the new Barcelona has experienced, it's kept its rich history which has developed the foundation for new innovations, creating a unique city with its own personality.

Barcelona is a European capital bursting with culture and continual progression, enabling it to run its everyday life.

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