Articles in ‘History of Barcelona’
The
excellent documentary Barraques pays tribute to the people who lived in the numerous shanty villages across the city for decades. One of the largest settlements spread across the hills of Carmel. Ignored by the authorities, the residents had trek every day down the hill to fetch water. Some shacks still remain, but most have either been bulldozed or upgraded into houses. High up on the Turó de La Rovira, people built homes around the
gun emplacements from the Civil War. Today all that remains are a few tiles, though a number of renovated shacks still exist on the hill.
Watch this short extract from the documentary as two sisters return to the childhood home, now a place of glass, graffiti and rubble.
Documentaries about Barcelona, El Carmel, History of Barcelona, Urbanism | Tags: Barraques, Turó de la Rovira|
The Barcelona Photographic Archive has just released a hundred or so photos taken between 1907 and 1908. They were taken by Frederic Ballell, one of the pioneers of Catalan photojournalism, who delighted in documenting the daily life of the city. Above a goat herder passes by Palau Moja, below a puppy seller. From La Rambla, hace un siglo
See also History of Les Rambles
Animals in Barcelona, El Raval, History of Barcelona, Las Ramblas, Photography exhibitions in Barcelona | Tags: Barcelona in 1907, Barcelona Photographic Archive, Catalan photojournalism, Frederic Ballell, Frederic Ballell photographs, old images of Barcelona, old photos of Barcelona, Old photos of Les Rambles, Palau Moja|
A community of Chinese immigrants settled in in Barcelona in the 1870s, fleeing, I think, the Opium Wars and turmoil in the Philippines. They lived in extremely poor conditions in the Camp de la Bota where the Forum is sited today . The area was known for some time as the “Barrio de Pekin”. As the years went by, more immigrants were attracted to the area and the shanty town grew. The Chinese were probably assimilated into the city’s population. Many of the shacks were swept away in sea storms in the 1920s, though with the building boom of the 1929 Universal Exposition, more arrived.
See also Camp de la Bota, Barcelona’s killing fields
The above painting, Platja de Pequín (Pequín beach), was painted by Isidre Nonell in 1901. More from Wikipedia
Art, Barcelona painters, History of Barcelona, Paintings of Barcelona | Tags: Barcelona in the 19th century, Barrio de Pekin, Chinese history of Barcelona, History of immigration in Barcelona, Isidre Nonell, Platja de Pequín|
I’ve put together
this timeline of Barcelona in the history section. Still very unfinished.
History of Barcelona | |
Since the building of its walls in the Middle Ages until the mid-19th century, Barcelona remained the same size and shape. The plain which extended beyond was scattered with villages and small towns such as Gracià, Clot, Sant Martí de Provençals and Santa Maria de Sants. In between there were farmland and vinyards criss-crossed with network of streams and torrents, and paths and roads and a few wetlands along the coast. This map was made after 1719 and before 1753. Unknown author. From
bcn.cat (full sized map there)
History of Barcelona | Tags: Barcelona in the 18th century, Historical maps of Barcelona, Old maps of Barcelona|
Dusk at the Rompeolas, Barcelona’s breakwater, in the 1950s. Sadly, the rough, unfriendly eatery here was demolished in the 1990s as the city embraced modernity, but you can still walk along to the end, talking in the sea air, the men with their rods and cormorants sunning themselves among the rocks.
The Rompeolas is an essential place in the social history of the city, though today it has lost much of its magic. It was a place to drive out with your girl and make love in your tiny SEAT 600. Many people born in the city in the 1950s and 60s are said to have been conceived here. Later, in the 1980s, Barcelona singer Loquillo immortalized it in his best (only good?) song El Rompeolas:
Leer
Barceloneta, History of Barcelona | Tags: old photos of Barcelona, Social history of Barcelona, Songs about Barcelona, The Rompeolas|
The Turó de la Rovira betwen El Carmel and el Guinardó offers one of the best views to admire Barcelona. The ruined gun emplacements remind us it is also the site of Barcelona’s air defences during the Civil War. More on this another day. It is also a great spot for graffiti. Photos by Mónica. Note hanging shoe art.
El Carmel, Graffiti in Barcelona, Spanish Civil War in Barcelona | Tags: Barcelona's air defences, Turó de la Rovira, Turó de la Rovira park|
Spanish flu killed 1554 people in Barcelona in the terrible outbreak between 1918 and 1919. 370 people died in a single day in the city on 21st 1918.
History of Barcelona | Tags: dangerous diseases in Barcelona, Flu in Barcelona, Gripe española en Barcelona, history of disease in Spain, infectious diseases in Barcelona|
This painting by Ramón Casas is entitled La Carga (The Charge). and shows the Guardia Civil routing a crowd. It was painted in 1899 and gained fame after the general strike in Barcelona in 1902, where similar tactics were employed. The work is currently in the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía in Madrid.
Image from Wikipedia
Art, Barcelona painters, History of Barcelona, Paintings of Barcelona | Tags: Ramón Casas, Strikes in Barcelona|
In Calle de Ramalleres, 17 in the walls of the Casa de la Misericòrdia, in El Raval there is a hole framed in wood. Poor women who were inacapble of feeding their new-born babies would leave them here on a platform which turned. The nuns inside hearing the baby’s cries would spin the turntable round and take the infant. Today the hole is blocked off. Map here
Foto: Italo Rondinella El Pediodico
Architecture, El Raval, History of Barcelona, Places in Barcelona | Tags: Calle de Ramalleres, Casa de la Misericòrdia, Nuns in Barcelona|
![[Colom.jpg]](http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_mO07g9kbB7Q/S40rAjuBfKI/AAAAAAAAAL4/Vq5FvFMUssc/s1600/Colom.jpg)
Not America that’s for sure. The 
The Fundació Antoni Tàpies opened its doors this week after being closed for reforms for several years. 