The catalunya square and its splendid statues of Barcelona
The catalunya square, in its original name plaça catalunya, is a big square in the downtown and the most important of Barcelona. Big because with its 30000 square meters, it t is the 3rd big one of Spain sharing this rank with the españa square of Seville (the first one is the españa square of Madrid and the second one, the espanya square of Barcelona). Before to be the actual square with its many statues and fountains, it was a plain situated in front of one of main doors separating the medieval city and the villages situated outside of the medieval wall. The area has been used for example as an outdoor market or to celebrate some events. |
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Due to the development of the city and in order to expand its infrastructure, Barcelona had to destroy its wall, built between the 13th and the 15th centuries, between 1854 and 1868 and by this way, incorporate the villages and built new areas like the construction of the district called Eixample designed by Ildefons Cerdà i Sunyer but in his project, there was no main square.
In 1862, the City Hall asked to urbanize the place for the 1888 Universal Exhibition but the official permission was given in 1889 and at this time, they launched a contest won by Pere Falqués i Urpí. In 1892, buildings like houses, locals… have been expropriated and in 1902, the construction started consisting of 2 big streets and a circular square in its intersection point. For the 1929 International Exhibition, the catalunya square has been renovated with a new project by Josep Puig i Cadafalch in 1923. |
Due to some circumstances like the construction of the metro between 1924 and 1926 and the dictatorship of Miguel Primo de Rivera i Orbaneja, the work has been paralized and at the end, Puig was replaced by Francesc de Paula Nebot i Torrens.
With this replacement, Nebot changed a little detail, instead to build an obelisk in the center like planned by Puig, he designed a kind of bandstand with columns but it would be rejected so he gave his resignation. At the end, the square was finalized by Joaquim Llansó, Josep Cabestany and Nicolau Maria Rubió i Tudurí and it was inaugurated in 1927 by the King Alfonso XIII. In 2008, some redesignings were done like the paving surrounding the square, the mosaics in the center and the improvement of the accesses by adding ramps. |
Actually, the square is a main meeting point where the airport bus will bring you here directly once you will land either on the terminal 1 or 2 and if the center is not conquered by pigeons, there is always something to celebrate or to organize like concerts, shows…
Surrounding by shops, bars, restaurants and banks, it is also the intersection point for the most famous streets of the city as la rambla, passeig de gracia, avinguda de l’angel, rambla de catalunya…
The main things, which attract my curiosity, are its many statues. There are in total 29 and if you want to know them all, don’t stop here because below, you will discover the real treasure of the catalunya square.
Maternity by Vicenç Navarro Romero | Shepherd with flute by Pau Gargallo | Navigation by Eusebi Arnau | Girl by Josep Dunyach |
Youth by Josep Clarà | Female figure by Enric Casanovas | Woman with boy and flute by Josep Viladomat | The blacksmith by Josep Llimona |
The Goddess by Josep Clarà | Girona by Antoni Parera | Montseny by Jaume Durán | Woman by Joan Borrell i Nicolau |
Fisherman by Josep Tenas | Emporion by Frederic Marès | Labor by Llucià Oslé | Wisdom by Miquel Oslé |
Pomona by Enric Monjo | Shepherd of eagle by Pau Gargallo | Popular spirit by Jaume Otero | Woman with the holy mother by Enric Monjo |
Lleida by Joan Borrell i Nicolau | Tarragona by Jaume Otero | Woman with angel by Vicenç Navarro | Hercules by Antoni Parera |
Woman form by Josep Llimona | Montserrat by Eusebi Arnau | Barcelona by Frederic Marès | Francesc Macià by Josep Maria Subirachs |
Fountain of the 6 putti by Jaume Otero | All are originals except 3 of them which are the shepherd with flute, the youth and the goddess. All date from 1928 except the blacksmith (1914), francesc macia (1991) and of course, the 3 replicas the shepherd with flute (1993), the youth (1993) and the goddess (1982) although the original ones date from 1928 too. |