Historic sights in Barcelona
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A
Palau de la Generalitat, Plaça de Sant Jaume
Founded in the early 15th century on land that had largely belonged to the city’s by-then defunct Jewish community to house Catalonia’s government, the Palau de la Generalitat was extended over the centuries as its importance (and bureaucracy) grew. Marc Safont designed the original Gothic main entrance on Carrer del Bisbe. The modern main entrance on Plaça de Sant Jaume is a late-Renaissance job with neoclassical leanings. If you wander by in the evening, squint up through the windows into the Saló de Sant Jordi and you will get some idea of the sumptuousness of the interior. If you do get inside, you’re in for a treat. Normally you will have to enter from Carrer d…
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B
La Rambla
Flanked by narrow traffic lanes and plane trees, the middle of La Rambla is a broad pedestrian boulevard, crowded every day until the wee hours with a cross-section of barcelonins and out-of-towners. Dotted with cafes, restaurants, kiosks and news-stands, and enlivened by buskers, pavement artists, mimes and living statues, La Rambla rarely allows a dull moment. It takes its name from a seasonal stream (raml in Arabic) that once ran here.
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Carrer de Montcada
An early example of town planning, this medieval high street was driven down towards the sea from the road that in the 12th century led northeast from the city walls. It would, in time, become the snootiest address in town for the city’s merchant class. The bulk of the great mansions that remain today date to the 14th and 15th centuries, although they were often tampered with later. This area was the commercial heartland of medieval Barcelona.
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C
Plaça de Sant Jaume
In the 2000 or so years since the Romans settled here, the area around this square (often remodelled), which started life as the forum, has been the focus of Barcelona’s civic life. Facing each other across it are the Palau de la Generalitat (seat of Catalonia’s regional government) on the north side and the Ajuntament (town hall) to the south. Both have fine Gothic interiors, which, unhappily, the public can enter only at limited times.
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