Plaça Reial

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Plaça Reial, Barri Gòtic, Gothic Quarter, Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain.

One of the most photogenic squares in Barcelona, and certainly its liveliest. Numerous restaurants, bars and nightspots lie beneath the arcades of 19th-century neoclassical buildings, with a buzz of activity at all hours. The lamp posts by the central fountain are Antoni Gaudí’s first known works in the city.

The square was created on the site of a convent, one of several destroyed along La Rambla (the street was teeming with religious institutions) in the wake of the 19th-century Spain-wide disentailment laws that stripped the Church of much of its property.

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