Barcelona

Barcelona is a Spanish city, capital of the autonomous community of Catalonia, of the homonymous province and of the Barcelonés region.

With a population of &&&&&&&&01636732.&&&&&0 With 1,636,732 inhabitants in 2021, it is the second most populous city in Spain and the Iberian Peninsula after Madrid, and the tenth in the European Union. The Barcelona metropolitan area has &&&&&&&&03339279.&&&&&03 339,279 (2020) and the metropolitan area of Barcelona 4,895,876 inhabitants (2019), making it the fifth most populous city in the European Union.

It has a nominal GDP of USD 142,223 million and a nominal GDP per capita of USD 30,619, which represents a PPP GDP per capita of USD 36,240, being the second Spanish metropolitan area in economic activity and the seventeenth after London, Paris, Rhine-Ruhr, Amsterdam, Milan, Brussels, Moscow, Frankfurt am Main, Munich, Madrid, Berlin, Vienna, Rome, Copenhagen, Stockholm and Birmingham.

It is located on the shores of the Mediterranean Sea, about 120 km south of the Pyrenees mountain range and the border with France, on a small coastal plain bounded by the sea to the east, and the Collserola mountain range to the west, the Llobregat river to the south and the Besós river to the north. For having been the capital of the county of Barcelona, it is usually referred to with the antonomastic name of "ciudad condal".

The history of Barcelona extends over 4000 years, from the end of the Neolithic, with the first remains found in the territory of the city, to the present day. The substratum of its inhabitants brings together the Iberian, Roman, Jewish, Visigothic, Muslim and Christian peoples. As the capital of Catalonia and the second most important city in Spain, it has forged its relevance over time, from being a small Roman colony to becoming a city valued internationally for aspects such as its economy, artistic heritage, culture, sports and social life.

Barcelona has been the scene of various international events that have contributed to its consolidation, development and global projection. The most relevant have been the Universal Exposition of 1888, the International Exposition of 1929, the 1992 Olympic Games and the Universal Forum of Cultures 2004. It is also the headquarters of the secretariat of the Union for the Mediterranean.

Currently, Barcelona is recognized as a global city due to its cultural, financial, commercial and tourist importance. It has one of the most important ports in the Mediterranean and is also an important point of communication between Spain and France, due to motorway and high-speed rail connections. Josep Tarradellas Barcelona-El Prat Airport, located 15 km from the city center, was used by more than 52.6 million passengers in 2019.

Toponymy

Marble Roman Mat dating to the 200-230 d.C. in which you can read the name of the colony of Barcino, origin of the city. Museum of History of Barcelona

The origin of the name of Barcelona is unknown and there are various theories and legends that try to explain it. It is known that there was an original Iberian city, from the Laietanos tribe. Later it was conquered by Gnaeus Cornelius Scipio Calvo, and later it was converted into a Roman colony, placed under the protection of Gaius Julius Caesar and Octavio Augusto, which received the name of Colonia Iulia Augusta Paterna Faventia Barcino. The name evolved during the Middle Ages, when the city was known by the names of Barchinona, Barcalona, Barchelona and Barchenona.

Archaeological evidence in the form of coins found at the foot of Montjuic and minted in the III century B.C. C. shows the name Bárkeno written in an ancient Iberian language spoken by the Layetani. We can conclude that the Layetani or Laietani - an ancient Iberian pre-Roman people who inhabited the area that the city of Barcelona occupies today - called the place Bàrkeno, which means "Place of the Plains" (Barrke = plains/terrace)

One of the legends about the origin of Barcelona alludes to a hypothetical foundation by General Carthaginés Amílcar Barca after conquering the Iberian enclave after his landing on Iberia, while another version is attributed to his son Aníbal, who occupied the territory during the second Punic war in his advance to the Pyrenees. However, there is no documentary evidence of this link between the names of the Carthaginian family Barca and the city known as Barcelona. There are other explanations for the name of the city, such as the one that maintains that it comes from the Phoenician period, theory supported by the inscription in Iberian writing ("barkeno") found in a coin.

There is also a legend that gives a mythological explanation to the name of the city. According to this legend, Hercules joined the Argonauts after completing their fourth labor to help them search for the Golden Fleece, but as they passed near the current Catalan coast, a storm scattered the boats that made up the expedition, and when they finished, the ninth was missing.. Hercules searched for it and finally found the wreck of the Barca Nona (the ninth boat) next to the current Montjuic. The crew members had found the place so welcoming that, helped by Hermes (god of commerce and the arts), they decided to found a city to which they gave the name of Barcanona.

Symbols

Flower arrangement with the shape of the city's shield in the gardens of Mossèn Cinto Verdaguer

The coat of arms of Barcelona has its origins in the Middle Ages and appears for the first time, in the same layout as the current one, in 1329. The coat of arms is divided into four quarters where the cross appears in the first and fourth of San Jorge in gules on silver, and in the second and third quarters with the four sticks of gules on gold (shield of the royal family of Aragon). Numerous variants have also been found with one, two, three, or even five vertical bars in each quarter. The shield is headed by a crown, symbol of the sovereignty of the monarchs of the Crown of Aragon over the city. The flag derives directly from the shield, so it has the same composition, although without the crown.

During the Franco dictatorship, two sticks of gules were charged in each barracks, following previous representations of some medieval versions and even from the 19th and early 20th centuries, and which were criticized by some sectors of the population for simplifying the signal real and attributed it to an assimilating intention towards the flag of Spain. In 1996, a process began that lasted several years to properly make the symbols official, but without restoring the original, instead a logo inspired by that shield was made official. The Catalan Society of Genealogy, Heràldica, Sigil·lografia, Vexil·lologia i Nobiliària initiated a dispute denouncing that the process had not followed the procedure in accordance with the law to make official symbols, which it won, and forced the City Council to make official the symbols according to heraldry and vexillology. It also uses an isotype derived directly from the historical shield.

Geography

Municipal Term of the City of Barcelona in the Province of Barcelona

The tower of Collserola, Norman Foster, in the mountain range of Collserola

Aerial view of the city from the Mediterranean Sea

The city of Barcelona is located on the Mediterranean coast of the Iberian Peninsula, right in the center of the fluvial deltas of the rivers Llobregat, to the southwest, and Besós, to the northeast. Its municipal term limits, from south to northeast and in a clockwise direction, with the municipalities of: El Prat de Llobregat, Hospitalet de Llobregat, Esplugas de Llobregat, San Justo Desvern, San Feliú de Llobregat, Molins de Rey, Sant Cugat del Vallés, Sardañola del Vallés, Moncada and Reixach, Santa Coloma de Gramanet and San Adrián de Besós. The first two and the last two are the municipalities with which the city maintains the closest contact, with a dense continuous urban mesh that unites them, on the contrary San Cugat del Vallés and Sardañola del Vallés are very separated from Barcelona, since the Litoral mountain range and the Sierra de Collserola natural park act as natural barriers.

Barcelona has a small part of its municipal area on the Llobregat slope of the Collserola mountain range. These are Vallvidrera and Les Planes, which are somewhat interned within the Collserola Natural Park. Santa Cruz de Olorde is also part of its municipal area, straddling the Vallés Occidental and Bajo Llobregat.

In this way, Barcelona is the capital of the Barcelonés region, which is made up of the municipalities of Barcelona, Hospitalet de Llobregat, Badalona, Santa Coloma de Gramanet and San Adrián de Besós. This region limits to the north with Vallés Occidental, to the northeast with the regions of Vallés Oriental and Maresme, to the east and southeast with the Mediterranean Sea and to the west with the region of Bajo Llobregat.

Northwest: San Cugat del Vallés	North: Sardañola del Vallés and Moncada and Reixach	Northeast: Santa Coloma de Gramanet y San Adrián de Besós
West: Molins de Rey, San Feliú de Llobregat, San Justo Desvern y Esplugas de Llobregat		This: Mediterranean Sea
Southwest: Hospitalet de Llobregat and El Prat de Llobregat	South: Mediterranean Sea	Sureste: Mediterranean Sea

Topography

Located on the coast of the Mediterranean Sea, Barcelona sits on a gently sloping plain formed between the fluvial deltas of the rivers Llobregat, to the southwest, and Besós, to the northeast. It is bordered to the southeast by the coastline, and to the northwest by the Collserola mountain range (with the top of Tibidabo of 516 m a.s.l. as its highest point), which continues parallel to the coastline, enclosing the city in a very delimited perimeter.

Barcelona's coastline has changed over time to the point that in prehistoric times it reached where Plaça de Cataluña is located today. The land on which La Barceloneta was established did not exist a century and a half before the construction of this neighborhood. These lands are the result of the accumulation of sand sediments dragged by the marine currents coming from the north and that would be contained by the breakwater of the port built in 1640, and that ended up uniting the old island of Maians (where the station is currently located). France) with the mainland, forming the base land tongue of La Barceloneta.

Playa de La Barceloneta

The part of Barcelona closest to the coastal mountains is dotted with small peaks, some of which are urbanized, and others crowned by parks, such as El Carmelo (265.6 meters), Monterols (127.3 meters), the Putxet (182.7 meters), the Rovira (206.8 meters) and the Turó de la Peira (138 meters). But the best-known peak of Barcelona, just above the coastline and separating the city from the Llobregat delta, is the Montjuic mountain (184.8 meters). Finally, mention the promontory of only 16.9 m where sits the historic core of the city, Mount Táber.

Coast

One of the attractions that Barcelona has incorporated since the last years of the XX century is its beaches. Thanks to the regeneration of the coastline carried out in 1992 for the Olympic Games, Barcelona today has nine beaches and a bathing area that cover more than 4.2 linear kilometers of coastline. The beaches are fully central, are connected to the center and are located a few minutes from any point in the city. All are equipped with the most complete services: showers, surveillance, Red Cross and, in some cases, changing rooms, sunbed rental, beach bars, etc. The beaches are subjected to cleaning every day throughout the year, and all have the blue flag of the European Union that certifies their excellence.

According to data from the Barcelona City Council, every year they receive more than seven million bathers. Although most are concentrated in the months of good weather, between May and September, citizens and visitors can also enjoy the beaches the rest of the year, since they are equipped to play tennis, beach volleyball and other sports.

Beaches of the city

On the beach of La Barceloneta, next to the Hotel Arts, there is a modern municipal thalassotherapy center, the Polideportivo Marítimo, equipped with seawater pools, and which allows the enjoyment of sports and health services throughout the year. The ten beaches are, from south to north, San Sebastián, San Miguel, La Barceloneta, Somorrostro, Nueva Icaria, Bogatell, Mar Bella, Nueva Mar Bella, Levante and the Forum baths. On the Mar Bella beach there is a space reserved for nudism.

Climate

The city of Barcelona has a Mediterranean climate with maritime influences. According to the criteria of the Köppen-Geiger classification, the city is close to a transition zone of the subtropical climate with dry and hot summers Csa (Mediterranean climate) to a humid subtropical climate Cfa.

Temperatures are mild during winter and very warm in summer, with little daily temperature fluctuation, which is around 8 °C on average. The annual thermal amplitude is around 15 °C, being less than in other areas of the peninsular interior due to the maritime condition of the city. The average temperature in Barcelona is around 18 °C due to the heat island effect in urban areas, being warmer than in other neighboring areas that are not so densely urbanized and being lower in the mountainous areas of the municipality due to the altitude, which exceeds 500 m s. no. m. (meters above sea level) at Tibidabo.

The winters are mild, with an average temperature of around 12 °C in January, the coldest month. Frost is exceptionally rare within the city and snowfall is very rare in urban areas, with an average of about one snow day every 2-3 years on the outskirts of the city, although it is more frequent in mountainous areas of the municipality due to the altitude, as occurs in the Fabra Observatory located at an altitude that exceeds 400 m s. no. m. (meters above sea level), which has an average of two days of snow per year. There was a heavy snowfall in the city in March 2010 and another in February 2015. Another heavy snowfall that is remembered in the city dates from 1962.

Summers are warm, averaging 26°C in August, the hottest month. The maximums are very warm in this month, standing between 28 and 29 °C on average. However, the minimum averages are around 23 °C, with a feeling of muggy being frequent due to the high humidity at night.

The average annual precipitation is around 600 mm, with maximum rainfall at the end of summer and beginning of autumn (reaching an average of more than 90 mm in October), which is often caused by the phenomenon known as cold drop, which has come to exceed 100 mm in one day on numerous occasions. On the contrary, the minimum occurs at the beginning of the summer, reaching the average somewhat above 20 mm in July. The average annual humidity is high due to the maritime conditions of the city, being between 69 and 70% and varying little throughout the year.

Below are three tables with the climatological values of the meteorological observatories located in the center of the city (although it is true that this is not an official station of the AEMET, but of the Generalitat of Catalonia), the Josep Tarradellas Barcelona-El Prat Airport and the Fabra Observatory. The Airport observatory does not belong to the municipality of Barcelona, but to the municipality of El Prat de Llobregat, however it serves as a reference due to its proximity to the municipality of Barcelona and the altitude of 4 ms. no. m. similar to that of the urban area of the city, although influenced by a strong thermal inversion due to being close to a large industrial and urbanized area. The Fabra observatory does belong to the municipality of Barcelona, however it is located on the outskirts of the city, at a considerable altitude of 412 m a.s.l. no. m., and therefore registers significantly different climatological values than those of the urban area.

Average climatic parameters of Barcelona Can Bruixa — Barcelona city (1987-2010)
Month	Ene.	Feb.	Mar.	Open up.	May.	Jun.	Jul.	Ago.	Sep.	Oct.	Nov.	Dec.	Annual
Temp. max. abs. (°C)	22.4	24.8	28.8	27.7	31.6	35.8	36.8	38.2	33.4	32.6	26.1	23.1	38.2
Average temperature (°C)	14.8	15.6	17.4	19.1	22.5	26.1	28.6	29.0	26.0	22.5	17.9	15.1	21.2
Average temperature (°C)	11.8	12.4	14.2	15.8	19.3	23.0	25.7	26.1	23.0	19.5	14.9	12.3	18.2
Temp. medium (°C)	8.8	9.3	10.9	12.5	16.1	19.8	22.7	23.1	20.0	16.5	11.9	9.5	15.1
Temp. min. abs. (°C)	-1.0	0.6	0.4	6.2	6.3	12.4	15.5	15.2	12.5	5.4	1.7	0.7	-1.0
Total precipitation (mm)	43.7	31.4	33.0	47.7	47.4	25.5	25.1	40.8	81.9	96.5	45.1	46.8	565.0
Precipitation days (≥ 1 mm)	6.0	5.0	6.2	7.9	7.5	5.5	3.1	5.8	8.0	8.0	6.6	7.0	76.6
Days of snowfall (≥ 1 mm)	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Source: Barcelona City Council

Average weather parameters of Josep Tarradellas Barcelona-El Prat Airport Observatory (El Prat de Llobregat municipality) 4 m. n. m. (Reference period: 1981-2010)
Month	Ene.	Feb.	Mar.	Open up.	May.	Jun.	Jul.	Ago.	Sep.	Oct.	Nov.	Dec.	Annual
Temp. max. abs. (°C)	22.4	24.5	26.0	25.4	29.4	34.9	34.8	37.4	33.4	30.4	25.2	23.2	37.4
Average temperature (°C)	13.6	14.3	16.1	18.0	21.1	24.9	28.0	28.5	26.0	22.1	17.3	14.3	20.3
Average temperature (°C)	9.2	9.9	11.8	13.7	16.9	20.9	23.9	24.4	21.7	17.8	13.0	10.0	16.1
Temp. medium (°C)	4.7	5.4	7.4	9.4	12.8	16.8	19.8	20.2	17.4	13.5	8.6	5.7	11.8
Temp. min. abs. (°C)	-7.2	-6.6	-1.4	-0.2	3.0	7.8	11.4	9.5	7.6	3.8	-1.4	-8.0	-8.0
Total precipitation (mm)	36.8	35.1	35.5	40.4	47.3	29.6	20.7	62.0	81.0	91.0	58.8	40.3	587.9
Precipitation days (≥ 1 mm)	3.7	4.0	4.5	5.1	4.7	3.6	1.8	4.5	5.2	6.3	5.1	4.4	53.3
Days of snow (≥)	0.1	0.2	0.1	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.1	0.0	0.4
Hours of sun	149	163	200	220	244	262	310	282	219	180	146	138	2513
Relative humidity (%)	70	70	70	69	70	68	67	68	70	73	71	69	69
Source: State Meteorology Agency

Here are some of the extreme weather values recorded at the Fabra Observatory weather station at 412 m s. no. m. located within the municipality of Barcelona, taken from 1920 for precipitation, from 1926 for temperature and from 1976 for wind: the absolute maximum temperature of 39.8 °C recorded on 7 July 1982 and the absolute minimum temperature of −10 °C recorded on February 11, 1956, the maximum precipitation in a day of 196 mm recorded on December 6, 1971 and the maximum wind gust of 144 km / h recorded on April 29, 1984.

Average weather parameters of Observatorio Fabra (Barcelona) (412 m. n. m.(reference period: 1981-2022)
Month	Ene.	Feb.	Mar.	Open up.	May.	Jun.	Jul.	Ago.	Sep.	Oct.	Nov.	Dec.	Annual
Temp. max. abs. (°C)	20.3	21.2	27.9	26.0	33.4	35.4	36.6	38.4	33.0	30.0	26.4	21.7	38.4
Average temperature (°C)	11.1	12.5	15.2	17.2	21.0	25.2	28.4	28.3	24.6	20.1	14.7	11.8	19.2
Average temperature (°C)	8.2	9.1	11.4	13.2	16.8	20.8	23.8	23.9	20.7	16.8	11.8	9.1	15.5
Temp. medium (°C)	5.3	5.7	7.6	9.1	12.5	16.4	19.3	19.5	16.7	13.4	8.8	6.4	11.7
Temp. min. abs. (°C)	-7.2	-4.4	-3.4	1.4	3.4	7.6	11.6	11.0	8.0	1.8	-2.6	-3.0	-7.2
Total precipitation (mm)	50.1	43.2	44.5	52.7	57.8	29.8	23.7	41.4	74.9	91.3	65.6	46.2	621.3
Precipitation days (≥ 1 mm)	4.8	4.3	5.1	5.8	5.7	3.5	1.9	4.3	5.5	6.5	5.1	4.6	57.1
Days of snow (≥)	0.5	0.7	0.3	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.1	0.2	2.0
Hours of sun	166.1	174.8	188.4	211.1	248.2	270.5	304.4	262.1	190.5	178.4	157.9	156.4	2508.8
Relative humidity (%)	69	69	69	68	68	67	66	70	74	75	71	69	70
Source: State Meteorology Agency

Ensanche de Barcelona, Ildefonso Cerdá (1859). Paradigm of the nineteenth-century ensanches in Spain

Urban structure

The urban planning of the city has evolved and overlapped layers from the Roman city to the present day, and all this urban history is still visible today. In the old town you can see the cardo maximus and the decumanus that converged in the old Roman forum, today called Plaza de San Jaime, center of the political life of the city; or you can follow the trace of the walls along the street of the New Baths or Avignon. The following growths of the medieval city, and the corresponding walls of Borne or Raval also continue to be more or less visible up to the limits of the old town.

This was the limit of Barcelona until in 1859 the city decided to dispense with the obsolete walls and grow along the Barcelona plane until engulfing the surrounding towns, today converted into neighborhoods of the city, such as Gracia, Pueblo Nuevo, Horta or Saints. This growth was made following the expansion plan designed by Ildefonso Cerdá, known as Plan Cerdá, with the already famous orthogonal mesh with chamfered crosses.

Architecture

Main facade of the Cathedral of Santa Cruz and Santa Eulalia

The city has a long and rich architectural history, beginning with the ancient remains of the Roman settlement that Barcelona founded, of which only archaeological remains remain, or scattered fragments, such as the columns of the Temple of Augustus inside the building of the Excursionist Center of Catalonia, the remains of Barcino under the subsoil (integrated into the Barcelona History Museum) or the old walls. There are also witnesses of much later Romanesque-style buildings, such as the Monastery of San Pablo del Campo or the chapel of Marcús.

Temple Expiatorio de la Sagrada Familia, by Antoni Gaudí

Numerous buildings have been preserved from the medieval period, some of them very prominent, especially the Gothic works that proliferate in its historic center called the Gothic Quarter precisely for this reason, such as the Cathedral of the Holy Cross and Saint Eulalia in Barcelona, the Basilica of Santa María del Mar, outside the Gothic Quarter, characterized by its austerity and harmony in measurements, which is why many consider it the most outstanding work of Catalan Gothic; also the church of Santa María del Pino, with a wide nave and a monumental bell tower, or the Royal Shipyards, one of the few examples of Gothic naves for civil use existing in Europe. Also from the medieval period are buildings such as the Tinell hall, the Lloctinent palace or the Generalitat de Catalunya palace. Also noteworthy are the palaces built by wealthy families from the city, structured around a courtyard, such as those that currently house the Picasso Museum.

After a period of little architectural relevance in the city, due to the fact that the walls prevented new growth, the lack of land within the walls, and the economic hardships caused by the Spanish Succession War, some important actions were carried out thanks to the land obtained from the Church through confiscation. These lands allowed, for example, the construction of the Plaza Real, or notable iron constructions, such as the La Boquería market. Years later, a new architectural movement took hold in Barcelona, accompanied by a period of great economic prosperity, and by the expansion of the city beyond the walls, modernism.

The Catalan Music Palace of Lluís Domènech i Montaner, in a modernist style, opened in 1908

Barcelona is known as the capital of modernism due to the large quantity and quality of works that it treasures, with jewels such as the Hospital de la Santa Cruz and San Pablo or the Palau de la Música Catalana by Lluís Domènech i Montaner, or the Casa Macaya by Josep Puig i Cadafalch; but without a doubt the most well-known and recognized modernist architect is Antoni Gaudí. His most important work, which attracts millions of visitors from all over the world every year, is the Expiatory Temple of the Sagrada Familia, which Gaudí left unfinished and which continues to be built with donations and contributions from individuals and visitors, and which is scheduled to be finished In the near future. Other of Gaudí's best-known works are Park Güell, Casa Milà, also called La Pedrera, and Casa Batlló.

Palacio San Jordi

The city also has different samples of contemporary architecture. The German Pavilion by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe stands out, which was built for the 1929 Barcelona International Exposition, or the Joan Miró Foundation by the Catalan architect Josep Lluís Sert. After the civil war, the city came under the control of the regime and its development vision, in addition to preventing all popular movements, which are what have historically produced the most notable works in Barcelona. It was not until years after the recovery of democracy, on the occasion of the 1992 Olympic Games, that the city experienced a stage of great transformations that gave rise to works such as the San Jorge Palace by Arata Isozaki, the Collserola Tower by Norman Foster and the Montjuic Telecommunications Tower by Santiago Calatrava. Before the Games, the remodeling and expansion of the Barcelona Airport was also carried out, directed by Ricardo Bofill. In the post-Olympic period, the city has continued to maintain remarkable architectural development, building buildings such as the Museum of Contemporary Art of Barcelona (MACBA) by Richard Meier, the Torre Glòries by Jean Nouvel, and projects for a new station in La Sagrera, or Frank Gehry's La Sagrera Tower. Other actions have been carried out on the occasion of the Universal Forum of Cultures, such as the Forum Building by Jacques Herzog and Pierre de Meuron.

In 1999, the city of Barcelona was awarded by the Royal Institute of British Architects with the RIBA Gold Medal, an award given to architects for all their work, and for the first and for the moment once, it has been awarded to a city and not to an individual architect.

The Parque de la Ciudadela is the enclosure where the 1888 Universal Exhibition was held

Parks and gardens

Barcelona has numerous parks. The best known are Park Güell, designed by Antoni Gaudí in the Gracia district, Montjuic Park, located on the mountain of the same name, and Ciudadela Park, located in the center of the city, where you can You will find the Parliament of Catalonia and the Barcelona Zoological Park, famous for having housed the albino gorilla Snowflake until his death.

Recently, the Diagonal Mar park, designed by Enric Miralles, and the Forum park, where the site that hosted the Universal Forum of Cultures in 2004 was located, have been inaugurated. Near Collserola, north of the city, are the Central Park of Nou Barris, one of the largest in Barcelona and the Horta labyrinth park, where the hedges are planted and trimmed in such a way that they create a labyrinth where young and old have fun. Other smaller parks are the Parque de la España Industrial, in the Sants neighbourhood, the Clot park, near the Plaza de las Glorias, and the Turó Park, next to the Plaza Francesc Macià.

Tibidabo Attractions Park

In addition to this, in the city there are two mountains that dominate the views, so they have been converted into viewpoints. Montjuic is a small hill located next to the port, on top of which is an old military castle that served to guard the entrance to Barcelona from the sea. At the foot of this mountain are the Olympic facilities, such as the Lluis Companys Olympic stadium, the San Jorge Palace designed by the Japanese architect Arata Isozaki, and the Picornell Pools. Also located in Montjuic is the botanical garden, which has a unique collection of cacti.

Tibidabo, in the upper part of the city, is the other mountain of Barcelona. You can go up by car, bus, or with a tram and a funicular. In Tibidabo are the Expiatory Temple of the Sacred Heart, visible from the entire city, the Tibidabo amusement park, and the Collserola Tower, a telecommunications antenna designed by Norman Foster that has a viewpoint.

History

Barcino Plan superimposed to the current level of the Gothic Quarter

Old Age

Roman Necropolis in the Plaza de la Villa de Madrid

The first traces of population found in the city area date back to the Neolithic period (5500 BC), as indicated by the deposits found around the Raval neighborhood rich in burials. Likewise, Neolithic remains have been found in other points of the Barcelona map such as La Sagrera. However, the first notable settlers do not appear until the 7th century BC. C.-VI a. C. These were the layetanos, an Iberian people. After the first Punic war, to try to compensate for the consequences of the defeat, the Carthaginians began a policy of expansion in the Iberian Peninsula. According to a legend, the city was founded in the year 230 B.C. C. by Amílcar Barca, father of Aníbal. According to it, the name of Barcelona derives from the Barca Carthaginian lineage. However, there is no evidence of a Carthaginian presence on the Barcelona plain. During the beginning of the Second Punic War, Hannibal Barca occupied the town during his march towards the Pyrenees. However, the Romans managed to conquer the city in 218 BC. The city was renamed Barcino (COLONIA IVLIA AVGVSTA FAVENTIA PATERNA BARCINO) between 15 B.C. C. and 10 a. C., once the Romans settled permanently. On the world map of Claudio Ptolemy it appears with the name Barcino. Barcino took the form of a castrum or military fortification in its early days, although trade gradually redirected the importance of the city; in the I century it was walled in by order of the Roman Emperor Claudius and already in the II had a population of between 4,000 and 8,000.

Middle Ages

After their arrival in the V century, the Visigoths made it the capital of the Spanish territories for a few years, transferring then power up to Toledo. In the 8th century it was conquered by Al-Hurr, but returned to Christian territory by Ludovico Pío of the Carolingian Empire in 801, incorporating it into the Hispanic March. The Muslim attacks did not stop, and in 985 Almanzor's troops destroyed practically the entire city. Borrell II began the reconstruction giving way to the flourishing period of the county. During this period the city stood out among the Catalan lands and the domain of the Crown of Aragon, and it was, along with other ports of the Crown, such as Tortosa, Palma de Mallorca, Naples or Valencia, from where numerous troops left. and resources towards the enterprise of taking new possessions. The city flourished and would become one of the main cities in the western Mediterranean in the 13th and 14th centuries. The city stood out commercially, although below Genoa and Venice, which dominated trade in the Mediterranean and between Europe and Asia.

Modern Age

French plan of 1698, with indications for a siege plan

The decline began from the 15th century with ups and downs, and would continue throughout the following centuries. The tensions derived from the dynastic union with Castile, which began with the marriage between Ferdinand II of Aragon and Isabella of Castile, reached its peak with the War of the Reapers, between 1640 and 1651, and later, with the War of Succession (from 1706 to 1714), which meant the disappearance of many of the institutions of Catalonia and the construction of the military fortress of the citadel, while the Catalan language was relegated to the countryside.

Industrial Revolution

The building of the Parliament of Catalonia is one of the few survivors of the whole of the fortress of the Citadel, in which it fulfilled the function of arsenal. For the Universal Exposition of 1888 was restored and converted into a royal family residence

The castle of Montjuic, the southernmost point of the city, where measures were made to calculate the length of the metro from its geographical definition

The economic recovery that began at the end of the 18th century and industrialization in the XIX helped Barcelona once again become an important political, economic and cultural center, at the forefront of the Catalan Renaissance. It is worth noting in the industrialization process the textile trade monopoly between Spain and Cuba, which was established in Barcelona at a time of crisis in the cotton textile industry, and which established industrialization in Catalonia; and the growth differential, while in other parts of the country the industry languished in the face of the crisis. Another consequence of this textile monopoly in the 19th century between Barcelona and Cuba was the complaint by Cubans about the "funnel theory", wide for Spain and narrow for Cuba, and which was the root of Cuban malaise and which generated riots. and the independence movement in search of economic equality with the meddling of the United States. The city was able to tear down its walls and annexed six neighboring municipalities in 1897, which allowed it to grow and plan its urban and industrial development led by the innovative Ensanche plan by Ildefonso Cerdá, which laid out the streets in a grid and chamfered corners. It was also the site of two Universal Exhibitions in 1888 and 1929.

20th century

Bombardment of Barcelona (1938) during the Spanish Civil War

At the beginning of the XX century, both economic growth (especially derived from the First World War) and proliferation stood out of new ideologies welcomed by large sections of the population, especially the worker. The government boost promoted the Metro and the Port. However, the crisis of 1929 that hit Spain hard and later the start of the Spanish civil war paralyzed all growth for a decade. Despite defending the Second Republic, the city was the focus of internal rebellions and fights between parties that neither the city nor the government of the Republic could control, as was seen in the May Days of 1937. During the war the city was bombed on several occasions. Franco's troops occupied the city on January 26, 1939.

The Franco dictatorship designated Barcelona as a development hub, promoting intense industrialization that gave rise to strong and prolonged immigration, mostly from the south of the Iberian Peninsula. The new social and economic conditions energized the city and radically transformed the urban layout, highlighting the appearance of populous working-class neighborhoods and important communication routes. The subway expanded and trolleybuses appeared (1940s), diversifying transportation. The railway network became denser and more modern, while the airport also gained importance. However, the great commitment of Barcelona's transport, compared to other large and medium-sized cities, was the drive for private vehicles, for which a dense network of underground car parks was built.

After the death of General Franco and the difficult beginnings of the democratic period, the city benefited, like the rest of Spain, from a new economic impulse greatly influenced by the integration into the European Union (January 1, 1986), which led to modern cultural and urban projects. Among them, the organization of the 1992 Olympic Games stands out. Said event, which had the economic and organizational support of all of Spain, became a new motor for urban development.

21st century

Universal Forum of Cultures

The Barcelona of the XXI century is a prosperous city with international projection, committed to culture, the quality of life, innovation, solidarity and sustainability. At the beginning of the century, the economy underwent a certain de-industrialization, while betting on new sectors, such as the new information and communication technologies, established in the so-called 22@ district. In 2004, the Universal Forum was held of Cultures, which entailed various urban changes for the city: the entire Besós area, hitherto populated with old disused factories, was recovered, which allowed the entire Pueblo Nuevo neighborhood to be regenerated and the new Diagonal Mar neighborhood to be built, as well as how to get Avinguda Diagonal to the sea.

Barcelona suffered the international economic crisis that began in 2008: unemployment, poverty and social precariousness increased considerably. The crisis provoked a series of popular protests that materialized in the so-called 15-M Movement, initiated with a series of demonstrations throughout Spain on May 15, 2011.

Since the regional elections of 2010, the independence movement grew, which resulted in demonstrations such as «Catalonia, a new state of Europe» (2012), the Vía Catalana hacia la Independencia (2013), or the dyad of 2014.

The non-independence Catalans also called for two massive demonstrations, in defense of the Spanish Constitution, on October 8 and 29, 2017.

In the 2015 municipal elections, the Barcelona en Comú platform, led by Ada Colau, who was appointed mayor on June 13, 2015, was the winner. The first two years of Colau's government evidenced the impossibility of facing in-depth reforms by the consistory, especially in relation to housing and tourism. However, she increased social investment: from 221 million euros at the end of the previous mandate to 332 million in 2017.

On August 17, 2017, Barcelona was the scene of an attack linked to jihadist terrorism, which left 15 dead and a hundred injured (there was another victim later in Cambrils).

Demographics

The municipality, which has an area of 98.21 km², has 1,620,809 inhabitants and a density of 16,503.5 inhabitants/km² according to the municipal register for 2017 of the INE.

La Rambla, a well-known tourist and local place

Graphic of demographic evolution in Barcelona between 1828 and 2021

Population according to Geographical-Statistic Dictionary of Spain and Portugal Sebastian Miñano.Population of law according to population censuses of the INE.Population according to the municipal register of 2021.

Between 1842 and 1857 the term of the municipality decreased because Gracia became independent.

Between 1887 and 1897 the term of the municipality grew because it incorporated Cortes, Gracia, San Andrés de Palomar, San Gervasio de Cassolas, Sans and San Martín de Provensals.

Between 1900 and 1910 the term of the municipality grew because it incorporated Horta, and between 1920 and 1930 it incorporated Sarriá.

Administration and politics

Palacio de la Generalidad de Cataluña, Plaza de San Jaime

La Casa Serra, headquarters of the Barcelona Provincial Council

There are four political administrations in Barcelona, with different levels of responsibility and powers:

• The General Administration of the State deals with issues such as security (National Police, Guardia Civil and Army), justice, port and airport management, Renfe trains, and coasts, among the most outstanding competencies. These competencies are coordinated by the Delegate of the Government in Catalonia and the deputy delegate of the government of Barcelona, who are appointed by the Government of Spain, and who are based in the Delegation of the Government. Currently, the National Police Corps has only some competences, such as the issuance of the National Police or the fight against terrorism, since the rest of the powers have been transferred to the Squad Mozos, the autonomous police of the Generality.
• The Generality of Catalonia is the autonomous government of Catalonia, and has the headquarters of its institutions in Barcelona, such as the Parliament of Catalonia, located in the Parque de la Ciudadela, or the Palacio de la Generalidad, headquarters of the Presidency of the Generality, located in the square of San Jaime. The Parliament is elected by universal suffrage, in elections held every four years throughout Catalonia, and has broad competences on the management of the city, from education, social affairs, transit, economic policies, trade, etc. She is also responsible for the construction of equipment such as hospitals, schools, universities, senior residences.
• The Barcelona Diputation is the public body with less competence in the city. He currently chairs the patronage that deals with the maintenance of the Sierra de Collserola park, and some other public parks and buildings in the city. It also manages some museums and holds a wide network of public libraries managed jointly with the city councils.
• Barcelona City Council is the agency with the highest competences and public officials in the city, as it regulates the daily lives of citizens, and important issues such as urban planning, transport, the collection of municipal taxes, emergency bodies such as the Urban Guard and the Barcelona Firefighters, the maintenance of the public road (asphalt, cleaning...) and the gardens. It is also responsible for the construction of municipal facilities such as day-care centres, sports centres, libraries, senior residences, public protection homes, among others.

Municipal government

Barcelona City Council

Barcelona City Council is chosen by universal suffrage in elections held every four years. It is made up of 41 members, who elect the mayor of the city.

The municipal administration is structured on two levels, since the city council divided the city administratively into ten districts. There is a level of general municipal powers, directed directly by the mayor of Barcelona and his government team, and which deals with the most important issues that apply to the entire city.

The other level of powers are those delegated to the districts. Thus, each district has its own political and administrative center, which functions as a political entity with its own powers, which help to decentralize the city's politics and for citizens to feel closer to the administration. Each district, like a small territorial council, has its own plenary room where political issues are debated, and its own government team, headed by a councilor. The management of the district is formed based on the number of votes that each party receives, in each district, in the municipal elections of Barcelona. Thus, it happens that, although the government of the city falls to a certain party, a district can be governed by another political formation.

City Hall

Municipal plenary

Since the restoration of democracy in Spain, in all the municipal elections prior to those of 2011, the political party with the most votes in Barcelona had been the Socialist Party of Catalonia, but after the municipal elections of May 22, 2011 the The party with the most votes and the highest representation was Convergència i Unió, led by Xavier Trias. In the 2015 municipal elections, CiU was defeated by the Barcelona en Comú candidacy, which won the support of the ERC, the PSC and the CUP.

List of mayors

Ada Colau, current mayor

Mayors since the 1979 elections

Period	Name	Party
1979-1983	Narciss Serra (-1982) Pasqual Maragall (1982-)	PSC-PSOE
1983-1987	Pasqual Maragall	PSC-PSOE
1987-1991	Pasqual Maragall	PSC-PSOE
1991-1995	Pasqual Maragall	PSC-PSOE
1995-1999	Pasqual Maragall(-1997) Joan Clos (1997-)	PSC-PSOE
1999-2003	Joan Clos	PSC-PSOE
2003-2007	Joan Clos (2003-2006) Jordi Hereu (2006-2007)	PSC-PSOE
2007-2011	Jordi Hereu	PSC-PSOE
2011-2015	Xavier Trias	CiU
2015-2019	Ada Colau	BeC
2019-	Ada Colau	BeC

Transparency

Barcelona City Council obtained the highest score (100%) in transparency in the report of the NGO Transparency International carried out in 2014. In the six areas analysed: information on the municipal corporation; relations with citizens and society; economic-financial transparency; service contracts; matters of urban planning and public works; It is located in the first position of the classification, tied with other municipalities.

Territorial organization

Barcelona is administratively divided into ten districts. Each district functions as a political entity with its own powers, which help to decentralize the city's politics and for citizens to feel the closest administration. The territorial division of the districts responds to historical issues of the city. Most of the districts correspond to former independent municipalities that were annexed to the city during the 19th and 20th centuries, and which still retain their own personality.

The ten districts of Barcelona are:

The ten districts of Barcelona

1. Old Town. It is the historic center of the city. It corresponds to the territorial area of ancient Barcelona, until the gradual annexation of the adjacent municipalities during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. It includes the neighborhoods of El Raval, Gothic, Antics Palaus (formed by the unofficial neighborhoods of San Pedro, Santa Catalina, Borne and Ribera) and La Barceloneta.
2. Ensanche. It occupies the existing plain in the centuryXVIII between the old town (City Old) and the old independent villas of Sants, Gracia and San Andrés de Palomar. Its urbanism is characterized by a grid of perpendicular streets in sections of a hundred meters devised by the Catalan urbanist Ildefonso Cerdá. It includes the neighborhoods of San Antonio, La Nueva Izquierda del Ensanche, La Antigua Izquierda del Ensanche (the latter two form a unit known as Izquierda del Ensanche), Right of the Ensanche, Sagrada Familia and Fort Pio.
3. Sants-Montjuic. It includes the neighborhoods of La Marina del Prat Vermell, La Marina del Port, La Font de la Guatlla, El Pueblo Seco, Hostafrancs, La Bordeta, Sants and Sants-Badal (known as Badal). Montjuic and the Franca Zone are not neighbourhoods for themselves, but are special district territories.
4. The Corts. It includes the neighborhoods of Las Corts, Pedralbes and La Maternidad and San Ramón (known as San Ramón).
5. Sarriá-San Gervasio. It includes the neighborhoods of Sarriá, San Gervasio - Galvany (just Galvany), San Gervasio - La Bonanova (or simply La Bonanova), Putxet and Farró (known as El Putxet), Las Tres Torres and Vallvidrera - Tibidabo - Les Planes. The neighborhoods of San Gervasio - Galvany and San Gervasio - La Bonanova, constitute the old core of San Gervasio de Cassolas.
6. Grace. It includes the old independent villa of Gracia, and the neighborhoods of Camp de Grassot and Gracia Nueva, La Salud, El Coll, Vallcarca and the Penitentes (which includes the two neighborhoods of the same name).
7. Horta-Guinardó. It includes the neighborhoods of Horta, La Clota, El Valle de Hebron, el Montbau, San Ginés de Agudells, La Teixonera, El Carmelo, La Font d'en Fargas, Can Baró, El Guinardó and Bajo Guinardó.
8. Nou Barris. It includes the neighborhoods of Vallbona, Ciudad Meridiana, Torre Baró, Canyelles, Les Roquetes, Trinidad Nueva, Can Peguera, La Guineueta, Verdún, Prosperidad, Turó de la Peira, Porta and Vilapicina and La Torre Llobeta (which actually includes the neighborhoods of Vilapicina and La Torre Llobeta).
9. San Andrés. It includes the neighborhoods of San Andrés de Palomar, La Sagrera, Trinidad Vieja, Barón de Viver, Congreso and Los Indianos (known as Congress), Navas and El Buen Pastor.
10. San Martín. It includes the neighborhoods of San Martín de Provensals, El Clot, El Campo del Arpa del Clot, La Verneda and La Paz, Pueblo Nuevo, Parque y Laguna de Pueblo Nuevo, Villa Olímpica de Pueblo Nuevo, Provensals de Pueblo Nuevo, El Besós y El Maresme, Diagonal y Frente Marítimo de Pueblo Nuevo (which includes the neighborhood of Diagonal Mar).

The current division of the official neighborhoods was proposed by the Barcelona City Council at the end of 2006 and ratified and approved by the Barcelona City Council at the beginning of 2007. Even after its approval, there are complaints from residents about the names of some neighborhoods (such as Antics Palaus) as well as their limits.

Consular Representation

Barcelona is home to a good number of consulates, from those countries with which it maintains the most commercial relations or the presence of immigrants from those countries in the area.

Economy

The World Trade Center Barcelona seen from the Port Cable Car

Historically, Barcelona's economy has been based on trade, which thanks to its strategic geographical location has always allowed it to carry out intense commercial activity with France and the rest of Spain, as well as with all the Mediterranean territories, especially through from your port. This activity was the main engine of the city until the industrial revolution. It is little known that this was one of the first territories to start industrialization in continental Europe, starting with the textile industry from the mid-1780s, but actually gaining momentum in the mid-19th century, when it became an important center for the production of textiles and machinery.

Since then, manufacturing has played an important role in its history, especially in the textile sector in a first period, with a great stoppage due to the great crisis and destruction caused by the civil war, and the autarky imposed later by the Francoism. But when the regime began to open up to European markets, the automobile, publishing, chemical, pharmaceutical, logistics and electronics industries recovered strongly, turning the province of Barcelona into the country's main industrial area. But the growth and prosperity of the city of Barcelona was expelling the industrial areas outside its limits due to the increase in the price of industrial land. Due to this fact, the city's economy has gradually focused on services, which currently employ 85.7% of the city's workers. Part of these workers are dedicated to commerce, restaurants, and also tourism, which since the 1990s has grown enormously in the city, receiving up to 6.5 million visitors in 2009, thus becoming one of the economic mainstays. from Barcelona.

The economic crisis of 2008-2015, aggravated by the bursting of the real estate bubble, which plummeted consumption, and with it industrial production, gave rise to a stagnation of the Catalan economy that, despite the uninterrupted economic growth of the Barcelona metropolis, have made it lose the economic capital of Spain in favor of Madrid in the last quarter of the 20th century, especially in the financial field. This has been due to the traditional fragmentation of the Catalan entrepreneurial fabric that reduces its competitiveness, the saturation of infrastructures, the greater foreign investment made in Madrid compared to Barcelona, and the transfer of decision-making centers, tax and social headquarters from Barcelona and also from other parts of Spain to Madrid. In the industrial field, Barcelona has had serious relocation problems, basically the transfer of industries to countries with cheaper labor, such as Braun, Philips and Samsung, among others. Problem increased by the scarce and expensive industrial land in its metropolitan area, the second most expensive in Europe only behind London. Even so, there have also been mobilizations of totally or partially public companies to Barcelona (such as Repsol), as well as foreign investments and locations, far exceeding relocations, so that Barcelona continues to be an industrial capital of Spain, generating in some subsectors 25% of total Spanish exports.

SEAT Factory in the Barcelona Franc Zone

Industry

Faced with the scenario of loss of competitiveness due to the economic crisis of 2008-2015, both Barcelona City Council and the Generalitat of Catalonia began a program to develop a new productive economy based on knowledge almost ten years ago, creating large research parks, especially in the field of biomedicine and biotechnology, giving aid to technology companies to expand into new fields such as aerospace, or nanotechnology, and in the case of Barcelona, transforming a neighborhood entire in a new commercial district focused on new technologies, with state-of-the-art communication infrastructures, to attract companies from all over the world to the city, the so-called District 22@. These policies are beginning to bear fruit, and prestigious scientists are beginning to come to develop high-level research in Barcelona. Due to its participation in research and development of aerospace technology, Barcelona forms p art from the Community of Ariane Cities, an association of European cities related to the space industry and Ariane launchers in which neighboring Terrassa is also located.

Headquarters of the Planeta Group

Barcelona is one of the main centers of editorial dissemination, both in Catalan and in Spanish, for the entire peninsula and even for Latin America. It has also been the first comics production center in Spain, ahead of Valencia and Madrid.

Operating headquarters of Naturgy in Barcelona, former social headquarters, which moved to Madrid in 2017 due to the Catalan sovereignty process

Energy

In 2018, a municipal energy company, Barcelona Energía, was created, which began its activity in July 2018 with the aim of offering an affordable energy supply from renewable energies to the municipalities of the Barcelona Metropolitan Area. The company began its activity providing service to the City Council and various public bodies, in addition to public lighting and traffic lights, while in a second phase, which began on January 1, 2019, it went on to provide service to some 20,000 homes. With its commissioning, Barcelona Energía became the largest public electricity marketer in Spain.

Trade

The most important subsector of the service sector in Barcelona is commerce. The most commercial area of the city is in its historic center: Portaferrisa, Pelayo, Rambla, Portal del Ángel and Plaza Cataluña streets, where small shops coexist with department stores and the franchises of large clothing chains.

A little further north of Plaza Cataluña, on Paseo de Gracia, Rambla de Cataluña and Avenida Diagonal, are the shops of the most international fashion, leather goods and jewelery brands. Design items have their place in the narrow streets of the Borne neighborhood, which has been gaining popularity since the late 1990s. From the rest of the city, the commercial areas of Gran de Gràcia street, Sants street or the Paseo de Fabra i Puig, and shopping centers such as Westfield La Maquinista, Illa Diagonal, Westfield Glòries or Diagonal Mar.

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  San Antonio Market

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  La Barceloneta Market

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  Santa Caterina Market

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  La Boqueria Market

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  Freedom Market

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  Abacería Market

Second-hand or second-hand items have their place in the Encantes market, in the Plaza de las Glorias, which opens every Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday, and the San Antonio Market, where every Sunday In the morning there are stops where books, records, video films, stamps and collector's items are bought and sold.

Tourism

For Barcelona, leisure tourism is just as important, or even more so, than business tourism. For the development of business tourism, the city has the Fira, which organizes numerous exhibitions, shows, congresses and fairs for professionals, some of which are among the first in the world, such as the Mobile World Congress, which is the most in the world in its sector, The Brandery urban fashion fair, or the biannual Construmat construction fair. These and other fairs make it one of the most important fairs in Europe and the first in Spain with more than 3.5 million annual visitors, which also generate great activity for the hotel and restaurant sector with the incentive of being distributed evenly across throughout the year. There are guided tour services for the most emblematic places.

Public sector

Gothic bridge that communicates the Palace of Generality with the House of Canons, official residence of the president of Catalonia

Historically, the public sector has had relatively little weight within the Catalan economy, although since the transition and the recovery of self-government, it has been gaining weight. The main contribution to the economy that the public sector has made has been the construction of large infrastructures, which have allowed commercial and industrial development. Unfortunately, these infrastructures have often been shown to be insufficient, and their extensions have often been delayed for decades,^{[citation needed]} or they have had to be built directly with private capital, thus becoming in payment infrastructures. This has been due to the capital transfers that the autonomous system requires from the richest and most dynamic communities to the most economically stagnant communities, with the notable exception of the Basque Country and Navarra, which despite having a dynamic economy, and one of the highest per capita income in the country do not provide solidarity funds. This transfer process has allowed the development of the most depressed areas, but has also ended up weighing down the most dynamic ones due to the saturation of their infrastructures, which have not been duly expanded due to lack of funds, and the low priority given to these actions. ^{[citation required]} It has also ended up deteriorating public services, since the economic transfer system, having been very opaque^{[citation required]} and not being governed by evaluable parameters, has ended up allocating in many cases less funds per inhabitant in the richest areas, thus producing a deterioration of their services and a grievance for their citizens. A recent study by the Instituto de Estudios Fiscales evaluates the net contribution of the autonomous communities through the fiscal balances to territorial compensation funds. The estimate uses six different methods to make the calculation, and according to this report they stand out as the main net bearers of resources, the communities of the Balearic Islands (with between 14.2% and 7.47% of their GDP), Madrid (with between 9.13% and 5.57%), Catalonia (with between 8.7% % and 6.38%) and Valencia (between 6.4% and 3.22%).

Mobile World Congress, held annually in Fira Barcelona

Superorder MareNostrum

This mechanism has recently been revised as a result of the approval of the new autonomy statute of Catalonia, which provides that in a community, after being in solidarity with the others, per capita investment cannot be less than a who receives those funds. This new fund distribution system uses evaluable and comparable scales, such as the adjusted population criteria, to allocate the funds, although this system only affects services, infrastructure will continue to be the discretion of the Ministry of Public Works.

The source of Caneletas, where it is usual to drink to ask for a wish, located in Las Ramblas

Regarding the distribution of institutions, the traditional accumulation of the headquarters of public entities in Madrid, even those theoretically independent of the government, which have benefited it so much economically and politically,^{[citation required]} a process of redistribution began with the transfer of the telecommunications regulatory body to Barcelona, not without great reluctance from its workers and the government of the Community of Madrid. Also noteworthy is the location in Barcelona of the national center computing, with the purchase of the largest supercomputer in Spain, the MareNostrum.

GDP

The metropolitan area of Barcelona concentrates approximately 66% of the population of Catalonia, one of the wealthiest regions in southern Europe. Catalonia has a GDP per capita of 126.4% of the average GDP of the EU-27 in 2009 (in PPP, purchasing power parity. Average GDP of the EU-27 = 100%), while the GDP of Spain, including Catalonia, is 103.1%.

In 2006 the city's GDP reached 57,237,000,000 euros, with a per capita GDP of 35,800 euros. Dividing by sector, the weight of services to companies and real estate stands out, which represent 24.3% of total GDP, followed by collective services, with 20.7%, the industry that provides 12.4% of GDP It is the third most important sector, followed by commerce and repairs, which contribute 11.5% of the total. Finally, the transport sector closes the classification, which represents 9.6% of the city's GDP. These data show that Barcelona has a highly diversified economy, and an important weight of industry, especially in the automobile, pharmaceutical and chemical industries, and that of food products. This allows the city to generate a fifth of Spanish exports, worth 32,262,000,000 euros even in the context of the 2009 crisis.

Stock Market

Main entrance to the Barcelona Stock Exchange, on the Paseo de Gracia

Glovo Dealer, a company created in Barcelona

Barcelona has its own stock market, the Barcelona Stock Exchange, which is an official secondary market Spanish stock market, dedicated to the exclusive negotiation of shares and convertible securities or that grant acquisition or subscription rights. The Barcelona Stock Exchange is a subsidiary of Bolsas y Mercados Españoles.

According to the Securities Market Law (LMV), «Official secondary securities markets are those that operate regularly, in accordance with the provisions of this Law and its implementing regulations, and, especially, with regard to the conditions of access, admission to trading, operating procedures, information and publicity”.

In practice, issuers of variable income also go to the Stock Market as the primary market where they formalize their offers for the sale of shares or capital increases. Likewise, fixed income is also contracted on the stock market, both public and private debt.

Evolution of outstanding debt

The concept of outstanding debt includes only debts with savings banks and banks related to financial credits, fixed-income securities and loans or credits transferred to third parties, excluding, therefore, commercial debt. The outstanding municipal debt per inhabitant in 2014 amounted to €610.15.

Graphic of evolution of the city council's living debt between 2008 and 2014

Living city council debt in thousands of Euros according to data from the Ministry of Finance and Ad. Public.

Local currency

In 2018, Barcelona City Council created the Citizen Economic Resource or REC, a local digital currency that was launched in May 2018 in a pilot test phase with various businesses in the city. Its symbol is Ɍ. Its objective was to promote the neighborhood economy and local commerce, as well as strengthen associative networks. The REC has parity with the euro and allows payments to be made between the customer's card or mobile phone and the merchants' mobile phones using blockchain technology, through a mobile application or a card with a QR code.

Services

Education

The city of Barcelona had a total of 423,790 students in the 2008-2009 academic year; this raises the proportion of students to the resident population in Barcelona to approximately 25%. All these students are distributed among the different educational levels as follows: 57,027 students in early childhood education, 76,923 in primary education, 2,097 students in special education, 100,564 students in secondary education and, finally, 187,179 students studying at the university.

These figures demonstrate the power of educational institutions, especially universities, in the city. Some of them are among the best in the country, and others enjoy international prestige and appear well positioned in some international rankings.

Historical building of the University of Barcelona, at the University Square

Fabra Observatory

The city has the following universities and business schools:

All these institutions offer a multitude of degrees, as well as postgraduate, master's and doctoral degrees. Many of them also manage research and development centers.

Citizen security

Coordination between the State security forces (National Police, Civil Guard, Barcelona Urban Guard, Mozos de Escuadra) and the Barcelona City Council, is carried out by the local Security Board. This body allows the correct communication of the security forces in matters of security, entering within their powers the prevention of crime, road safety and the correct development of events.

This depends on the State and local Security Forces and Corps, seeking to act in a coordinated and collaborative manner in the prosecution and resolution of all kinds of crimes that produce citizens and/or harm them.

Urban Guard

Squad modes

The Local Security Board of the Barcelona City Council consists of:

• The Mayor of Barcelona
• The territorial delegate of the Government of Catalonia in Barcelona
• Chief of the National Police Corps in Catalonia
• The Director General of the Squad Moces
• The chief colonel of the Civil Guard Command of Barcelona
• The Deputy Director General of Coordination of Local Police of Catalonia
• The Director General of Public Security Administration of Catalonia
• The Chief Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police Region of Barcelona, Generality of Catalonia
• Barcelona City Council Security Commissioner
• The Manager of Prevention and Security of Barcelona City Council
• El mayor, Jefe de la Guardia Urbana de Barcelona
• The Director of Prevention Services of Barcelona City Council
• The Chief Prosecutor of the Provincial Prosecutor's Office of Barcelona
• The Judge decana Magistrate of Barcelona

Transportation

Litoral Round

Mobility with a private vehicle within Barcelona, as in any large European city, is complicated despite the good urban organization, with its Ensanche and the ring roads, and the large avenues that cross the city (Diagonal, Meridiana, Aragon, Gran Via). This structure makes orientation and circulation in a private vehicle very easy a priori. However, the high population density and number of vehicles do not recommend driving. Furthermore, in May 2005 the city council inaugurated the green parking areas, and expanded the blue areas, which make it compulsory to pay to park on public roads in the most central districts of the city. Among the citizens who move by motorized vehicle, a large number do so on motorcycles. Barcelona is the European city with the largest number of motorcycles, in proportion to its number of inhabitants.

On the other hand, Barcelona is installing fifty plugs to recharge electric vehicles, as it wants its name to be linked to urban cars: electric cars. Within the framework of the Barcelona International Motor Show, the city council has signed a manifesto together with Endesa, UPC, RACC, SEAT and Nissan to turn the city into a test bench, where purely electric cars -not hybrids - gain ground little by little to those of internal combustion. It is the LIVE project, whose acronym stands for Logistics for the Implementation of the Electric Vehicle.

Road network

As far as road transport is concerned, Barcelona has a dense network of motorways and highways, and the main ones are the AP-7, which starts in Vera (Almería), passes through Cartagena, Alicante, Valencia, Barcelona and continues towards Perpignan, the A-2 that starts in Madrid, passes through Zaragoza, Barcelona and also continues towards the French border, the AP-2, which runs parallel to the A-2 between Zaragoza and Barcelona, and the C-16 Barcelona Manresa, Puigcerdá to Toulouse and Paris Both the AP-2 and the AP-7 are toll motorways managed by concessionary companies.

Urban transport

Bus

The urban bus network is made up of the Barcelona Orthogonal Bus Network for rapid transit and the network of regular lines. In total, 150 bus lines circulate in Barcelona (133 during the day and 17 at night, called Nitbus) operated by 9 different operators, including Transportes Metropolitanos de Barcelona, Tusgsal and Mohn.

Metro and tram

Estación de Santa Rosa, en la línea 9 del Metro de Barcelona

The metro network has 12 lines and a length of 170 km, it is the second longest metro network in Spain after Madrid and, since December 2009, the first Spanish metropolitan railway network to have fully automated lines. The first line was inaugurated on December 30, 1924, a section that went from Plaza Cataluña to Lesseps. In 2012, the Barcelona metro network was used by 411.7 million passengers (1 127 945 passengers/day), which were transported by the two operators that operate the network, Transportes Metropolitanos de Barcelona and Ferrocarriles de la Generalitat de Catalunya.

In 2004, several administrations, local, metropolitan and regional, promoted the reintroduction of the tram as a means of mass transport, especially to communicate with the cities of the metropolitan area. Two networks were created for this purpose, Trambaix and Trambesós, and it is currently still in the phase of implementation and expansion of its networks.

Others

Taxi from Barcelona, with its characteristic black and yellow colors

The Barcelona taxi service is very characteristic and unmistakable due to its characteristic colours. The vehicles are black with yellow doors and tailgate. It is worth noting the increasing incorporation of hybrid vehicles in this service.

Lovers of the environment and physical activity can opt for the use of bicycles to get around Barcelona. The orography of the city and the good weather that it usually does most of the year make it easy to use the bicycle. To this end, Barcelona has an extensive network of bike lanes throughout the city, as well as the bicing public bicycle system, a network of automatic rental stations distributed throughout the city. This means of transport, although very minor, has still been increasing users every year.

Intercity transport

Bus

Bikes in Plaza Real

The city has a bus station, Barcelona-Fabra i Puig, also called Barcelona-San Andrés, located on Avenida Meridiana with Paseo de Fabra i Puig, it has 15 docks for bus stops. Currently, 53 bus lines stop at the station: 2 urban bus lines, 48 intercity bus lines and 3 national lines. The company Barcelona de Serveis Municipals S.A has managed the bus station since mid-2011. Station users have a public telephone, a bar, toilets adapted for people with reduced mobility, 24-hour video surveillance and 3/24 news channel monitors. The station's hours are from 04:30 a.m. to 11:30 p.m. every day of the week. At night, the station is used to park the buses.

Interurban Bus
Origin	Line	Destination	Origin	Line	Destination
Barcelona-La Sagrera	E1	Sabadell	Barcelona-La Sagrera	E2	Tarrasa
Barcelona-La Sagrera	E3	Sardañola del Vallés → UAB	Barcelona-La Sagrera	E4	Ripollet
Barcelona	E5	Same.	Barcelona	E6	Villafranca del Panadés
Barcelona	E7	Bigas	Barcelona	E8	Corbera de Llobregat
Barcelona	E9	Caldas de Montbui	Barcelona	E10	Senmanat
Barcelona	E11	Killed	Barcelona	E12	Vich

Railway

Barcelona Sants Station

There are two rail transport networks to move between the different cities in the province of Barcelona. One is the RENFE Cercanías Barcelona service, with a network of 8 lines, and some 123 million trips per year. This medium has had an increase in demand since the early years of the 21st century, and numerous problems have arisen due to the lack of investment and poor planning of the works for the arrival of the AVE in the city. The other option, which serves different towns, is the Ferrocarriles de la Generalitat de Catalunya (FGC), a suburban train service operated and built by the Generalitat de Catalunya. Its stations are located in the center of Barcelona and go to Tarrasa or Sabadell with the Vallés Metro, or to Manresa or various points in the northwest with the Llobregat-Anoia line. FGC terminals:

Station name	Lines	Correspondence to	Structure
Plaza de Catalunya Station		-	Underground
Estación de Plaza España			Underground

The railway network has its center in the Sants station in Barcelona, where long-distance trains leave that connect the city with the entire continent. The current Spanish network has the peculiarity of being all based on the so-called Iberian track gauge, incompatible with the international track gauge, which makes communication with France difficult, for this reason the new high-speed rail network that is being implemented in Spain uses the European standard.

At the beginning of 2008, the high-speed rail line between Madrid and Barcelona was also inaugurated. This high-speed line was extended to the French border, where it continues to connect with the current French network. This line has been built to allow mixed use for passengers and goods, which will establish a fast rail connection for passengers, and allow freight traffic with Europe by train from the port and its area of logistics activities.

Estación de Francia

North Station

List of Cercanías Barcelona stations in Barcelona capital Operated by Renfe:

Station name	Near Lines	Via	Structure
Arc de Triomphe		2	Underground
Clot-Aragon		4	Underground
Estación de Francia		14	Exterior covered
Paseo de Gracia		2	Underground
Plaza de Catalunya		2	Underground
Sagrera - AVE		18	Underground
The Sagrera - Meridiana		2	Underground
San Andrés Arenal		4	Underground
San Andrés Condal		7	Exterior covered
Sants		14	Underground
Tower of the Baro		2	Semi-covered exterior

Public transport statistics

According to the report carried out by Moovit in July 2017, the average time that people spend on public transport in Barcelona, for example to and from work, on a weekday is 50 minutes, while that 8% of people spend more than 2 hours every day. The average time people wait at a stop or station is 10 minutes, while 9% of people wait more than 20 minutes each day. The average distance people typically travel in a single trip is 4.5 miles, while 15% travel more than 7.5 miles in one direction.

Air transportation

Airport Terminal 1

The main gateway to Barcelona for international travelers, and many nationals, is the Josep Tarradellas Barcelona-El Prat airport, located ten kilometers southwest of the city, and the second in terms of traffic in all of Spain, with more than 52 6 million passengers in 2019. The Josep Tarradellas Barcelona-El Prat airport is operated by the world's leading airlines, with direct flights to all major cities in Europe, and with numerous connections with cities on five continents. At the airport there is an area set aside for the so-called "air bridge", which connects Barcelona and Madrid with flights every twenty minutes during rush hour. Other airports used to get to Barcelona, especially by low cost flight companies, are Gerona and Reus airports, just over an hour from Barcelona.

This infrastructure has allowed the development of a powerful tourist industry that generates great benefits for the city, although the need to orient the airport's policy more towards attracting international flights, and fewer low cost, which would make it easier to attract a profile with greater purchasing power, and at the same time, would allow the location of the headquarters of large companies in the city.

Sea transport

Port of Barcelona

Another important gateway to the city, especially for merchandise, is the port of Barcelona. The port was born at the same time as the city of Barcelona as a natural port located on a beach that was between a small peninsula that formed the Montjuic mountain, and the old mouth of the Llobregat river. This was the only minimally sheltered point that ancient navigators could use on many kilometers of coastline. Over the centuries, the city and its port gained importance, until it became the maritime capital of the kings of Aragon. Despite this, the port remained south of the Montjuic mountain until in 1378 when the city authorities asked Pedro IV of Aragon to continue the port works started by Pedro III of Aragon, who had ordered the construction. of the Shipyards of Barcelona, which still stand today, forming the Naval Museum of Barcelona, and the construction of a port to the north of the Montjuic mountain, due to the fact that the old site had lost depth due to the accumulation of sand. Permission to build the new artificial port in front of the city came on December 8, 1438, by order of Alfonso V the Magnanimous. Unfortunately, a decade later the storms had destroyed all the work carried out, and it was not until 1477, under the reign of Juan II of Aragón, that what would be the first stone of the final port was laid. The old island of Maians was connected to the mainland by a breakwater. With the successive extensions of the port, and the accumulation of sand, the island has been joined to the land, forming the land where the Barceloneta neighborhood is located today.

Today the port of Barcelona is one of the economic engines of the city. Since the beginning of the 21st century, it has become one of the great Mediterranean ports in terms of merchandise tonnage and number of containers, as well as a fishing port, where canning companies from all over Spain are based, such as USISA (based more than a thousand kilometers, on Isla Cristina), and allowing export of industrial production and import of raw or semi-finished materials. It is also the first Mediterranean port and fifth in the world for cruise ships, transporting up to two million passengers per year.

Heritage

Barcelona offers visitors the chance to explore on foot from the Roman ruins and the medieval city to the neighborhoods of Catalan modernism, with their characteristic buildings, their square blocks with divided edges, their tree-lined streets and their wide avenues. The old city is practically flat, while the new neighborhoods become steeper as they get closer to the coastal mountain range.

Plaza de Catalunya, link between the old city and the ensanche

The historic center and Las Ramblas

One of the most attractive and crowded places is Las Ramblas, a promenade located between Plaza de Cataluña, the city center, and the old port. There are newsstands, flower stands, street performers, cafeterias, restaurants and shops. Near the port, markets tend to settle, as well as painters and draughtsmen of all kinds, highlighting the area for its artistic and cosmopolitan nature. Walking along Las Ramblas you can admire various buildings of interest, such as the Virreina Palace, La Boquería market and the famous Gran Teatro del Liceo theater, where operas and ballets are performed. A side street a few meters long leads to the Plaza Real, an open public space surrounded by buildings with porches that house breweries and restaurants, and where stamp and coin collectors gather on weekends.

La Boqueria Market

Royal Palace

The Las Ramblas promenade ends next to the old port, where the statue of Christopher Columbus points out to sea. Two steps away is the Maritime Museum, dedicated above all to the naval history in the Mediterranean, and in which a full-scale reproduction of an old combat galley is exhibited. The museum is located in the shipyards of the Middle Ages, where the ships that sailed throughout the Mediterranean were built. The old port offers other attractions, such as a leisure center, with shops, restaurants, and as a documentary center, with an aquarium of Mediterranean marine fauna.

In the historic center, very close to Las Ramblas, stands out the Barcelona Cathedral, the Plaza de San Jaime, which houses the buildings of the Generalitat de Catalunya and the Barcelona City Council, and the narrow streets of both the Gothic and the Gothic quarters. Suburb and Borne.

It also highlights the possibility of appreciating the medieval walls next to the Shipyards, in the Paralelo, the Roman walls and the entrance of the aqueduct in the subteniente Navarro street, next to the Layetana road, or the old door next to the cathedral; being "Barcino", Barcelona, one of the best walled provincial cities of the Roman Empire. Also noteworthy are the medieval fortresses of the Fortí castle or the Montjuic castle; although the old citadel and defensive walls built in 1714 and that surrounded the city were demolished in the 19th century to allow urban expansion. Even so, the buildings of the church and the arsenal, which houses the Parliament of Catalonia, still remain.

Public Art

Monument to Columbus (1888), Plaza del Portal de la Paz, one of the most emblematic monuments

The set of monuments and sculptures in the open air of Barcelona constitutes an excellent sample of public art that gives the Catalan capital, in conjunction with other elements such as its architecture, its network of museums or its set of parks and gardens, a unmistakable artistic seal, since the "ciudad condal" has always opted for art and culture as one of its main identity characteristics.

The city's public art heritage is extensive, although most of the monuments and statuary in public places date from the 19th century onwards. The first monument to be placed on public roads expressly and by municipal commission that is conserved is the Monument to Santa Eulalia, in the Plaza del Pedró, originally from 1673. However, it was not until the 19th century that there were greater signs of relevance, partly because the city was corseted by its walls of medieval origin, as the city was considered a military square, so there was not much space available for large monuments. The situation changed with the demolition of the walls and the donation to the city of the Ciudadela fortress, which led to urban expansion on the adjacent plain, a fact that was reflected in the Ensanche project prepared by Ildefonso Cerdá, which meant the largest territorial expansion of the city.

Güell Park Dragon (1900-1903), by Antoni Gaudí

At the end of the XIX century, an event was held that had a great economic and social impact as well as urban, artistic and cultural for the city, the Universal Exposition of 1888. The statuary made for the Exposition was the most important contribution to public art in the city in its entire history, and was the test bench for a new artistic style, modernism, which Until the beginning of the 20th century, it was the one that prevailed at an architectural and artistic level in the city, and turned modernist Barcelona, along with Gothic, into the most defining style of the "ciudad condal". Thanks to the Exhibition, monuments such as the Arc de Triomf, the waterfall of Parque de la Ciudadela or the Columbus Monument.

The XX century saw the largest number of works placed on the city's public thoroughfares. The prevailing artistic style in the first decades of the century was noucentisme, until the international avant-garde currents were introduced in the 1920s and 1930s. During the first years of the Franco dictatorship, there was a return to academic styles, but later on, they opted again for innovation and, especially with the arrival of democracy, the artistic environment was fully introduced into fashion styles at a national level. international. Among the first works of the century, the following stand out: Desconsuelo (1903), by Josep Llimona, in the Ciudadela park; the sculptural group La canción popular (1909), in the Palau de la Música Catalana; the Monument to Doctor Robert (1910), by Josep Llimona, in Tetuán square; and the monument to Mosén Jacint Verdaguer (1924), in the square with the same name, by Joan Borrell i Nicolau.

In 1929, another International Exposition was held in Montjuic, which left numerous buildings and facilities, some of which have become emblematic of the city, such as the National Palace, the Magic Fountain, the Greek Theater, the Spanish Town and the Olympic Stadium, as well as the monumental fountain in the Plaza de España, the four columns by Josep Puig i Cadafalch and various sculptures placed all over the Montjuic mountain. Various performances were also carried out throughout the city, the most important of which was in the Plaza de Cataluña, where a total of 28 statues of various authors were placed.

The Arc de Triomphe, designed by José Vilaseca as an entry to the 1888 Universal Exhibition

During the years of the Second Republic and the Civil War, excessive monuments were not built, due to political instability and the convulsive situation in the country, but works such as The Republic (Homage to Pi i Margall) remained (1934), by Josep Viladomat; or the tribute to Francesc Layret, by Frederic Marès.

During the Franco era there was a great proliferation of monuments, since the dictatorship used art as a means of propaganda for its ideology. Works such as the Monument to the Fallen were created on Avinguda Diagonal, by Josep Clarà; the equestrian statue of General Franco, in the castle of Montjuic, the work of Josep Viladomat; or the Monument to José Antonio Primo de Rivera, on Infanta Carlota street —currently Josep Tarradellas avenue—. A change of course occurred in 1957, when a work entitled Forma 212, by Josep Maria Subirachs, was installed on the Vall d'Hebron promenade, which was the first abstract work located in a public space in the city. town. That year coincided with the arrival to the mayor's office of José María de Porcioles, who remained in office until 1973, and whose mandate was characterized by a greater openness, in a stage known as "Porciolismo". This stage was characterized by a great profusion of public statuary, although generally based on private initiatives, and trying to avoid any political connotation. They were works of different stylistic stamp, without any general planning, which emerged spontaneously and with some improvisation.

La Goddess by Josep Clarà in the square of Catalonia, with the monument to Francesc Macià, of Subirachs and La Rambla to the bottom

With the advent of democracy, a new period began in the city's public statuary. On a stylistic level, a clear commitment was made to contemporary art and to the incorporation of works by renowned artists from around the world. In those years works were installed such as: the Monument to Pau Casals (1982), by Josep Viladomat and Apel·les Fenosa; the Homage to Picasso (1983), by Antoni Tàpies; Woman and Bird (1983), by Joan Miró; In Praise of Water (1987), by Eduardo Chillida; the Montjuic Sculpture Garden (1990); and the Monument to Francesc Macià (1991), the work of Josep Maria Subirachs.

In 1992, the XXV Olympic Games were held, which also left numerous works in the city, mainly on the Montjuic mountain, where the Olympic Stadium was remodeled and the San Jorge Palace was built, but also in the Olympic villages of the New Town and the Valley of Hebron. In the following years, the placement of works of art in public spaces continued apace, with works such as: Cabeza de Barcelona (1992), by Roy Lichtenstein; Barcino (1994), by Joan Brossa; Character (1997), by Joan Miró; and The Wave (1998), by Jorge Oteiza.

Lastly, in the XXI century, a certain eclecticism continued, derived from postmodern trends that began in the 1980s, which it has provided works of diverse sign and style for the city. One of the most outstanding events of the new millennium was the celebration of the Universal Forum of Cultures in 2004, which allowed new urban changes in the city, especially in the area of Besós and Diagonal Mar. Some of the works incorporated into the public heritage in the new century they were: Twin Trees (2001), by Arata Isozaki; Tall Irregular Progression. To the victims of terrorism (2003), by Sol LeWitt; The Suez Canal (2009), by Albert Viaplana; To the human towers (2012), by Antoni Llena.

World Heritage Site

In Barcelona there are several points of interest declared World Heritage Sites by Unesco. The seventh element of the World Heritage Site "Works of Antoni Gaudí" is the Crypt of Colonia Güell, located in Santa Coloma de Cervelló.

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  Güell Park, World Heritage by Unesco since 1984

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  Casa Milà, a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1984

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  Güell Palace, World Heritage by UNESCO since 1984

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  Palace of Catalan Music, World Heritage by UNESCO since 1997

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  Hospital de la Santa Cruz y San Pablo, World Heritage Site by Unesco since 1997

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  Expiatory Temple of the Holy Family, World Heritage by Unesco since 2005

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  Casa Batlló, a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2005

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  Casa Vicens, UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2005

Culture

The Four Columns, which symbolize the four rods of the Catalan signal, next to the Magic Fountain of Montjuic. At the bottom of the Venetian Towers and the former Arenas Bullring of Barcelona

Pueblo Español, enclosure with representative buildings of 15 Spanish Autonomous Communities

Languages

Currently in the metropolitan area of Barcelona, due to the great immigration received during the last 20 years from all parts of the world, a large number of languages are spoken. Some studies speak of more than 200 different languages, but the vast majority of the population speaks Spanish and Catalan. According to surveys, in Catalonia 99.7% of residents know how to speak Spanish correctly and 78.3% in Catalan. As for writing, in Spanish it is 95.6% and in Catalan 61.8%.

The dialect or variant of Catalan spoken in this area is Central Catalan, which is characterized by the use of:

• Defined articles: the, the, the, them. Staff: in, Na, the, the.
• Uncoative verbs with increase in -eix.
• Own words: ànec, #, ocelletc.
• Tonic vocable system of seven sounds and atone of three.
• Yeism or iodització.
• Plurales en «-s».
• Accents: è, é, í, ò, o, ú.

Museums

The Plaza de España and the National Museum of Art of Catalonia at the bottom of Maria Cristina Avenue. It hosted the 1929 Universal Exhibition

There are numerous museums and foundations, both public and private, such as the Barcelona Center for Contemporary Culture, the Music Museum or the Chocolate Museum.

The most important have been those dedicated to specific artists, such as the Joan Miró Foundation, the Antoni Tàpies Foundation, or the Picasso Museum, thanks to their own funds obtained with donations and purchases of the works of these authors, although the most crowded without a doubt is the Barcelona Football Club museum, located in the Camp Nou. We also find the Can Framis Museum, the Museum of Contemporary Painting of Barcelona, the Vila Casas Foundation museum. There are also important museums created by administrations, such as MACBA and the Barcelona History Museum, or by civil society, such as the CosmoCaixa, the CaixaForum, the Museo de la Pedrera, financed by the social work of the savings banks.

With the arrival of the XXI century, the three levels of the administration have begun a policy of unifying small museums and collections to create larger museums, with greater collections and more attractiveness. The clearest example of this policy to date is the National Museum of Art of Catalonia (MNAC), the result of the merger between the Museum of Modern Art, the Museum of Art of Catalonia and other collections of the General Library of Art History., as well as collections of numismatics, engravings and photography, giving fruit to the museum with the best collection of Romanesque art in Europe and one of the best Gothic.

Museum of Design and the Agbar Tower

The next museum resulting from this policy is the Museum of Natural Sciences of Barcelona, which had been founded in 1882 but was reorganized in 2011 with the unification of up to five institutions: four previously existing institutions plus a new museum, since 2011 the main permanent exhibition space of the institution. This permanent exhibition museum is installed in the Forum Building, at the eastern end of Diagonal. As a new space of the Natural History Museum, the Forum Building was first given the name Museu Blau (literally “Blue Museum”) but since 2017 the term Museu Blau has been withdrawn i> to make it adopt the name of the institution as a whole ("Museum of Natural Sciences of Barcelona"). The other four sites of the Museum are the original site, that is, the Martorell Museum, which housed the Geology Museum from 1924 to 2010, the old Zoology Museum (opened from 1920 to 2010 in the Castle of the Three Dragons and since 2011 transformed at the Laboratori de Natura, literally the “Nature Laboratory”), the Barcelona Historical Botanical Garden (founded in 1930), and the Barcelona Botanical Garden (founded in 1999).

Another project is the Disseny Hub Barcelona, known by the acronym DHUB, it is a new center of the Barcelona Institute of Culture (ICUB) dedicated to promoting knowledge, understanding and good use of the world of design, and the result of unite the permanent exhibitions of the Textile and Clothing Museum and the Museum of Decorative Arts, as well as other collections of industrial design. While the construction of its final headquarters in Plaça de las Glorias Catalanas is completed, it can be visited at its two temporary venues, the Palace of the Marqués de Lió, where temporary activities and exhibitions take place, and the Pedralbes Palace, where there are a permanent exhibition of its collections.

The latest project consists of unifying the History Museum of Catalonia, the Ethnological Museum and the Archeology Museum of Catalonia, creating the so-called National Museum of Society, but this project still lacks a definitive agreement and venue.

Theaters and cinemas

National Theatre of Catalonia

Avenida del Paralelo stands out for its large concentration of theaters, although today, after the closure of El Molino and other venues, its appeal is less than it was a couple of decades ago. The most prestigious theaters in the city are currently the Gran Teatre del Liceo, specializing in operas, the National Theater of Catalonia, with three halls in which the great classics are performed, and the Teatre Lliure, with more avant-garde proposals. In the Ensanche and Ciudad Vieja districts there are a large number of venues, such as the Teatro Condal, Teatro Poliorama, Teatro Romea, Teatro Victoria or the Mercado de las Flores, which offer musical shows, comedies and more experimental proposals.

The city also offers different cinemas and multiplexes that offer cinematographic screenings of different styles: commercials, films in original version, auteur cinema, European cinema... In this sense, the Filmoteca de Catalunya and cinemas such as the Verdi, in Grace.

Live music

By increasing the quantity and variety of its proposals in terms of the repertoire of concerts and shows, the Barcelona of the 21st century has manifested a clear desire to reach the level of musical activity of the most prestigious European cities. Symphonic music has its place in the Palau de la Música Catalana, located next to Vía Layetana, which also offers performances by singer-songwriters, and in the Auditorium, the official headquarters of the Barcelona and Catalonia National Symphony Orchestra (OBC). The opera is located in the Gran Teatro del Liceo, located in the lower part of Las Ramblas.

In the Ensanche districts and, above all, Ciudad Vieja, there are a large number of venues where jazz bands perform before a small audience. There are also venues with medium capacity, such as Luz de Gas, Razzmatazz, Jamboree in Plaza Real or Sala Bikini, which every week schedule performances by pop and rock bands and artists. With regard to Spanish hip hop, Barcelona has a solid scene of this genre with artists such as Mucho Muchacho, Sr. Zambrana, Falsalarma, ZPU or Masstone among others, in addition to having given fruit to the now-defunct groups Magnatizz and 7 Notas 7 Colores. Finally, with regard to electronic music, Barcelona is the Spanish nerve center of this genre after Ibiza, together with Andalusia and Gijón, standing out especially in house, dance, trance, progressive, makina (giving rise to the reference Pont Aeri, and together with her in Mataró a Chasis) and the chill out scene taking shape from the Café del Mar residence.

Interior of the Gran Teatro del Liceo

The old Palacio de los Deportes has been converted into the Barcelona Teatre Musical, a large performance hall where there are usually performances by artists. The summer months usually hold large concerts. Artists like Green Day, Bruce Springsteen, the Rolling Stones or U2 give their concerts at the Palacio San Jorge, with a capacity for 18,000 spectators. The large stadiums, the Camp Nou (with a capacity for 100,000 spectators) and the Lluís Companys Olympic Stadium (60,000), are also open to music for major events.

Barcelona is the scene of important festivals in the world of music. Of particular note are the Primavera Sound pop-rock festival, which is held in May for three days, Sónar, in June, which brings together the best electronic and multimedia music proposals in the world, and the Grec Festival, much more eclectic, which during the month of July offers various proposals in different settings of the city. Finally, at the end of September, on the occasion of the Fiestas de la Merced, the biggest festival in Barcelona, the city offers different free concerts for three days, and in the open air, in various public spaces in Barcelona. It is about the most massive party of all those held in Barcelona.

Religious traditions

Festivals of Grace

W Barcelona

Barcelona has maintained a good part of its religious traditions, all inherited from popular festivals. Like all the cities of the western Mediterranean, the festivals followed the agricultural calendar and were linked to images, representations and Catholic celebrations. Only a couple of decades ago a process of secularism of the popular festivities began. A list of the best known and that still maintain their religious validity are:

The procession of San Emeterio takes place every year in the Barrio de Gracia, on March 3, the day of San Emeterio. Several floats and people on horseback go through the streets of the old town of Gracia handing out sweets to all the children who come to meet them. Tradition has it that the pilgrimage began in 1830 when Josep Vidal i Granés made a promise to San Emeterio: he promised to go on a pilgrimage every year to the hermitage of San Emeterio distributing sweets to all the children he met on his way if he cured of her illness. Since then, the progressive increase in pilgrims has grown and it is an established tradition that all children come to collect sweets. Currently there are 26 groups, groups that carry out the pilgrimage and belong to different neighborhoods of the city: La Bordeta, Gracia, Sarrià, San Gervasio. This tradition is part of the festive heritage of Catalonia and received the cross of Saint George from the Generalitat of Catalonia in 2002.

Nightlife

Barcelona has become a reference center for nightlife in Spain. Currently, the two areas for the alternative and most local public of bars and clubs in Barcelona are divided between the Gracia neighborhood, in the upper part of the city, and the Pueblo Nuevo neighborhood, in the old industrial area of Barcelona, to the north from the Olympic area, with a fairly young audience and some of the largest clubs in the city located in renovated industrial warehouses.^{[citation required]} The most select public areas They are located in San Gervasio and Tibidabo.^{[citation required]}

One of the main areas is the old town, divided between the neighborhood of El Raval, on one side of the Ramblas, and the Gothic Quarter, on the other side. There is a large number and variety of bars with a public made up of tourists, foreign residents and a minority of Barcelonans. The Ensanche, especially between Valencia, Gran Vía, Paseo de Gracia and Muntaner streets, is another of the areas with the largest number of restaurants and music venues. Since the 1980s, places with a gay atmosphere have proliferated in this area, a fact that has led to the consolidation among the youngest of the name of part of the Eixample as "Gaixample". ^{[citation required]} The most commercial and leisure areas are around the Pueblo Español, located on Montjuic, in the Maremagnum complex, located at the end of Las Ramblas, and in the Olympic Port.

Media

El Periódico de Catalunya (which is published in both Catalan and Spanish) and La Vanguardia (which is also published in both languages) are the two main newspapers of Barcelona, and they also publish Sport and El Mundo Deportivo (in Spanish), which are the two main sports newspapers. There are also a large number of smaller publications that are well established in the city, such as El Punt Avui and Ara (in Catalan). Other national newspapers such as El País and El Mundo (in Spanish) make special editions in Barcelona. The main FM stations are Catalunya Ràdio, RAC1, RAC105, Cadena SER, Flaix FM, Ràdio Flaixbac and LOS40.^{[citation required]} Barcelona also has several television stations venues, including Betevé (owned by the City Council) and 8tv (owned by Grupo Godó, which also owns La Vanguardia); The headquarters of Televisió de Catalunya, the public regional television of Catalonia, is located in San Juan Despí, in the metropolitan area of Barcelona.

Sports

Clubs and sports facilities

With capacity for 99 354 spectators, Camp Nou is the largest stadium in Europe

Barcelona is a city with a range of top-level sporting events, especially soccer, since it has two teams that play in the first division of the LFP: Fútbol Club Barcelona and Real Club Deportivo Espanyol respectively, in whose facilities can be seen football matches, basketball, handball, futsal and roller hockey.

The city stands out in the world of tennis, due to the number, prestige and age of some of its clubs. At the Real Club de Tenis Barcelona, the Real Club de Polo, the La Salud Tennis Club, Barcino, Tenis Turó (now David Lloyd-Turó), Club Esportiu Laietà, among others.; Many of the most relevant Spanish tennis players have been trained. Barcelona has been the usual venue where the Spanish team has played most of its Davis Cup and Fed Cup matches. The Conde de Godó tennis tournament, which is held at the Real Club de Tenis Barcelona, is one of the most important tournaments on clay. Barcelona also has swimming clubs, water polo, such as the CN Barcelona and the Montjuic Swimming Club with a significant number of members, and fans of motor sports (it is the European city with the highest proportion of motorcycles per inhabitant).

On the outskirts of the city (within the province of Barcelona) there are other relevant facilities, such as the Sant Cugat High Performance Center (CAR), where high performance selection teams for young athletes receive specialized training of Spain, and the Circuit of Catalonia, in Montmeló, where races of the World Motorcycling Championship (Catalonia Motorcycling Grand Prix) and Formula 1 (Spanish Grand Prix) are held. Also in Cornellá is the headquarters of R. C. D. Espanyol, which plays its football matches at the Cornellá-El Prat Stadium. Other soccer teams are the subsidiaries of F. C. Barcelona "B" And F.C. Barcelona "C" who play at the Estadi Johan Cruyff and R. C. D. Espanyol "B".

The fact that Barcelona is a maritime city also makes the sea and the beaches places of leisure and sports activities, allowing different sports to be played on sand. The port was built under the design of the architects Oriol Bohigas, Josep Maria Martorell, David Mackay and Albert Puigdomènech and directed by the engineer Joan Ramón de Clascà, in 1991, to provide the city with a marina at its height, following the regulations of the Generalitat to reconvert the north coast and the city into a residential and recreational area.

On the other hand, the inauguration of the Olympic Port and the remodeling of the Old Port, in 1992, to host the sailing competitions of the XXV Olympic Games, as well as the recent inauguration of the new marina of San Adrián de Besós, in the Forum area, has promoted the practice of water sports.

Sporting events

The Holy Family Mill takes place in an urban circuit around the Temple of the Holy Family

The city is endowed with a network of complete municipal sports centers that, added to the private centers, facilitate the practice of physical exercise, this together with the climate and the special relationship of the city with the sea, makes Barcelona one of the the European cities with the most sports practitioners.

On the other hand, the city offers the possibility of participating in a large number of sports competitions in the street. The most popular are the El Corte Inglés Race (with an average of 60,000 annual participants), the Cursa de la Mercè, the Firemen's Race, the Jean Bouin Race, the Barcelona Marathon, the Sagrada Familia Mile, the San Silvestre Barcelona, the Bicycle Festival, the Christmas Port Crossing or the Skate Festival. In addition, in the summer months various sports competitions are organized on the City's beaches.

The orography of the city, its climate, and the municipal policy of creating bike lanes and bicing have proliferated the use of the bicycle as a transport vehicle. The use of roller skates is also common, especially in the area of the Olympic Village and Ciudad Vieja, where there are also different skateparks.

1992 Olympic Games

Logo of the Olympic Games of Barcelona 1992 at the Alfonso XIII Palace of the city

The 1992 Barcelona Olympic Games (officially called the XXV Olympiad Games) were held in Barcelona between July 25 and August 9, 1992. 9,356 athletes from 169 countries participated, competing in 28 sports and 257 specialties. After its conclusion, the IX Paralympic Games were held between September 3 and 14. They were the first Games since Munich 1972 in which there was no boycott by any country. The return of South Africa to the Olympic Games, after the end of apartheid, of Cuba, which had not done so since the 1980 Moscow edition, and the of the reunified Germany were the most noteworthy returns. In that edition Spain won 22 medals, 13 of them gold, 7 silver and 2 bronze.

Most of the sporting events were held at facilities in the city of Barcelona, many of which are located on the Montjuic mountain. There is the Lluis Companys Olympic stadium, which includes the Olympic Museum, the San Jorge Palace, the Picornell pools or the Montjuic jumping pool. Far from the mountain are the facilities of F. C. Barcelona, which are home to the Camp Nou, the Palacio Azulgrana, the Johan Cruyff stadium and F. C. Barcelona. In the north of the city is the Horta Velodrome, the La Teixonera tennis facilities and the Hebron Valley Pavilion. Lastly, the neighborhood of the Olympic Village, where the athletes stayed, was located in an old industrial neighborhood close to the sea, and allowed the city's beaches to be recovered so that citizens could enjoy them.

Competitions were also held in other towns in the province of Barcelona, in Lleida and Gerona. The cities of Zaragoza and Valencia also participated by hosting soccer tournament matches.

Before 1992, Barcelona had been a candidate for the 1924, 1936 and 1940 Olympic Games, but it was finally held on October 17, 1986 in the city of Lausanne and within the framework of the 91st session of the Olympic Committee International, when Barcelona was chosen as the organizing city of the Games of the XXV Olympiad ahead of Paris, which it defeated in the third ballot by 47 votes to 23.

The impulse of the Olympics was decisive for the city, since it allowed it to undertake great urban reforms. The bid strategy consisted of presenting the entire city as an Olympic village, dispersing the sports facilities throughout the city. With this, in addition to decentralizing the shows to increase citizen participation and reduce crowds, it was also the excuse to undertake reforms in many peripheral areas of the city and in communication routes that stitched together the entire city, as well as in infrastructures, such as construction of the rounds, the improvement of the airport and the port, or the construction of new neighborhoods in degraded areas. This and the great media impact and projection of the city's image around the world helped create the "Barcelona brand" and attract a lot of tourism and international brands.

Predecessor: Seoul	Olympic City 1992	Successor: Atlanta
Predecessor: Alexandria	Mediterranean City 1955	Successor: Beirut

Twin cities

Barcelona maintains a twinning relationship with the following cities:

On the other hand, since the mid-nineties, Barcelona has chosen to minimize new twinning agreements and emphasize the signing of friendship and cooperation agreements, with specific and measurable objectives. The following cities have or have had such collaboration agreements:

Predecessor: Copenhagen

World Capital of Architecture 2026

Successor: