Barcelona (Venezuela)

Barcelona, originally founded as New Barcelona del Cerro Santo or also previously called New Barcelona, is a city located in the northeast of Venezuela. Founded in 1557 by the Spanish military conquistador of Catalan origin Joan Orpí. It is the capital of the Anzoátegui State. Barcelona has a population of 954,928 inhabitants, according to INE data, (2011) with Puerto La Cruz, Lechería and Guanta, making up Greater Barcelona, the largest and most important metropolitan area in the Eastern Region of Venezuela, the city preserves a variety of buildings dating from the viceregal era.

The metropolitan area of which Barcelona is the main city is home to major industries including petrochemical complexes, oil refineries and automotive industrial centers such as Mitsubishi and Hyundai. It has numerous PDVSA headquarters, industries such as Coca Cola, and is the destination for a significant influx of tourists due to its numerous hotels, shopping malls, beaches, and rivers.

In 2018 Greater Barcelona had a nominal GDP of 14,068 million dollars, corresponding to a nominal per capita of 16,088 dollars and a PPP per capita of 29,230 dollars. It is comprised of the municipalities of Simón Bolívar, Juan Antonio Sotillo, Diego Bautista Urbaneja Municipality and Guanta Municipality, being one of the ten main cities in Venezuela. It is the fourth city in Venezuela in economic production behind Valencia, Maracay and Caracas, the second only behind Caracas in per capita income, with the Diego Bautista Urbaneja Lechería Municipality being the richest in the country and with the lowest percentage of poverty in Venezuela and the sixth urban agglomeration in population in the country.

Between the 1960s and 1990s it was the most visited tourist destination in Venezuela, after Margarita Island; about 3,700,000 people visited the city annually.

Toponymy

Founded on February 12, 1638 as New Barcelona del Cerro Santo in honor of Barcelona in Catalonia, Spain where its founder, the Catalan Joan Orpí, who was born in the nearby town of Piera, studied and lived. It is currently known simply as Barcelona.

History

Map of the former Province of Barcelona, disappeared in 1864.

The city was founded in 1638 as New Barcelona del Cerro Santo by the Spanish conquistador of Catalan origin Joan Orpí. In 1671 it was refounded by Governor Sancho Fernández de Angulo two kilometers south of the original location.

Barcelona was one of the provinces under the authority of the governorate of Nueva Andalucía. It was also called the province of New Barcelona.

In 1761, the province bordered on the north with the population of Pozuelos; to the west with the Unare river up to its headwaters; to the east with the Guanipa table and to the south, with the Orinoco River.

Due to the events of April 19, 1810, a board met in the city of Barcelona that proclaimed the independence of the province on April 27, which until then constituted the Barcelona district of the province of Cumaná. On July 11, 1810, the Supreme Board of Caracas included Barcelona among the provinces. After the fall of the First Republic, the royalist authorities also maintained the name of Barcelona province.

On January 2, 1821, it depended on the province of Cumaná and together with the provinces of Guayana and Margarita it became part of the department of Orinoco with its capital in Cumaná; again autonomous on January 13, 1830. On June 26, 1961 there was an uprising against the second government of Rómulo Betancourt known as El Barcelonazo.

Geography

The city is located on a coastal plain located in northeastern Venezuela, surrounded by mountains that are part of the eastern cordillera of Venezuela, the presence of several elevations no higher than 60 ms. no. m. such as Cerro Venezuela and Cerro Tumba de Bello. It has extensive beaches, mainly in the sectors called Maurica and Caicara. The first is totally contaminated and the second was reopened in 2015

Its main hydrographic feature is the Neverí River, which runs through the city. In 1970 the Neverí overflowed, taking with it buildings, houses and human lives. In 1972, Governor Francisco Arreaza Arreaza had a relief channel built, thus avoiding this type of inconvenience for the city ever since.

Near Barcelona is also the Aragua River, which is known for being a sewage collector. In 1999 it overflowed, flooding the entire populous sector called El Viñedo. There were no human losses.

Since the city is located from 0 to -2 masl, the water table is high and therefore a large part of the city tends to flood in heavy rains. Surrounding the neverí there are a large number of pipes (Guamachito, La Chica) that were diverted to the relief channel to prevent a collapse of the river.

Climate

Average climate parameters of Barcelona, Venezuela
Month	Ene.	Feb.	Mar.	Open up.	May.	Jun.	Jul.	Ago.	Sep.	Oct.	Nov.	Dec.	Annual
Temp. max. abs. (°C)	34.0	34.0	38.0	40.0	40.0	39.0	39.0	39.0	40.0	40.0	38.0	35.0	40.3
Average temperature (°C)	31.0	31.0	32.0	33.0	33.0	32.0	32.0	32.0	33.0	33.0	32.0	31.0	32.0
Average temperature (°C)	26.0	26.0	27.0	28.5	28.5	28.0	28.0	28.0	28.5	28.5	27.5	26.5	26.5
Temp. medium (°C)	21.0	21.0	22.0	24.0	24.0	24.0	23.0	23.0	24.0	24.0	23.0	22.0	23.0
Temp. min. abs. (°C)	13.0	13.0	14.0	16.0	16.0	16.0	15.0	15.5	16.0	16.0	15.0	14.0	14.0
Rains (mm)	13.2	8.6	10.4	22.9	79.1	169.8	238.2	223.3	152.2	142.7	93.5	48.8	1207.7
Rainy days (≥ 1.0 mm)	1.0	1.0	1.0	2.0	6.0	13.0	17.0	17.0	12.0	11.0	9.0	5.0	95.0
Hours of sun	288.3	274.4	297.6	261.0	254.2	213.0	232.5	235.6	243.0	263.5	255.0	269.7	3087.8
Relative humidity (%)	72.0	71.0	70.5	72.0	72.5	75.0	76.0	76.0	74.5	74.5	75.0	73.0	73.5
Source No. 1: National Institute of Meteorology and Hydrology (INAMEH)
Source No. 2: NOAA (maximum and absolute minimum temperatures, precipitation and sun shine)

Education

Jardines de la Universidad de Oriente kernel Anzoategui

The city is home to numerous educational institutions, including the following:

• University of the East - Nucleo Anzoátegui, UDO, this is the main house of studies of the area and one of the most recognized at the national level, is located on Argimiro Gabaldón Avenue, at the height of the Pozuelos sector.
• National University of Tourism - (Sede Principal)
• Instituto Universitario de Tecnología "General Pedro María Freites"
• Universidad Central de Venezuela, UCV - (Centro Regional Barcelona), one of the most popular, is located on Avenida Centurión de Nueva Barcelona.
• Universidad Nacional Experimental Simón Rodríguez, UNESR, one of the most recognized, is located in Caracas Avenue, diagonal to Plaza La Raza and is currently under construction a new headquarters on Avenida Costanera.
• Open National University, UNA
• Universidad Gran Mariscal de Ayacucho, UGMA - (Sede Principal)
• Santa Maria University, USM - (Nucleo Oriente)
• Instituto Universitario Politécnico Santiago Mariño, IUPSM - (Sede Principal)

Heritage

• Cathedral of San Cristobal de Barcelona: The Church of San Cristobal began to build in 1748, but due to an earthquake that left it almost destroyed, it was only until 1773 that this temple could be finished.

Perhaps the most important characteristic of this church is that it venerates the miraculous image of Our Lady of Help from Barcelona, the historic "Virgen del Totumo", the first religious image to arrive in that region, in the then city of San Cristóbal de la Nueva Écija de los cumanagotos, at the beginning of the XVI or end of the XVI; thus representing the first cultural-religious tradition of the Barcelona community. In addition, a reliquary with a bone from each of the seven saints was buried under the main altar of the temple: San Severino, San Eustaquio, San Facundo, San Pedro Alcántara, San Pacífico, San Anastasio and San Pascual Bailón.

The Blessed Virgin Mary, Our Lady of the Relief of Barcelona, “La Virgen del Totumo”

Later in 1777, the Bishop of Puerto Rico, Manuel Jiménez Pérez, brought the remains of San Celestino to the church from Rome. The remains of him were placed in a baroque reliquary and located in a small chapel in the left wing of the church.

The martyr San Celestino has been venerated ever since by the inhabitants of Barcelona and on December 8, 1777, a Pontifical Order was issued by which the Martyr was recognized as the Patron of the city. His feast is currently celebrated on May 15.

• Fortín de la Magdalena (also known as Fortín de Doña Magdalena) is a military building and a tourist place located in Lecheria, metropolitan area of Gran Barcelona. It was built by the Spanish Crown in the middle of the year of 1799 to defend the Fridge River and the White gold that is to say the salt, of the pirates and is considered a mystical place in the east, was the scene of many battles of the XVIII.

• House of Culture: It is a restored colonial house that was donated to the city of Barcelona by the Otero Silva family. On the second floor of the house there is a wide permanent exhibition of works by modern representative painters of Venezuela, which is owned by that family.
• Basilica of the Christ of Joseph: On the National Road of the Costa, between Barcelona and Puerto Píritu, is located the Basilica of the Christ of Jose, also known as "The Christ of the Travelers", where the parishioners who are on their way to commit themselves to Him to protect them on their journey. This Basilica was built by Mariano Adrián de la Rosa, with personal heritage, in thanks to the favors received.
• Casa Fuerte de Barcelona: This building was an old Franciscan convent that became a fortress by the initiative of General Pedro María Freites and Santiago Mariño.

La Casa Fuerte served as a refuge for the people of this area before the invasion of the royalist Aldana in 1817.

The ruins of this building were considered a reminder of the massacre of April 7, 1817, where old men, women and children were killed by royalist forces.

Casa Fuerte de Barcelona

• Plaza Boyacá : Since 1897, in the central square of the city is the Plaza Boyacá in honor of the most important of the battles led by Simon Bolivar and that led to the independence of the Viceroyalty of the New Granada (present-day Colombia).

This square was the largest in Colonial Barcelona and little has changed since its construction in 1671. The Government House and the Church of San Cristóbal still face each other, on both sides of the square.

• Plaza Bolívar: Built in 1930 is a reference point for the city, it has an equestrian statue replica of the Liberator made by Francisco Pigua. A detail to highlight this work is that the Liberator has raised his right arm and sword in hand, points to the statue of Eulalia Buroz, located in the Fort House. The square is of wide dimensions with gardens and trees.
• Plaza Miranda : It is one of the main squares of the city, has a statue of the precursor and is a local reference point. It is located between Miranda Avenues and July 5.
• Cajigal Theatre: It is a building of the XIX, built in the Neoclassical style opposite the Plaza Rolando. This theater is small and charming, it has a capacity for 300 people. Here are various plays and concerts.
• Museum of Anzoátegui or Museum of Tradition: Built in 1671, The Museum of Tradition is one of the oldest houses in the city of Barcelona. Thanks to a restoration, this house looks exactly to the colonial period of Venezuela, when the house was built.

In the past, this house had access to the Neverí River, which served as a dock for boats arriving from neighboring islands. The Museum of Tradition consists of more than 400 items, including indigenous crafts, works of sculpture, and Spanish colonial religious art dating from the XIII, as well as different historical objects from the city of Barcelona. It is located in front of Plaza Boyacá.

• 

  Statue Jesus "Bombón" Kings of the sculptor Claes Mata located in the Plaza Bombón.
  Royal Spanish Bridge: It is a Colonial Bridge that is located in the Urb. New Barcelona, arched style made of stone.
• Antigua Customs: The corner of the Customs is only the remains of what was one of the most important customs houses in all of Venezuela of the colonial period. This historic place in Barcelona was for more than two centuries, 1700-1900, a port of great commercial activity between the plains and the rest of Venezuela.

Currently, only the memories of the intense port activity that Barcelona had at that time remain and now there are only extensive mangroves that occupy the entire place of what was once one of the most important customs houses in the country.

• Ruins of San Felipe Neri: The Church of Saint Philip Neri was founded by a religious society in 1564 to develop the oratory as a musical form and to sing the renowned oratory of the XVIII.

The 1812 earthquake destroyed the church, but soon after a grotto to the Virgin was built, known as Gruta de San Felipe and only what is now known as the Ruins of San Felipe Neri remained.

• La Ermita de Nuestra Señora del Carmen: The Hermitage is a temple whose Neoclassical lines and religious relics make it one of the most esteemed tacitas of east silver.

The origins of this oriental church go back to the end of the XVIII when a Christian group of Barcelonans founded the Brotherhood of Our Lady of Carmen. The purpose of these devotees of Carmen was to dedicate themselves to the task of spreading the faith of the Virgin Mary and to seek alms to build her a Hermitage that was later built, little by little, on land donated by Felipa Chirinos.

The Hermitage of Nuestra Señora del Carmen had many setbacks during its construction. The effects of the war of independence, the conflicts between conservatives and liberals, the federal war and the continuous revolutions of the XIX caused that the brotherhood did not have enough money to quickly complete the temple that was paralyzed on several occasions.

Entrance to the Basilica of Saint Joseph.

After almost two centuries of construction work, the Hermitage of Nuestra Señora del Carmen was officially inaugurated in 1896. The governor of the Great State of Bermúdez (now Anzoátegui, Sucre and Monagas States), General Nicolás Rolando, hired the architect Ramón Irigoyen to complete the work. Previously the bishop of the Diocese of Guayana and the highest ecclesiastical authority in the East, Monsignor Manuel Felipe Rodríguez allowed the priest Federico Mendoza to officiate the first mass in the hermitage, on July 31, 1887; but part of the main façade with neoclassical lines still had to be completed, the two towers, the installation of the fine black and white marble floor brought from the famous Italian quarry of Carrara and finally the valuable stained glass windows, also of Italian origin, which are among the most striking from Venezuela.

• Bolívar Bridge: It is the first bridge built on the River Fridge, offers a view of the city and the river in its entirety communicates the avenues Cajigal and Armed Forces. It should be noted that this bridge was made by the same builder who built the Eiffel Tower in France.
• Thermal waters of Naricual: This tourist spot is located on the 12th kilometer of the Barcelona–San Mateo road. They are close to the town of the same name, in the municipality of Bolívar, southeast of Barcelona. The waters have a high iron and soda content, their coloration is whitened due to large portions of suspended lemon. The temperature ranges between 40 and 50 °C.

In this beautiful place, the waters come from a rock and form a well 15 meters in diameter.

• Río Neverí: Born to the northwest of the Las Culatas Center in the state Sucre and formed to the north of Cerro Tristeza (Parroquia Libertador of the Municipality Pedro María Freites, which is at a height of 2580 meters above sea level in the Serrania of Turimiquire), "in the row of the Eastern Macizo, at about 2600 meters altitude".

Río Neverí de Barcelona

Its course: It heads west which from above leads it to the towns of El Rincón, San Diego and Aragüita, from there its lower part is defined. From Macuaral, it receives water from the Naricual and El Viejo Rivers and from the Los Aguacates, Del Alambique, Coricual, El Chamo, Chuponal, Higuerote, La Palma, Peking, Peña Blanca, Provisor, Seca, El Tigre, Saman La Colina, Vidoño, Razetti, Universitario, Fundación Mendoza, UDO, El Maguey, Colorado, Pozuelos, La Fundación, Terrazas de Pozuelos, Boyacá, Tronconal, Los Montones, etc.

It flows into the Caribbean Sea, at the geographic coordinates 10° 10' 30" North latitude and 64° 43' 30" west longitude. Its approximate route is 103 kilometers.

Parish organization

Transportation

Public transportation system

According to the current local authorities, the approval given by former President Hugo Chávez is still awaiting, after an agreement was signed on April 15, 2009 between the mayors of the metropolitan area of the Anzoátegui state (Barcelona, Lechería, Puerto La Cruz and Guanta) and the Chinese company Transtech Engineering Corporation. However, this project had already been presented previously in March 2007 to begin its construction in August 2007 and since its announcement it had not been named again until 2009.

If its construction is completed one day, it is expected that it will last approximately four (4) years to culminate in its first and second phase of this Metro and thus be able to reduce by 50%, according to estimates, the high traffic that The largest metropolitan area in the eastern part of the country is recorded daily in this. This ambitious project contemplates that it will be superficial (70%) and aerial (30%), will have at least 14 stations in its urban area (first phase) and would extend to Puerto Píritu (second phase), as well as comments that it will be one one of the most modern public transport systems in the world.^{[citation required]}, in March 2014 President Nicolás Maduro announced the creation of this transport system under the name TransAnzoátegui Construction began at the end of that year. Line 1 Guaraguao-Molorca will be inaugurated in May 2015. The entire transportation system is expected to be completed in September and will have a 33-kilometer route and 52 stops. It was put into service in October of that year with 2 lines. By 2016 the third line was created and in 2017 the last one was created and 5 feeder routes were inaugurated.

Modes of access to the city

• Groundway: From Caracas you can reach the Autopista de Oriente, from the south of the state by the Central Autopista de Anzoátegui, and from the rest of the east of the country by the national road Puerto La Cruz-Cumaná.

• Airway: In Barcelona is the International Airport of the East, General José Antonio Anzoátegui International Airport, this is the most important airport in the region, it is located on the Avenida Airport and dates back to the 1970s.

General José Antonio Anzoátegui International Airport Terminal

Technical characteristics of the airport

• International platform:

Area: 150 m x 300 m = 45,000 square meters Capacity: - 2 wide body aircraft - 3 regular aircraft

- 3 Jet-A1 fuel sockets.

• General platform:

Area: 180 m x 90 m - 12 Hangars of metal structure - Executive Services (FBO)

- 22 open positions.

Pista 15-33:

Length: 3000 m linear by 40 wide.

Security Stripes: 50 m.

Track 02-20:

- 2500 m linear for 40 m wide.

Used for daytime operations with aircraft up to 5000 lbs.

Seaway

Through the ferry terminal of Puerto La Cruz, which is the most used by the entire population, it is located on Avenida Paseo Colón and also by the Port of Guanta, used mainly for commerce, it is located at the end from the main street of Guanta

Mayors and mayors

Notes: Anyer Henríquez Medina is the current mayor due to the dismissal of Johana Pérez.

International Awards

In 2018 it was awarded the American Capital of Culture award, Anzoátegui state and Barcelona as its capital.

Sports

Basketball

The city is also home to the professional basketball team Marinos de Anzoátegui (formerly Marinos de Oriente) 11-time champion of the Venezuelan Professional Basketball League and features a new team "Gladeadores de Anzoátegui" Since 2019, it has played at the Simón Bolívar Sports Center (formerly the Luis Ramos Sports Center) known as La Caldera del Diablo, which has a capacity for 5,500 spectators.

Football

The city has the José Antonio Anzoátegui Stadium with a capacity for 40,000 fans, the venue for the 2007 Copa América where matches were played by the teams of Brazil, Mexico, Chile and Ecuador. It was also the venue for the 2009 South American Sub-20 Championship, where Venezuela qualified for its first soccer world cup in this same stadium. This stadium is also the headquarters of the state soccer team: Deportivo Anzoátegui, whose first team participates in the First Division of Venezuela.

Stadium José Antonio Anzoátegui.

Sister cities

• Cartagena de Indias, Colombia.
• Milk, Venezuela
• Puerto La Cruz, Venezuela
• Barcelona, Spain