Barcelona is the capital, most populous city of the
Autonomous CommunityThe Autonomous Community is the first-level political division of the Kingdom of Spain, established in accordance with the Spanish Constitution...
of
CataloniaCatalonia is an Autonomous Community in northeast Spain. The capital city is Barcelona.Catalonia covers an area of 32,114 km² and has an official population of 7,364,078. It borders France and Andorra to the north, Aragon to the west, the Valencian Community to the south, and the...
and the second largest city in
SpainSpain , officially the Kingdom of Spain , is a country located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula.
[The Spanish constitution does not establish any official denomination of the country, even though España , Estado español and Nación española are used interchangeably...]
, with a population of 1,615,908 in 2008. It is the
11th-most populous municipalityThis is a list of the largest cities in the European Union by population within city limits which have more than 300,000 inhabitants. It deals exclusively with the areas within city administrative boundaries as opposed to urban areas or metropolitan areas, which are generally larger in terms of...
in the
European UnionThe European Union is an economic and political union of 27 Member States, located primarily in Europe. Committed to regional integration, the EU was established by the Treaty of Maastricht on 1 November 1993 upon the foundations of the pre-existing European Economic Community...
and
sixth-most populous urban areaThis is a list of all the urban areas of the European Union which have more than 750,000 inhabitants in 2005.This list is an attempt to present a consistent list of population figures for urban areas in the European Union. All the figures here have been compiled by Demographia.-Important notes:*...
in the European Union after
ParisParis is the capital of France and the country's most populous city. It is situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
,
London[]London is the capital of England and the United Kingdom. It has been a major settlement for two millennia, and the history of London goes back to its founding by the Romans, when it was named Londinium. London's core, the ancient City of London, the 'square mile', retains its medieval boundaries...
,
Rhine-Ruhr AreaThe Rhine-Ruhr metropolitan region is the largest metropolitan area in Germany with about 11,800,000 inhabitants. It is of polycentric nature and the only megacity in Germany. It covers an area of 10,820 square kilometers and lies entirely within the federal state of North Rhine-Westphalia...
,
MadridMadrid is the capital and largest city of Spain. It is the third-most populous municipality in the European Union after Greater London and Berlin, and its metropolitan area is the third-most populous city by urban area in the European Union after Paris and London.The city is located on the river...
and
MilanMilan in Italy, is the capital of the region of Lombardia and of the province of Milan. The city proper has a population of about 1.3 million, while the urban area is the fifth largest in the E.U. with an estimated population of 4.3 million...
with the population 4,185,000. 4.9 million people live in
Barcelona metropolitan areaThe Área Metropolitana de Barcelona , often referred to as Greater Barcelona, is integrated by three territorial organisms of management...
. The main part of a union of adjacent cities and municipalities named Área Metropolitana de Barcelona (
AMB) with a population of 3,186,461 in area of 636 km² (density 5.010 hab/km²).
It is located on the
MediterraneanThe Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean surrounded by the Mediterranean region and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Anatolia and Europe, on the south by Africa, and on the east by the Levant. The sea is technically a part of the Atlantic Ocean, although it...
coast between the mouths of the rivers
LlobregatThe Llobregat is the second longest river in Catalonia, Spain. It originates in Castellar de n'Hug at an altitude of 1,259 meters in the Serra del Cadí, and ends in the Mediterranean Sea, in the municipality of El Prat de Llobregat, near Barcelona...
and
BesòsThe Besòs is a river flowing through Catalonia, Spain, formed by the confluence of the Mogent and Congost rivers. It ends in the Mediterranean. Its full watershed includes the following cities: Aiguafreda, La Garriga, Les Franqueses, Canovelles, Granollers, Montmeló, Mollet del Vallès, Montcada i...
and is bounded to the west by the
Serra de CollserolaThe Serra de Collserola is a mountain range between the rivers Besòs and Llobregat. It separates Barcelona from the Vallés plain. Its tallest peak is the Tibidabo, at 512 m...
ridge .
Barcelona is recognised as a
global cityA global city is a city deemed to be an important node point in the global economic system. The concept comes from geography and urban studies and rests on the idea that globalization can be understood as largely created, facilitated and enacted in strategic geographic locales according to a...
because of its importance in
financeFinance is the science of funds management. The general areas of finance are business finance, personal finance, and public finance. Finance includes saving money and often includes lending money. The field of finance deals with the concepts of time, money and risk and how they are interrelated...
,
commerceCommerce is a division of trade or production which deals with the exchange of goods and services from producer to final consumer. It comprises the trading of something of economic value such as goods, services, information, or money between two or more entities...
, media,
entertainmentAn entertainment is any activity which provides a diversion or permits people to amuse themselves in their leisure time.Entertainment is typically passive - as in watching opera or a movie. Activities which involve participating in games or sports are more often considered to be recreation...
,
artsThe arts is a broad subdivision of culture, composed of many expressive disciplines. It is a broader term than "art", which as a description of a field usually means only the visual arts...
and
international tradeInternational trade is exchange of capital, goods, and services across international borders or territories. In most countries, it represents a significant share of gross domestic product . While international trade has been present throughout much of history , its economic, social, and political...
. Barcelona is a major economic centre with one of Europe's principal
MediterraneanThe Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean surrounded by the Mediterranean region and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Anatolia and Europe, on the south by Africa, and on the east by the Levant. The sea is technically a part of the Atlantic Ocean, although it...
port||-||-||-||-||-||-||-||-|}A port is a facility for receiving ships and/or transferring cargo. It is usually found at the edge of an ocean, sea, river, or lake. The best ports have deep water in channels or berths, and protection from the wind and waves...
s, and Barcelona International Airport is the second largest in Spain after the Madrid-Barajas Airport (handles about 30 million passengers per year). Founded as a Roman city, Barcelona became the capital of the
Counts of Barcelona. After merging with the Kingdom of Aragon, it became one of the most important cities of the
Crown of AragonThe Crown of Aragon was a permanent union of multiple titles and states in the hands of the King of Aragon.At the height of its power by the 14th and 15th centuries, the Crown of Aragon was a thalassocracy controlling a large portion of the present-day eastern Spain, Southwestern France, as well as...
. Besieged several times during its history, Barcelona is today an important cultural centre and a major
tourist destinationA tourist destination is a city, town, or other area that is dependent to a significant extent on the revenues accruing from tourism. It may contain one or more tourist attractions and possibly some "tourist traps."...
and has a rich
cultural heritageCultural heritage is the legacy of physical and intangible attributes of the past of a group or society that are selected from the past, and inherited, maintained in the present and bestowed for the benefit of future generations...
. Particularly renowned are architectural works of
Antoni GaudíAntoni Plàcid Guillem Gaudí i Cornet – in English sometimes referred to by the Spanish translation of his name, Antonio Gaudí...
and
Lluís Domènech i MontanerLluís Domènech i Montaner was a Spanish Catalan architect who was highly influential on Modernisme català, the Catalan Art Nouveau / Jugendstil movement...
that have been designated
UNESCOThe United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations established on 16 November 1945...
World Heritage SiteA UNESCO World Heritage Site is a site that is on the list that is maintained by the international World Heritage Programme administered by the UNESCO World Heritage Committee, composed of 21 state parties which are elected by their General Assembly for a four-year term.A World Heritage Site is a...
s. The city is well known in recent times for the
1992 Summer OlympicsThe 1992 Summer Olympic Games, officially known as the Games of the XXV Olympiad, were an international multi-sport event celebrated in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain in 1992.-Host city selection:...
. The headquarters of the
Union for the MediterraneanThe Union for the Mediterranean , officially known by the full name of Barcelona Process: Union for the Mediterranean and previously known as the "Mediterranean Union" , is a community initiated on 13 July 2008 by French President Nicolas Sarkozy...
are located in Barcelona.
As the capital of
CataloniaCatalonia is an Autonomous Community in northeast Spain. The capital city is Barcelona.Catalonia covers an area of 32,114 km² and has an official population of 7,364,078. It borders France and Andorra to the north, Aragon to the west, the Valencian Community to the south, and the...
, Barcelona houses the seat of the Catalan government, known as the Generalitat de Catalunya; of particular note are the
executive branchThe Government of Catalonia is the executive branch of the Generalitat de Catalunya. It is responsible for the political action, reglamentation and administration of the Generalitat....
, the
parliamentThe Parliament of Catalonia is the unicameral legislature of Catalonia. It is formed by 135 members , who are elected every four years in ordinary period, or extraordinarily upon dissolution and call of elections by the President of Catalonia, by universal suffrage in proportional lists with four...
, and the Supreme Court of Catalonia. The city is also the capital of the
BarcelonèsBarcelonès is the most populous and economically important comarca of Catalonia, Spain. Its capital is Barcelona, which is also the capital of Catalonia.- Municipalities :Population figures are for 2006 ....
comarcaThis is a list of the comarques of Catalonia . A comarca is roughly equivalent to a US "county" or a UK "district". However, in the context of Catalonia, the term "county" can be a bit misleading, because in medieval Catalonia, the most important rulers were counts, notably the Counts of Barcelona...
(shire).
Names
The name
Barcelona comes from the ancient Iberian Phoenician
Barkeno, attested in an ancient coin inscription in Iberian script as , in
GreekGreek , an independent branch of the Indo-European family of languages, is the language of the Greeks. Native to the southern Balkans, it has the longest documented history of any Indo-European language, spanning 34 centuries of written records. In its ancient form, it is the language of classical...
sources as
; and in
LatinLatin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. Through the Roman conquest, Latin spread throughout the Mediterranean and a large part of Europe...
as
Barcino,
Barcelo and
Barceno.
During
the Middle AgesThe Middle Ages of European history is a period of European history covering roughly a millennium in the 5th century through 16th centuries. More specific starting and ending points are sometimes adopted by scholars to suit their respective specializations or current focus...
, the city was variously known as
Barchinona, Barçalona, Barchelona, and
Barchenona.
History
The foundation of Barcelona is the subject of two different legends. The first attributes the founding of the city to
HerculesHercules is the Roman name for the mythical Greek demigod Heracles, son of Zeus and the mortal Alcmena. Early Roman sources suggest that the imported Greek hero supplanted a mythic Italic shepherd called "Recaranus" or "Garanus", famous for his strength, who dedicated the Ara Maxima that became...
400 years before the building of
RomeRome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated municipality , with over 2.7 million residents in , while the population of the urban area is estimated by Eurostat to be 3.46 million. The metropolitan area of Rome is estimated by OECD to have a population of 3.7 million...
thus the name
; . The second legend attributes the foundation of the city directly to the
CarthaginianCarthage refers both to an ancient city in present-day Tunisia, and a modern-day suburb of Tunis. The civilization that developed within the city's sphere of influence is referred to as Punic or Carthaginian...
Hamilcar BarcaHamilcar Barca or Barcas was a Carthaginian general and statesman, leader of the Barcid family, and father of Hannibal, Hasdrubal and Mago. He was also father-in-law to Hasdrubal the Fair....
, father of Hannibal, who named the city
Barcino after his family, in the
3rd century BCThe 3rd century BC started the first day of 300 BC and ended the last day of 201 BC. It is considered part of the Classical era, epoch, or historical period.-Overview:...
.
About
15 BCYear 15 BC was a common year starting on Monday of the Julian calendar.-Rome:* Vienna becomes a frontier city guarding the Roman Empire against the German tribes to the north....
, the
RomansThe Roman Empire was the post-Republican phase of the ancient Roman civilization, characterised by an autocratic form of government and large territorial holdings in Europe and around the Mediterranean. The term is used to describe the Roman state during and after the time of the first emperor,...
redrew the town as a
castrumThe Latin word castra, with its singular castrum, was used by the ancient Romans to mean buildings or plots of land reserved to or constructed for use as a military defensive position. As the word appears in both Oscan and Umbrian as well as in Latin, it probably descended from Indo-European to...
(Roman military camp) centred on the "
Mons Taber", a little hill near the contemporary city hall (Plaça de Sant Jaume). Under the Romans, it was a colony with the surname of
Faventia, or, in full,
Colonia Faventia Julia Augusta Pia Barcino or
Colonia Julia Augusta Faventia Paterna Barcino.
MelaMela is a Sanskrit word meaning 'gathering' or 'to meet' or a Fair. It is used in the Indian subcontinent for all sizes of gathering and can be religious, commercial, cultural or sports. In rural traditions melas or village fairs were of great importance...
mentions it among the small towns of the district, probably as it was eclipsed by its neighbour
TarracoTarragona is a city located in the south of Catalonia and east of Spain, by the Mediterranean Sea. It is the capital of the Spanish province of the same name and the capital of the Catalan comarca Tarragonès...
(modern
TarragonaTarragona is a city located in the south of Catalonia and east of Spain, by the Mediterranean Sea. It is the capital of the Spanish province of the same name and the capital of the Catalan comarca Tarragonès...
); but it may be gathered from later writers that it gradually grew in wealth and consequence, favoured as it was with a beautiful situation and an excellent harbour. It enjoyed immunity from imperial burdens. The city minted its own coins; some from the era of
GalbaServius Sulpicius Galba , also called Servius Sulpicius Galba Caesar Augustus, was Roman Emperor for seven months, from 8 June 68 until his murder...
survive.
Some important Roman ruins are exposed under the Plaça del Rei, entrance by the city museum (Museu d'Història de la Ciutat), and the typically Roman grid-planning is still visible today in the layout of the historical centre, the
Barri GòticEl Gòtic, also known as Barri Gòtic is the centre of the old city of Barcelona. It stretches from La Rambla to Via Laietana, and from the Mediterranean seafront to Ronda de Sant Pere....
("Gothic Quarter"). Some remaining fragments of the Roman walls have been incorporated into the cathedral. The cathedral, also known as basilica
La Seu is said to have been founded in 343. The city was conquered by the Visigoths in the early
fifth centuryThe 5th century is the period from 401 to 500 in accordance with the Julian calendar in Anno Domini/Common Era.-Overview:This century is noted for being a time of repeated disaster and instability both internally and externally for the Western Roman Empire, which finally unravelled, and came to an...
, by the
MoorsThe description Moors has referred to several historic and modern populations of Muslim people of Berber, Black African and Arab descent from North Africa, some of whom came to conquer and occupy the Iberian Peninsula for nearly 800 years. The North Africans termed it Al Andalus, comprising most...
in the early
eighth centuryThe 8th century is the period from 701 to 800 in accordance with the Julian calendar in the Christian/Common Era.-Overview:During this century, the Middle East, the coast of North Africa and the Iberian Peninsula rapidly come under Islamic Arab domination...
, reconquered in 801 by
CharlemagneCharlemagne was King of the Franks from 768 to his death. He expanded the Frankish kingdoms into a Frankish Empire that incorporated much of Western and Central Europe...
's son
LouisLouis the Pious , also called the Fair, and the Debonaire, was the King of Aquitaine from 781. He was also King of the Franks and co-Emperor with his father, Charlemagne, from 813...
who made Barcelona the seat of Carolingian "Spanish Marches" (
Marca Hispanica), a
buffer zoneIn geography, a buffer zone is any zonal area that serves the purpose of keeping two or more other areas distant from one another, for whatever reason. Common types of buffer zones are demilitarized zones and certain restrictive easement zones and greenbelts...
ruled by the
Count of Barcelona.
The Counts of Barcelona became increasingly independent and expanded their territory to include all of Catalonia. In 1137,
AragonThe Kingdom of Aragon was an old kingdom in the Iberian Peninsula, corresponding to the modern-day autonomous community of Aragon , in Spain...
and the
County of Barcelona merged by
dynastic unionA dynastic union is the combination by which two different states are governed by the same monarch or dynasty, while their boundaries, their laws and their interests remain distinct....
by the marriage of
Ramon Berenguer IVRaymond Berengar IV or Ramon Berenguer IV , sometimes called the Holy, was the Count of Barcelona who effected the union between the Kingdom of Aragon and the Principality of Catalonia into the Crown of Aragon....
and
Petronilla of AragonPetronila Ramírez , whose name is also spelled Petronilla or Petronella , was Queen of Aragon from 1137 until 1164. She was the daughter and successor of Ramiro II and Agnes of Aquitaine.Petronila came to the throne through special circumstances...
and their titles were finally borne by only one person when their son
Alfonso II of AragonAlfonso II or Alfons I , called the Chaste or the Troubadour, was the King of Aragon and Count of Barcelona from 1162 until his death. He was the son of Ramon Berenguer IV of Barcelona and Petronilla of Aragon and the first King of Aragon who was also Count of Barcelona...
ascended to the throne in 1162. His territories were later to be known as the
Crown of AragonThe Crown of Aragon was a permanent union of multiple titles and states in the hands of the King of Aragon.At the height of its power by the 14th and 15th centuries, the Crown of Aragon was a thalassocracy controlling a large portion of the present-day eastern Spain, Southwestern France, as well as...
which conquered many overseas possessions, ruling the western Mediterranean Sea with outlying territories
in NaplesNaples in Italy, is the capital of the region of Campania and of the province of Naples. The city is known for its rich history, art, culture, architecture, music and gastronomy, playing an important role throughout much of its existence; it is over 2,800 years old...
and Sicily and as far as
AthensThe Duchy of Athens was one of the Crusader States set up in Greece after the conquest of the Byzantine Empire during the Fourth Crusade, encompassing the regions of Attica and Boeotia, and surviving until its conquest by the Ottoman Empire in the 15th century.-Establishment of the Duchy:The first...
in the
thirteenth centuryAs a means of recording the passage of time, the 13th century was that century which lasted from 1201 through 1300 in accordance with the Julian calendar in the Christian/Common Era...
. The forging of a dynastic link between the Crowns of Aragon and
CastileThe Crown of Castile, as a historic entity, is usually considered to have begun in 1230 with the third and almost definitive union of the monarchies of kingdoms Castile and Toledo in one hand, and the kingdoms of Leon and Galicia in other hand, and with the union of their parliaments a few decades...
marked the beginning of Barcelona's decline.
Geography
Barcelona is located on the northeast coast of the
Iberian PeninsulaThe Iberian Peninsula, or Iberia, is located in the extreme southwest of Europe and includes modern-day Spain, Portugal, Andorra and Gibraltar and a very small area of France. It is the westernmost of the three major southern European peninsulas—the Iberian, Italian, and Balkan peninsulas...
, facing the
Mediterranean SeaThe Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean surrounded by the Mediterranean region and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Anatolia and Europe, on the south by Africa, and on the east by the Levant. The sea is technically a part of the Atlantic Ocean, although it...
, on a plateau approximately wide limited by the mountain range of
CollserolaThe Serra de Collserola is a mountain range between the rivers Besòs and Llobregat. It separates Barcelona from the Vallés plain. Its tallest peak is the Tibidabo, at 512 m...
, the
LlobregatThe Llobregat is the second longest river in Catalonia, Spain. It originates in Castellar de n'Hug at an altitude of 1,259 meters in the Serra del Cadí, and ends in the Mediterranean Sea, in the municipality of El Prat de Llobregat, near Barcelona...
river to the south-west and the
BesòsThe Besòs is a river flowing through Catalonia, Spain, formed by the confluence of the Mogent and Congost rivers. It ends in the Mediterranean. Its full watershed includes the following cities: Aiguafreda, La Garriga, Les Franqueses, Canovelles, Granollers, Montmeló, Mollet del Vallès, Montcada i...
river to the north. This plateau has , of which 101 km² (38.9
sq miThe square mile is an imperial and US unit of measure for an area equal to the area of a square of one statute mile.
) are occupied by the city itself. It is 160 km (100 mi) south of the
PyreneesThe Pyrenees are a range of mountains in southwest Europe that form a natural border between France and Spain...
and the
CataloniaCatalonia is an Autonomous Community in northeast Spain. The capital city is Barcelona.Catalonia covers an area of 32,114 km² and has an official population of 7,364,078. It borders France and Andorra to the north, Aragon to the west, the Valencian Community to the south, and the...
n border with
FranceFrance , officially the French Republic , is a country located in Western Europe, with several overseas islands and territories located on other continents. Metropolitan France extends from the Mediterranean Sea to the English Channel and the North Sea, and from the Rhine to the Atlantic Ocean...
.
CollserolaThe Serra de Collserola is a mountain range between the rivers Besòs and Llobregat. It separates Barcelona from the Vallés plain. Its tallest peak is the Tibidabo, at 512 m...
, part of the coastal
mountain rangeA mountain range is a chain of mountains bordered by highlands or separated from other mountains by passes or valleys. Individual mountains within the same mountain range do not necessarily have the same geology, though they often do; they may be a mix of different orogeny, for example volcanoes,...
, shelters the city to the north-west. Its highest point, the peak of
TibidaboTibidabo is a mountain overlooking Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. At 512 meters it is the tallest mountain in the Serra de Collserola. Rising sharply to the north-west, it affords spectacular views over the city and the surrounding coastline....
, high, offers striking views over the city and is topped by the
Torre de CollserolaTorre de Collserola is a uniquely designed tower located on the Tibidabo hill in the Serra de Collserola, in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. It was designed by architect Sir Norman Foster, and built in 1991 for the 1992 Summer Olympics. It features a pod for floor space like many towers but uses guy...
, a
telecommunications towerRadio masts and towers are, typically, tall structures designed to support antennas for telecommunications and broadcasting, including television. They are among the tallest man-made structures...
that is visible from most of the city. Barcelona is peppered with small hills, most of them urbanized and that gave their name to the neighbourhoods built upon them, such as Carmel (267 m), Putxet (181 m) and Rovira (261 m). The escarpment of
MontjuïcMontjuïc is a hill located in Barcelona, Spain.-Etymology:Montjuïc is translated as 'Hill of the Jews' in medieval Catalan, or is perhaps related to the Latin phrase Mons Jovicus...
(173 m), situated to the southeast, overlooks the harbour and is topped by Montjuïc castle, a fortress built in the 17–18th centuries to control the city as a replacement for the Ciutadella. Today, the fortress is a museum and Montjuïc is home to several sporting and cultural venues, as well as Barcelona's biggest park and gardens.
The city borders are the municipalities of
Santa Coloma de GramenetSanta Coloma de Gramenet is a city in Catalonia, Spain. It is situated on the south-east side of the Litoral range, with the Puig Castellar...
and
Sant Adrià de BesòsSant Adrià de Besòs is a city in the comarca of the Barcelonès in Catalonia, Spain. It is situated at the mouth of the Besòs river, exteding to both sides of the estuary...
to the north;
L'Hospitalet de LlobregatL'Hospitalet de Llobregat or L'Hospitalet is a city to the immediate southwest of Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain, and the second largest in Catalonia by population...
and
Esplugues de LlobregatEsplugues de Llobregat is a municipality of the Barcelona metropolitan area. It belongs to the comarca of Baix Llobregat, Barcelona province, Catalonia, Spain....
to the south; the Mediterranean Sea to the east; and
Montcada i ReixacMontcada i Reixac is a municipality in the comarca of the Vallès Occidental inCatalonia, Spain. It is situated at the confluence of the Ripoll river and the Besós river. The town isserved by the A-7 autopista, the N-152 road and a RENFE railway line....
and
Sant Cugat del VallèsSant Cugat del Vallès is a town and municipality west of Barcelona in Catalonia, Spain. In antiquity known as Castrum Octavianum, it is named after Saint Cucuphas, who is said to have been martyred on the spot now occupied by its medieval monastery, which has a Romanesque cloister with many...
to the west.
Climate
Barcelona has a
Mediterranean climateA hi Mediterranean climate resembles the climate of the lands in the Mediterranean Basin, which includes most of the area with this climate type worldwide...
, with mild, humid winters and warm, dry summers. Barcelona is located on the eastern coast of the
Iberian PeninsulaThe Iberian Peninsula, or Iberia, is located in the extreme southwest of Europe and includes modern-day Spain, Portugal, Andorra and Gibraltar and a very small area of France. It is the westernmost of the three major southern European peninsulas—the Iberian, Italian, and Balkan peninsulas...
, so Atlantic west winds often arrive in Barcelona with low humidity, producing no rain. The proximity of the
AtlanticThe Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's oceanic divisions. With a total area of about 106.4 million square kilometres , it covers approximately one-fifth of the Earth's surface and about one-quarter of its water surface area. The first part of its name refers to the Atlas of Greek...
, its
latitudeLatitude, usually denoted by the Greek letter phi gives the location of a place on Earth north or south of the equator. Lines of Latitude are the imaginary horizontal lines shown running east-to-west on maps that run either north or south of the equator...
, and the
reliefA relief is a sculptured artwork where a modelled form is raised, or, in a sunken-relief, lowered, from a plane from which the main elements of the composition project . Reliefs are common throughout the world, for example on the walls of monumental buildings. The frieze in the classical Corinthian...
, are the reasons why the summers are not as dry as in most other
Mediterranean BasinThe Mediterranean Basin comprises the lands around and surrounded by the Mediterranean Sea. In biogeography, the Mediterranean Basin refers to the lands around the Mediterranean Sea that have a Mediterranean climate, with mild, rainy winters and hot, dry summers, which supports characteristic...
locations. Lows (not surface lows but high-atmospheric "cold invasions") can easily affect the area of Barcelona (and Catalonia), causing storms, particularly in August. Some years, the beginning of June is still cool and rainy, like April and May. Together with August, September, October and November these months are the wettest of the year. The driest are February, March, June and July. As in many parts of Catalonia, the annual weather pattern varies greatly from year to year.
So, on average, the rainy seasons are spring and autumn, and the dry ones are winter and summer. The order from wettest to driest is: AUT-SPR-WIN-SUM. The Western Mediterranean Climate is one of the most irregular climates in the world. For instance, one year October can be very dry and July or February wet months. Barcelona and
London[]London is the capital of England and the United Kingdom. It has been a major settlement for two millennia, and the history of London goes back to its founding by the Romans, when it was named Londinium. London's core, the ancient City of London, the 'square mile', retains its medieval boundaries...
have the same annual rainfall, but London's climate is not as irregular and torrential as Barcelona's.
As for temperatures, December, January and February are the coldest months, averaging temperatures of 9°C at the Airport and over 10°C in the city. July and August are the hottest months, averaging temperatures of 24°C . The highest temperature recorded in the city centre is 38.6°C. The coldest temperature recorded was –6.7 °C on 11 February 1956 and –5°C on 12 January 1985. However, in the 19th century –9.6°C was recorded in January 1896.
At the
Fabra ObservatoryObservatori Fabra is an astronomical observatory located in Barcelona, Catalonia, pointed towards the south at 415 m of altitude over the level of the sea ....
, situated on the
TibidaboTibidabo is a mountain overlooking Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. At 512 meters it is the tallest mountain in the Serra de Collserola. Rising sharply to the north-west, it affords spectacular views over the city and the surrounding coastline....
hill, 412 m above the
sea levelMean sea level is the average height of the ocean's surface ; used as a standard in reckoning land elevation.- Measurement :...
, the record summer temperature is 39.8°C on 7 July 1982, and the lowest temperature ever registered, -10.0°C on 11 February 1956.
Near the hills and the Airport annual rainfall reaches 650 mm, and in the city centre about 600 mm.
SnowSnow is a type of precipitation in the form of crystalline water ice, consisting of a multitude of snowflakes that fall from clouds. Since snow is composed of small ice particles, it is a granular material. It has an open and therefore soft structure, unless packed by external pressure. Snowflakes...
falls and night frosts occur almost every year. Snowfalls seldom cause any disruption to traffic. Nonetheless, the city has experienced its share of heavy snowfalls, as for example at Christmas 1962, when a true blizzard affected the city, with 50 cm of snow falling in the city and at least 1 metre on the hills. But, according to old news sources, the greatest snowfall took place in 1887, with over 50 cm. The third heaviest snowfall was in December 1933, with 30 cm on Montjuïc hill.
The most recent ones were on 6 January 2009, 27 January 2006, 28 February 2005, 29 February 2004, 18 February 2003 and 14 December 2001 and the rare snowfall of 21 November 1999 [](the only time in which has snowed so soon in at least 3 centuries).
ThunderstormA thunderstorm, also known as an electrical storm, a lightning storm, a hailstorm, or simply a storm is a form of weather characterized by the presence of lightning and its acoustic effect on the Earth's atmosphere known as thunder. The meteorologically-assigned cloud type associated with the...
s, which occasionally reach severe limits, are common from mid August until November. The most recent big heavy summer storm was on the 31 July 2002, when over 200 mm of rain were recorded at some observatories.
Though Barcelona is normally not a windy city, it is affected by sea breezes from May/June to September and winds from the west and north-west in winter. Eastern gales sometimes cause floods on the coastline. East and NE winds can exceed 100 km/h. In winter Barcelona is sometimes affected by the
tramontanaTramontane is a classical name for a northern wind. The exact form of the name and precise direction varies from country to country. The word came to English from Italian tramontana, which developed from Latin trānsmontānus , "beyond the mountains/across the mountains", referring to the alps in...
or
mistralThe mistral is a strong, cold and usually dry regional wind in France, coming from the north, which accelerates when it passes through the valleys of the Rhone and the Durance Rivers to the coast of the Mediterranean Sea around in the Camargue region. It affects the northeast of the plain of...
winds—like other places in the Northwestern Mediterranean Basin.
Barcelona is generally a sunny city, however, some days of
fogFog is a cloud that is in contact with the ground. A cloud may be considered partly fog; for example, the part of a cloud that is suspended in the air above the ground is not considered fog, whereas the part of the cloud that comes in contact with higher ground is considered fog...
and spells of cloudy days are not rare. Sea fog is frequent in early spring, when the first warm African
air massIn meteorology, an air mass is a large volume of air defined by its temperature and water vapor content. Air masses cover many hundreds or thousands of square miles, and adopt the characteristics of the surface below them. They are classified according to latitude and their continental or...
es come in over the cold
sea waterSeawater is water from a sea or ocean. On average, seawater in the world's oceans has a salinity of about 3.5%. This means that every of seawater has approximately of dissolved salts...
. Cloudy days are most frequent from April to October/November.
Parks
Barcelona contains 68 municipal parks, divided into 12 historic parks, 5 thematic (botanical) parks, 45
urban parkAn urban park, also known as a municipal park or a public park or open space , is a park in cities and other incorporated places to offer recreation and green space to residents of and visitors to the municipality...
s and 6 forest parks. They range from vest-pocket parks to large recreation areas. The urban parks alone cover 10% of the city . The total park surface grows about per year, with a proportion of of park area per inhabitant.
Of Barcelona's parks,
MontjuïcMontjuïc is a hill located in Barcelona, Spain.-Etymology:Montjuïc is translated as 'Hill of the Jews' in medieval Catalan, or is perhaps related to the Latin phrase Mons Jovicus...
is the largest, with 203
haA hectare is a unit of area equal to , or one square hectometre , and commonly used for measuring land area....
located on the mountain of the same name. It is followed by Ciutadella Park (situated in the place of the old military
citadelA citadel is a fortress for protecting a town, sometimes incorporating a castle. The term derives from the same Latin root as the word "city", civis, meaning citizen....
and which houses the
ParliamentThe Parliament of Catalonia is the unicameral legislature of Catalonia. It is formed by 135 members , who are elected every four years in ordinary period, or extraordinarily upon dissolution and call of elections by the President of Catalonia, by universal suffrage in proportional lists with four...
building, the
zooA zoological garden, zoological park, menagerie, or zoo is a facility in which animals are confined within enclosures, displayed to the public, and in which they may also be bred....
and several museums; including the zoo), the Guinardó Park ,
Park GüellPark Güell is a garden complex with architectural elements situated on the hill of el Carmel in the Gràcia district of Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. It was designed by the Catalan architect Antoni Gaudí and built in the years 1900 to 1914...
(designed by
Antoni GaudíAntoni Plàcid Guillem Gaudí i Cornet – in English sometimes referred to by the Spanish translation of his name, Antonio Gaudí...
; ), Oreneta Castle Park (also ), Diagonal Mar Park , Nou Barris Central Park , Can Dragó Sports Park and Poblenou Park (both ) and the Labyrinth Park , named after the garden maze it contains. A part of the Collserolla Park is also within the city limits.
Beaches
Barcelona has seven beaches, totalling 4.5 km (2.8 mi) of coastline. Sant Sebastià and
BarcelonetaLa Barceloneta is a neighborhood in the Ciutat Vella district of Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. The neighborhood was constructed during the 18th century for the residents of the Ribera neighborhood who had been displaced by the construction of the Ciudadela of Barcelona...
beaches, both in length, are the largest, oldest and the most frequented beaches in Barcelona. The Olympic port separates them from the other city beaches: Nova Icària, Bogatell, Mar Bella, Nova Mar Bella and Llevant. These beaches (ranging from 400 to 640 m/1,300 to 2,100 ft) were opened as a result of the city restructuring to host the
1992 Summer OlympicsThe 1992 Summer Olympic Games, officially known as the Games of the XXV Olympiad, were an international multi-sport event celebrated in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain in 1992.-Host city selection:...
, when a great number of industrial buildings were demolished. At present, the beach sand is replenished from quarries given that storms regularly remove large quantities of material. The
2004 Universal Forum of CulturesThe 2004 Universal Forum of Cultures - was a 141-day international event that took place in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain from May 9 to September 26, 2004....
left the city a large concrete bathing zone on the eastmost part of the city's coastline.
Other
The area around the
Plaça CatalunyaPlaça Catalunya is a large square in central Barcelona that is generally considered to be both its city centre and the place where the old city and the 19th century-built Eixample meet.Some of the city's most important streets and avenues meet in Plaça...
makes up the city's historical centre and, alongside the upper half of
Avinguda DiagonalAvinguda Diagonal is the name of one of Barcelona's most important avenues. It cuts the city in two, diagonally from west to east, hence the name.-Location:...
, is the main commercial area of the city. Barcelona has several commercial complexes, like L'Illa in the higher part of the Diagonal avenue and
Diagonal MarDiagonal Mar i Front Marítim del Poblenou is a neighborhood in the Sant Martí district of Barcelona, Catalonia .It's the newest and most modern part of Barcelona, home of the 2004 Cultural Forum. The reformation of the area begun in the late 90:s and is now almost completed...
in the lowest, La Maquinista,
GlòriesPlaça de les Glòries Catalanes, most often shortened to Glòries, is a large square in Barcelona, first designed by Ildefons Cerdà to serve as the city centre in his original urban plan , but nowadays relegated to quite a secondary position...
in the place of the same name and the Maremagnum by the port.
Barcelona has several skyscrapers, the tallest being the
Hotel ArtsThe Hotel Arts is a 39-story, 600 room luxury hotel on the seafront of Barcelona, in Spain.Contrary to popular belief, it was not built to service the 1992 Summer Olympics, though its construction was part of the big changes underwent by the city to prepare the Games. It remains one of the city's...
and its twin the
Torre MapfreTorre Mapfre is a skyscraper in the Port Olímpic , the maritime neighborhood of the Old City of Barcelona in Spain. It is named after its owner, Mapfre, an insurance company....
, both high, followed by the newest,
Torre AgbarThe Torre Agbar, or Agbar Tower, is a 33-story tower at Plaça de les Glòries Catalanes, Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. It was designed by French architect Jean Nouvel in association with the Spanish firm b720 Arquitectos and built by Dragados. It opened in June 2005 and was inaugurated officially by...
. Barcelona is really well situated for the ski resorts of the
PyrenéesThe Pyrenees are a range of mountains in southwest Europe that form a natural border between France and Spain...
, just 125 km. from the city. Anyway the skyline of the city is decorated in winter by the summit (1712 m. high) of the
MontsenyMontseny is a mountain range west of the coastal hills north of Barcelona.-Features:Montseny roughly occupies a triangle created by the AP-7, C-17 and C-25 roads. It contains the highest mountains in the area south of the Pyrenees and dominates the valley south of Girona.UNESCO designated Montseny...
mountain, normally covered by snow.
Demographics
According to Barcelona's City Council, Barcelona's population as of 1 June 2006 was
1,673,075 people, while the population of the
urban areaAn urban area is characterized by higher population density and vast human features in comparison to areas surrounding it. Urban areas may be cities, towns or conurbations, but the term is not commonly extended to rural settlements such as villages and hamlets.Urban areas are created and further...
was 4,185,000. It is the central nucleus of the
Barcelona metropolitan areaThe Área Metropolitana de Barcelona , often referred to as Greater Barcelona, is integrated by three territorial organisms of management...
, which relies on a population of 4,928,852.
The
population densityPopulation density is a measurement of population per unit area or unit volume. It is frequently applied to living organisms, and particularly to humans. It is a key term used in geography....
of Barcelona was , with
EixampleThe Eixample is a district of Barcelona between the old city and what were once surrounding small towns , constructed in the 19th and early 20th centuries....
being the most populated district. 62% of the inhabitants were born in
CataloniaCatalonia is an Autonomous Community in northeast Spain. The capital city is Barcelona.Catalonia covers an area of 32,114 km² and has an official population of 7,364,078. It borders France and Andorra to the north, Aragon to the west, the Valencian Community to the south, and the...
, with a 23.5% coming from the rest of Spain. Of the 13.9% from other countries, a proportion which has more than tripled since 2001 when it was 3.9%, the majority come from (in order)
EcuadorEcuador , officially the Republic of Ecuador , literally, "Republic of the equator") is a representative democratic republic in South America, bordered by Colombia on the north, Peru on the east and south, and by the Pacific Ocean to the west. It is one of only two countries in South America that...
,
PeruPeru , officially the Republic of Peru , is a country in western South America. It is bordered on the north by Ecuador and Colombia, on the east by Brazil, on the southeast by Bolivia, on the south by Chile, and on the west by the Pacific Ocean.Peruvian territory was home to the Norte Chico...
,
MoroccoMorocco, officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is a country located in North Africa with a population of nearly 32 million and an area just under . Its capital is Rabat, and its largest city is Casablanca. Morocco has a coast on the Atlantic Ocean that reaches past the Strait of Gibraltar into the...
,
ColombiaColombia , officially the Republic of Colombia , is a constitutional republic in northwestern South America. Colombia is bordered to the east by Venezuela and Brazil; to the south by Ecuador and Peru; to the north by the Caribbean Sea; to the northwest by Panama; and to the west by the Pacific Ocean...
,
ArgentinaArgentina, officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America, constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires. It is the eighth largest country in the world by land area and the largest among Spanish-speaking nations, though Mexico,...
,
PakistanPakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country located at the crossroads of South Asia, the Middle East, and Central Asia...
and
ChinaChina is a cultural region, an ancient civilization, and, depending on perspective, a national or multinational entity extending over a large area in East Asia....
.
95% of the population understand Catalonia's native
Catalan languageCatalan is a Romance language, the national and official language of Andorra, and a co-official language in the Spanish autonomous communities of the Balearic Islands, Catalonia and Valencian Community, where it is known as Valencià , as well as in the city of Alghero on the Italian island of...
, while 74.6% can speak it, 75% can read it, and 47.1% can write it, thanks to the linguistic immersion
educational systemEducation in its broadest sense is any act or experience that has a formative effect on the mind, character or physical ability of an individual...
. While most of the population state they are
Roman CatholicThe Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the world's largest Christian church. With more than a billion members, over half of all Christians and more than one-sixth of the world's population, the Catholic Church is a communion of the Western, or Latin Rite Church, and...
(208 churches), there are also a number of other groups, including
EvangelicalEvangelicalism is a Protestant Christian movement which began in Great Britain in the 1730s.Most adherents consider its key characteristics to be: a belief in the need for personal conversion ; some expression of the gospel in effort; a high regard for biblical authority; and an emphasis on the...
(71 locations, mostly professed by Roma),
Jehovah's WitnessesJehovah's Witnesses is a restorationist, millenarian Christian denomination. The religion reports worldwide membership of over 7 million adherents involved in evangelism; they report convention attendance of over 12 million, and annual Memorial attendance of over 17 million...
(21 Kingdom Halls) and
BuddhistsBuddhism, as traditionally conceived, is a path of salvation attained through insight into the ultimate nature of reality. It encompasses a variety of traditions, beliefs and practices, largely based on teachings attributed to Siddhartha Gautama, commonly known as the Buddha...
(13 locations), and a number of
Muslim:A Muslim , , is an adherent of the religion of Islam. The feminine form is Muslimah . Literally, the word means "one who submits ". Muslim is the participle of the same verb of which Islam is the infinitive. Muslims believe that there is only one God, translated in Arabic as Allah...
s due to
immigrationImmigration is the arrival of new individuals into a habitat or population. It is a biological concept and is important in population ecology, differentiated from emigration and migration.-As a political term:...
.
In 1900, Barcelona had a population of 533,000 people, which grew steadily but slowly until 1950, when it started absorbing a high number of people from other less-industrialized parts of Spain. Barcelona's population peaked in 1979 with 1,906,998 people, and fell throughout the 1980s and 1990s as more people sought a higher
quality of lifeThe term quality of life is used to evaluate the general well-being of individuals and societies. The term is used in a wide range of contexts, including the fields of international development, healthcare, and political science. Quality of life should not be confused with the concept of...
in outlying cities in the Barcelona Metropolitan Area. After bottoming out in 2000 with 1,496,266 people, the city's population began to rise again as younger people started to return, causing a great increase in housing prices.
Economy
Barcelona has a long-standing mercantile tradition. Less well known is that the region was one of the earliest to begin industrialization in
continental EuropeContinental Europe, also referred to as mainland Europe or simply the Continent, is the continent of Europe, explicitly excluding European islands and, at times, peninsulas. Notably, in British and Irish English usage, the term means Europe excluding the United Kingdom, the Isle of Man, the Channel...
, beginning with textile related works from the mid 1780s but really gathering momentum in the mid nineteenth century, when it became a major centre for the production of textiles and machinery. Since then, manufacturing has played a large role in its history. The traditional importance in textiles is reflected in Barcelona's repeated attempts to become a major fashion centre. In summer 2000, the city became a host for the prestigious Bread & Butter urban fashion fair until 2009 when it was announced that it would be celebrated again on Berlin. This was a hard blow for the city as the fair brought €100 m to the city in just three days. There have been many attempts to launch Barcelona as a fashion capital, notably
Gaudi Home.
As in other modern cities, the
manufacturing sectorThe secondary sector of the economy includes those economic sectors that create a finished, usable product: manufacturing and construction....
has long since been overtaken by the services sector, though it remains very important. The region's leading industries today are textiles, chemical, pharmaceutical, motor, electronic, printing, logistics, publishing, telecommunications and
information technologyInformation technology , as defined by the Information Technology Association of America , is "the study, design, development, implementation, support or management of computer-based information systems, particularly software applications and computer hardware." IT deals with the use of electronic...
services.
Drawing upon its tradition of creative art and craftsmanship, Barcelona is nowadays also known for its award-winning
industrial designIndustrial design is a combination of applied art and applied science, whereby the aesthetics and usability of mass-produced products may be improved for marketability and production...
. It also has several congress halls, notably Fira de Barcelona (Trade Fair), that host a quickly growing number of national and international events each year, which had also meant the opening of new hotels each year. However, the economic crisis and deep cuts in business travel are affecting the Council´s positioning of the city as a convention centre. In addition to the
economic downturnIn economics, a recession is a general slowdown in economic activity over a long period of time, or a business cycle contraction. During recessions, many macroeconomic indicators vary in a similar way...
, the recent mafia-style killing of the director of the city's International Convention Centre and the revelation in
El Periódico newspaper of Thursday 12 February 2009 that the Bombay attacks were planned from Barcelona may only worsen matters.
El Periódico pointed out that Barcelona´s International Convention Centre and its biggest luxury hotels are all near the waterfront and thus provide a tempting target.
Barcelona has one of the highest costs of living in Spain, and occupying the 31st position in the world rank according to a report by Mercer Human Resource.
Government and administrative divisions
Barcelona is governed by a city council formed by 41 city councilors,
elected-May 2007:-May 2003:-June 1999:-May 1995:-May 1991:-June 1987:...
for a four-year term by
universal suffrageUniversal suffrage consists of the extension of the right to vote to adult citizens as a whole, though it may also mean extending said right to minors and noncitizens...
. As one of the two biggest cities in Spain, Barcelona is subject to a special law articulated through the
Carta Municipal (Municipal Law). A first version of this law was passed in 1960 and amended later, but the current version was approved in March 2006. According to this law, Barcelona's city council is organized in two levels: a political one, with elected city councilors, and one executive, which administrates the programs and executes the decisions taken on the political level. This law also gives the local government a special relationship with the central government and it also gives the mayor wider prerogatives by the means of municipal executive commissions. It expands the powers of the city council in areas like telecommunications, city traffic,
road safetyRoad traffic safety aims to reduce the harm resulting from crashes of road vehicles. Harm from road traffic crashes is greater than that from all other transportation modes combined....
and
public safetyPublic safety involves the prevention of and protection from events that could endanger the safety of the general public from significant danger, injury/harm, or damage, such as crimes or disasters .-Core public safety services:...
. It also gives a special economic regime to the city's treasury and it gives the council a
vetoA veto, Latin for "I forbid", is used to denote that a certain party has the right to stop unilaterally a piece of legislation. In practice, the veto can be absolute A veto, Latin for "I forbid", is used to denote that a certain party has the right to stop unilaterally a piece of legislation....
in matters that will be decided by the central government, but that will need a favourable report from the council.
The
Comissió de Govern (Government Commission) is the
executive}}In the study of political science the executive branch of government has sole authority and responsibility for the daily administration of the state bureaucracy. The division of power into separate branches of government is central to the democratic idea of the separation of powers .In many...
branch, formed by 24 councilors, led by the
Mayor, with 5 lieutenant-mayors and 17 city councilors, each in charge of an area of government, and 5 non-elected councilors. The plenary, formed by the 41 city councilors, has advisory, planning, regulatory, and fiscal executive functions. The six
Commissions del Consell Municipal (City council commissions) have executive and controlling functions in the field of their jurisdiction. They are composed by a number of councilors proportional to the number of councilors each political party has in the plenary. The city council has jurisdiction in the fields of
city planningUrban, city, and town planning is the integration of the disciplines of land use planning and transport planning to explore a very wide range of aspects of the built and social environments of urbanized municipalities and communities...
, transportation, municipal taxes, public highways security through the
Guardia Urbana (the municipal police), city maintenance, gardens, parks and environment, facilities (like schools, nurseries, sports centres, libraries, etc.), culture, sports, youth and social welfare. Some of these competencies are not exclusive, but shared with the Generalitat de Catalunya or the central Spanish government.
The executive branch is led by a Chief Municipal Executive Officer which answers to the Mayor. It is made up of departments which are legally part of the city council and by separate legal entities of two tipes: autonomous public departments and public enterprises.
The seat of the city council is on the Plaça Sant Jaume, opposite the seat of Generalitat de Catalunya. Since the
coming of the Spanish democracyThe Spanish transition to democracy was the era when Spain moved from the dictatorship of Francisco Franco to a liberal democratic state. The transition is usually said to have begun with Franco’s death on November 20, 1975, while its completion has been variously said to be marked by the Spanish...
, Barcelona
has been governed-May 2007:-May 2003:-June 1999:-May 1995:-May 1991:-June 1987:...
by the
PSCSocialists' Party of Catalonia is a political party in Catalonia, Spain. It is federated with Partido Socialista Obrero Español. Its web site is http://www.socialistes.org-First Secretaries of PSC:#Joan Reventós i Carner...
, first with an
absolute majorityAn absolute majority or majority of the entire membership is a voting basis which usually requires that more than half of all the members of a group must vote in favour of a proposition in order for it to be passed...
and later in coalition with ERC and
ICVInitiative for Catalonia Greens is a political party in Catalonia, Spain. It was formed as a merger of Iniciativa per Catalunya and Els Verds. IC had been an alliance led by Partit Socialista Unificat de Catalunya and was the equivalent of Izquierda Unida in Catalonia...
. Since the May 2007 elections, PSC is governing in minority only with IC, since ERC decided against a renewal of the previous coalition. The second most voted party in Barcelona is CiU, followed by
PPThe People's Party is the main Right-wing political party in Spain.The People's Party was a re-foundation of the Popular Alliance , a party led and founded by Manuel Fraga Iribarne, a former Minister of Tourism during Francisco Franco's dictatorship and a politician known to have relatively...
, both currently in the opposition.
Districts
Since 1987, the city has been divided into 10 administrative districts (
districtes in Catalan,
distritos in Spanish), each one with its own council led by a city councillor. The composition of each district council depends on the number of votes each political party had in that district, so a district can be led by a councillor from a different party than the executive council.
The districts are based mostly on historical divisions. Several of the city's districts are former towns annexed by the city of Barcelona in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries that still maintain their own distinct character. The official names of these districts are in the
Catalan languageCatalan is a Romance language, the national and official language of Andorra, and a co-official language in the Spanish autonomous communities of the Balearic Islands, Catalonia and Valencian Community, where it is known as Valencià , as well as in the city of Alghero on the Italian island of...
.
Neighbourhoods
- Ciutat Vella
Ciutat Vella is a district of Barcelona, numbered District 1. The name means "old city" in Catalan and refers to the oldest neighborhoods in the city of Barcelona, Spain. Ciutat Vella is nestled between the Mediterranean Sea and the neighborhood called l'Eixample...
("Old City"): El RavalEl Raval is a neighborhood in the Ciutat Vella district of Barcelona, Spain. The neighborhood is also known as Barri xinés, meaning "Chinatown." El Raval is one of the two historical neighborhoods that border the Rambla...
(also known in Spanish as the Barrio Chino, ("ChinatownA Chinatown is a section of an urban area with a large number of Chinese residents, usually outside of Greater China. Chinatowns are present throughout the world, including those in East Asia, Southeast Asia, the Americas, Australasia, and Europe....
"), the Barri GòticEl Gòtic, also known as Barri Gòtic is the centre of the old city of Barcelona. It stretches from La Rambla to Via Laietana, and from the Mediterranean seafront to Ronda de Sant Pere....
("Gothic Quarter"), La BarcelonetaLa Barceloneta is a neighborhood in the Ciutat Vella district of Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. The neighborhood was constructed during the 18th century for the residents of the Ribera neighborhood who had been displaced by the construction of the Ciudadela of Barcelona...
and the Barri de la RiberaLa Ribera is one of the areas of the quarter of Sant Pere, Santa Caterina i la Ribera of Ciutat Vella of Barcelona....
.
- Eixample
The Eixample is a district of Barcelona between the old city and what were once surrounding small towns , constructed in the 19th and early 20th centuries....
: Sant Antoni, Esquerra de l'Eixample ("the left side of the Eixample" facing away from the sea), Dreta de l'Eixample ("the right side of the Eixample"), Barri de la Sagrada Família, Fort Pienc, Sant Antoni
- Sants
Sants is a neighborhood in the southern part of Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. It belongs to the district of Sants-Montjuïc and is bordered by the districts of Eixample to the northeast, Les Corts to the northwest, and by the municipality of l'Hospitalet de Llobregat to the south.-History:Sants is a...
–MontjuïcMontjuïc is a hill located in Barcelona, Spain.-Etymology:Montjuïc is translated as 'Hill of the Jews' in medieval Catalan, or is perhaps related to the Latin phrase Mons Jovicus...
: Poble Sec, La Marina, La Font de La Guatlla, La Bordeta, Hostafrancs, Sants, Badal.
- Les Corts
Les Corts is one of the ten districts into which Barcelona has been divided up since 1984.It is located in the northern part of the city, next to three other districts of Barcelona : Sarrià-Sant Gervasi , Eixample and Sants-Montjuïc.-Neighbourhoods:...
: Les Corts, La Maternitat, Pedralbes.
- Sarrià-Sant Gervasi
Sarrià-Sant Gervasi is one of the biggest districts of Barcelona, situated on the north-west of the city, surrounded by districts of Les Corts, Gràcia, Eixample i Horta-Guinardo, and by the villages of Sant Just, Sant Feliu, Molins de Rei and Sant Cugat...
: Tres Torres, Sarrià, Vallvidrera, Bonanova, Sant Gervasi, Putxet-Farró, Galvany.
- Gràcia
Gràcia is a district of the city of Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. It contains the neighborhoods of Vila de Gràcia, Vallcarca i els Penitents, El Coll, La Salut and Camp d'en Grassot i Gràcia Nova. Gràcia is bordered by the districts of Eixample to the south, Sarrià-Sant Gervasi to the west and...
: Vallcarca, El CollEl Coll is a neighbourhood of Gràcia, one of the 10 districts Barcelona is divided in. Located at the base of Tibidabo hill, it's 300 meters above sea level and is nowadays inhabited by 6.850 people.-History:...
, La Salut, Gràcia, El Camp d'en Grassot
- Horta-Guinardó
Horta-Guinardó is the name of one of the districts of Barcelona, located in its North-Eastern corner. It is named after two very heterogeneous areas of the city, Horta and el Guinardó, which together cover a large area of 11.92 km², which sums up for the 11,9% of the total extension of the...
: Horta, El Carmel, La Teixonera, El Guinardó (Alt i Baix), La Clota, La Vall D'Hebron, Montbau
- Nou Barris
Nou Barris is one of the ten districts into which Barcelona has been officially divided since 1984. The name refers to the original nine neighbourhoods it was composed of, even though nowadays it's made up of fourteen...
: Can Peguera, Porta, Canyelles, Ciutat Meridiana, Guineueta, Prosperitat, Vallbona, Verdum, Vilapicina, Roquetes, Trinitat Nova, Torre Baró, Torre Llobeta and Turó de la Peira.
- Sant Andreu
Sant Andreu is one of the ten districts into which Barcelona has been divided up since 1984.Its size is 653 ha. and it had 142,598 inhabitants in 2005...
: La Sagrera, Congrés, Trinitat Vella, Bon Pastor, Sant Andreu, Navas, Baró de Viver
- Sant Martí
Sant Martí, is a district of Barcelona located on its eastern side, usually numbered 10 out of the ten districts of the city.It borders the Mediterranean sea, Sant Adrià del Besòs and four other districts of the city: Ciutat Vella, l'Eixample, Horta-Guinardó and Sant Andreu.It did not become an...
: Diagonal MarDiagonal Mar i Front Marítim del Poblenou is a neighborhood in the Sant Martí district of Barcelona, Catalonia .It's the newest and most modern part of Barcelona, home of the 2004 Cultural Forum. The reformation of the area begun in the late 90:s and is now almost completed...
, Fort Pius, San Martí de Provençals, Poble NouEl Poblenou is an extensive neighborhood of Barcelona that borders the Mediterranean sea to the south, Sant Adrià del Besòs to the east, Parc de la Ciutadella in Ciutat Vella to the west, and Horta-Guinardó and Sant Andreu to the north...
, La Verneda, El Clot, Vila Olímpica del Poblenou.
Education
Barcelona has a well-developed
higher educationHigher education refers to a level of education that is provided by universities, vocational universities, community colleges, liberal arts colleges, institutes of technology and other collegiate level institutions, such as vocational schools, trade schools and career colleges, that award academic...
system of
public universitiesA public university is a university that is predominantly funded by public means through a national or subnational government, as opposed to private universities...
. Most prominent among these is the
University of BarcelonaThe University of Barcelona is a public university located in the city of Barcelona, Catalonia in Spain. It is a member of the Coimbra Group and Joan Lluís Vives Institute.- History :...
, a world-renowned research and teaching institution with
campusA campus is traditionally the land on which a college or university and related institutional buildings are situated. Usually a campus includes libraries, lecture halls, residence halls and park-like settings...
es around the city. Barcelona is also home to the Polytechnic University of Catalonia, the newer
Pompeu Fabra UniversityPompeu Fabra University is a public university in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain.Founded in 1990, it is named after the Catalan grammarian Pompeu Fabra....
and, in the private sector, the
Ramon Llull UniversityRamon Llull University is a private university located in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain founded in 1990. Currently it is formed by several different colleges specialized in different topics, most of which are located downtown Barcelona...
encompassing internationally renowned institutions like
IESE Business SchoolIESE Business School, the graduate business school of the University of Navarra, is ranked as a top 3 business school in Europe and is renowned for its MBA and Executive MBA programs. IESE has campuses in Barcelona and Madrid. IESE is an initiative of Opus Dei, a personal prelature of the...
and
ESADEThe Escuela Superior de Administración y Dirección de Empresas is a college associated to the Ramon Llull University located in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. ESADE is composed of three departments; the ESADE Business School, the ESADE Executive Language Center and the ESADE Law School...
Business School. The
Autonomous University of BarcelonaThe Autonomous University of Barcelona is a public university mostly located in Bellaterra, near the city of Barcelona in Catalonia....
, another public university, is located in
BellaterraBellaterra is a quarter of Cerdanyola del Vallès, in the metropolitan area of Barcelona . It's famous for being the location of the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona...
, a town in the
Metropolitan AreaThe Área Metropolitana de Barcelona , often referred to as Greater Barcelona, is integrated by three territorial organisms of management...
.
The city has a network of public schools, from nurseries to high schools, under the responsibility of the city council (though the student subjects are the responsibility of the Generalitat de Catalunya). There are also many private schools, some of them
Roman CatholicThe Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the world's largest Christian church. With more than a billion members, over half of all Christians and more than one-sixth of the world's population, the Catholic Church is a communion of the Western, or Latin Rite Church, and...
. Like other cities in Spain, Barcelona now faces the integration of a large number of immigrant children from
Latin AmericaLatin America is a region of the Americas where Romance languages – particularly Spanish, Portuguese, and variably French – are primarily spoken. Latin America has an area of approximately 21,069,501 km² , almost 3.9% of the Earth's surface or 14.1% of its land surface area...
, Africa and Asia.
Culture
Barcelona's cultural roots go back 2000 years. To a greater extent than the rest of Catalonia, where Catalonia's native
CatalanCatalan is a Romance language, the national and official language of Andorra, and a co-official language in the Spanish autonomous communities of the Balearic Islands, Catalonia and Valencian Community, where it is known as Valencià , as well as in the city of Alghero on the Italian island of...
is more dominant, Barcelona is a bilingual city:
CatalanCatalan is a Romance language, the national and official language of Andorra, and a co-official language in the Spanish autonomous communities of the Balearic Islands, Catalonia and Valencian Community, where it is known as Valencià , as well as in the city of Alghero on the Italian island of...
and
SpanishSpanish or Castilian is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that originated in northern Spain and gradually spread in the Kingdom of Castile, evolving into the principal language of government and trade in the Iberian peninsula...
are both
official languageAn official language is a language that is given a special legal status in a particular country, state, or other territory. Typically a nation's official language will be the one used in that nation's courts, parliament and administration. However, official status can also be used to give a...
s and widely spoken. The Catalan spoken in Barcelona,
Central CatalanCentral Catalan is the Eastern Catalan dialect with the highest number of speakers, since it is commonly spoken in densely populated areas such as the whole Barcelona province, the eastern half of Tarragona province and most of the Girona province, except for it is northern part, where a transition...
, is the one closest to standard Catalan. Since the
arrival of democracyThe Spanish transition to democracy was the era when Spain moved from the dictatorship of Francisco Franco to a liberal democratic state. The transition is usually said to have begun with Franco’s death on November 20, 1975, while its completion has been variously said to be marked by the Spanish...
, the Catalan culture (very much repressed during the
dictatorship of FrancoFrancisco Franco became the dictator of Spain when he defeated the Republican government in the Spanish Civil War. Franco declared an official end of hostilities on April 1, 1939, and reworked the name of the republic into the “Spanish State,” a new moniker attempting to distinguish the new regime...
) has been promoted, both by recovering works from the past and by stimulating the creation of new works. Barcelona is designated as a
world-class cityA global city is a city deemed to be an important node point in the global economic system. The concept comes from geography and urban studies and rests on the idea that globalization can be understood as largely created, facilitated and enacted in strategic geographic locales according to a...
by the Globalization and World Cities Study Group and Network.
Entertainment and performing arts
Barcelona has many venues for
live musicA concert is a live performance, usually of music, before an audience. The music may be performed by a single musician, sometimes then called a recital, or by a musical ensemble, such as an orchestra, a choir, or a musical band. Informal names for a concert include "show" and "gig"...
and theatre, including the world-renowned
Gran Teatre del LiceuThe Gran Teatre del Liceu , or simply Liceu in Catalan and Liceo in Spanish, is an opera house on La Rambla in Barcelona, Catalonia...
opera theatre, the
Teatre Nacional de CatalunyaTeatre Nacional de Catalunya is a public theatre in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain created by the Culture Department of the Catalan Government....
, the
Teatre LliureThe Teatre Lliure is a theatre in Barcelona considered one of the most prestigious in Catalonia. It was created in 1976 in the neighborhood of Gràcia by a group of professionals from Barcelona's independent theater scene. It became distinguished for its practice of presenting theater in Catalan,...
and the
Palau de la Música CatalanaThe Palau de la Música Catalana is a concert hall designed in the Catalan modernista style by the architect Lluís Domènech i Montaner...
concert hall. Barcelona also is home to the Barcelona and Catalonia National
Symphonic OrchestraAn orchestra is an instrumental ensemble, usually fairly large with string, brass, woodwind sections, and possibly a percussion section as well. The term orchestra derives from the name for the area in front of an ancient Greek stage reserved for the Greek chorus...
(Orquestra Simfònica de Barcelona i Nacional de Catalunya, usually known as OBC), the largest symphonic orchestra in Catalonia. In 1999, the OBC inaugurated its new venue in the brand-new Auditorium (
l'Auditori). It performs around 75 concerts per season and its current director is
Eiji Oueis a Japanese conductor.Oue began his conducting studies with Hideo Saito of the Toho Gakuen School of Music. In 1978, Seiji Ozawa invited him to spend the summer studying at the Tanglewood Music Center. While there, he met Leonard Bernstein, who became a mentor. Oue won the Tanglewood...
.
Yearly two major pop
music festivalA music festival is a festival oriented towards music that is sometimes presented with a theme such as musical genre, nationality or locality of musicians, or holiday. They are commonly held outdoors, and are often inclusive of other attractions such as food and merchandise vending machines,...
s take place in the city, the
Sónar FestivalSónar is an annual three-day music festival held in Barcelona, Spain. It is described officially as a festival of Advanced Music and Multimedia Art. Music is by far the main aspect of the festival....
and the
Primavera Sound FestivalEstrella Damm Primavera Sound Festival is an event that takes place in Barcelona, Spain, usually between May and June. Since 2005 the festival moved to the Parc del Fòrum site....
. The city also has a thriving
alternative musicAlternative rock is a genre of rock music that emerged in the 1980s and became widely popular in the 1990s...
scene, with groups such as
The Pinker TonesThe Pinker Tones are an alternative pop band from Barcelona, Spain. They have released 6 albums to date, and have been included on many more. The Whistling Song is featured in all versions of EA Sport's FIFA 2009.- Artists and Music :...
receiving international attention.
Museums
Barcelona has a great number of museums, which cover different areas and eras. The
National Museum of Art of CataloniaThe National Art Museum of Catalonia , abbreviated as MNAC, is a museum of Catalan visual art located in Barcelona, Catalonia. It is housed in the Palau Nacional, built for the 1929 World's Fair...
possesses a well-known collection of
Romanesque artRomanesque art refers to the art of Western Europe from approximately 1000 AD to the rise of the Gothic style in the 13th century, or later, depending on region. The preceding period is increasingly known as the Pre-Romanesque...
while the
Barcelona Museum of Contemporary ArtThe Barcelona Museum of Contemporary Art is situated in the Plaça dels Àngels, in El Raval, Ciutat Vella, Barcelona, Spain....
focuses on
post-1945A post-war period is the interval immediately following the ending of a war and enduring as long as war does not resume. A post-war period can become an interwar period or interbellum when a war between the same parties resumes at a later date...
Catalan and
Spanish artSpanish art is the name given to the artistic disciplines and works developed in Spain, and those by Spanish artists worldwide. Due to historic, geographic and generational diversity, Spanish art has numerous influences. The Moorish heritage in Spain, especially in Andalucia is evident today in...
. The
Fundació Joan Miróthumb|Fundacion Miro MuseumThe Fundació Joan Miró, Centre d'Estudis d'Art Contemporani is a museum of modern art honoring Joan Miró and located on Montjuïc in Barcelona, Catalonia....
,
Picasso MuseumThe Museu Picasso in Barcelona, Spain, has one of the most extensive collections of artworks by the 20th century Spanish artist Pablo Picasso. This is one of the most popular and most visited museums in Barcelona...
and
Fundació Antoni TàpiesThe Fundació Antoni Tàpies is a cultural center and museum, located in Carrer d'Aragó, in Barcelona, Catalonia , dedicated mainly to the life and works of the painter Antoni Tàpies....
hold important collections of these world-renowned artists.
Several museums cover the fields of history and archeology, like the City History Museum, the Museum of the
History of CataloniaThe territory that now constitutes the autonomous community of Catalonia in Spain, and the adjoining Catalan region of France, was first settled during the Middle Palaeolithic...
, the
Archeology Museum of CataloniaThe Archaeology Museum of Catalonia was created under the Museums of Catalonia Act in 1990 by the Department of Culture of the Government of the Autonomous Community of Catalonia...
, the Barcelona
Maritime MuseumA maritime museum is a museum specializing in the display of objects relating to ships and travel on large bodies of water...
and the private-owned Egyptian Museum. The Erotic museum of Barcelona is among the most peculiar ones, while Cosmocaixa is a
science museumA science museum or a science centre is a museum devoted primarily to science. Older science museums tended to concentrate on static displays of objects related to natural history, paleontology, geology, industry and industrial machinery, etc. Modern trends in museology have broadened the range of...
that received the
European Museum of the Year AwardThe European Museum of the Year Award is awarded to two kinds of museums:* Established museums that have undergone modernization or expansion during the past two years.* New museums opened to the public in the past two years....
in 2006.
Architecture
The
Barri GòticEl Gòtic, also known as Barri Gòtic is the centre of the old city of Barcelona. It stretches from La Rambla to Via Laietana, and from the Mediterranean seafront to Ronda de Sant Pere....
("Gothic Quarter" in Catalan) is the centre of the old city of Barcelona. Many of the buildings date from medieval times, some from as far back as the Roman settlement of Barcelona. Catalan
modernismeSee also: ModernismModernisme also known, in English, as Catalan modernism, was the Catalan equivalent to a number of fin-de-siècle art movements, such as Symbolism, Decadence and Art Nouveau / Jugendstil, from roughly 1888 to 1911...
architecture (often known as
Art NouveauArt Nouveau is an international movement and style of art, architecture and applied art—especially the decorative arts—that peaked in popularity at the turn of the 20th century . The name 'Art nouveau' is French for 'new art'...
in the rest of Europe), developed between 1885 and 1950 and left an important legacy in Barcelona. A great number of these buildings are
World Heritage SiteA UNESCO World Heritage Site is a site that is on the list that is maintained by the international World Heritage Programme administered by the UNESCO World Heritage Committee, composed of 21 state parties which are elected by their General Assembly for a four-year term.A World Heritage Site is a...
s. Especially remarkable is the work of architect
Antoni GaudíAntoni Plàcid Guillem Gaudí i Cornet – in English sometimes referred to by the Spanish translation of his name, Antonio Gaudí...
, which can be seen throughout the city. His best known work is the immense but still unfinished church of the
Sagrada FamíliaThe Temple Expiatori de la Sagrada Família , often simply called the Sagrada Família, is a massive, privately-funded Roman Catholic church that has been under construction in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain since 1882 and is not expected to be complete until at least 2026...
, which has been under construction since 1882, and is still financed by private donations. As of 2007, completion is planned for 2026.
Barcelona is also home to Mies van der Rohe's
Barcelona PavilionThe Barcelona Pavilion, designed by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, was the German Pavilion for the 1929 International Exposition in Barcelona, Spain. This building was used for the official opening of the German section of the exhibition . It was an important building in the history of modern...
. Designed in 1929 for the Internation Exposition for Germany. It is an iconic building designed by one of the most influential architects of the 20th century.
Barcelona won the 1999
RIBAThe Royal Institute of British Architects is a professional body for architects in the United Kingdom.Originally named the Institute of British Architects in London, it was formed in 1834 by several prominent architects, including Philip Hardwick, Thomas Allom, William Donthorne, Thomas Leverton...
Royal Gold MedalThe Royal Gold Medal for architecture is awarded annually by the Royal Institute of British Architects on behalf of the British monarch, in recognition of an individual's or group's substantial contribution to international architecture....
for its architecture, the first (and as of 2009, only) time that the winner has been a city, and not an individual architect.
World Heritage Sites in Barcelona
- Works by Lluís Domènech i Montaner
Lluís Domènech i Montaner was a Spanish Catalan architect who was highly influential on Modernisme català, the Catalan Art Nouveau / Jugendstil movement...
, Palau de la Música CatalanaThe Palau de la Música Catalana is a concert hall designed in the Catalan modernista style by the architect Lluís Domènech i Montaner...
and Hospital de Sant PauThe present Hospital de la Santa Creu i Sant Pau in the Guinardó, Barcelona, Catalonia, is a complex built between 1901 and 1930, designed by the Catalan Modernisme architect Lluís Domènech i Montaner. Together with Palau de la Música Catalana, it is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Today it is still...
, included in the list in 1997.
- Works by Antoni Gaudí
Antoni Plàcid Guillem Gaudí i Cornet – in English sometimes referred to by the Spanish translation of his name, Antonio Gaudí...
, including Park GüellPark Güell is a garden complex with architectural elements situated on the hill of el Carmel in the Gràcia district of Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. It was designed by the Catalan architect Antoni Gaudí and built in the years 1900 to 1914...
, Palau GüellThe Palau Güell is a town mansion in Barcelona, Catalonia, designed by the Catalan architect Antoni Gaudí for the Catalan industrial tycoon Eusebi Güell.It is part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site "Works of Antoni Gaudí"....
, Casa MilàCasa Milà, better known as La Pedrera , is a building designed by the Catalan architect Antoni Gaudí and built during the years 1906–1910, being considered officially completed in 1912...
, Casa VicensCasa Vicens is a family residence in Barcelona , designed by Antoni Gaudí and built for industrialist Manuel Vicens. It was Gaudí's first important work. It is added to the UNESCO World Heritage Site "Works of Antoni Gaudí" in 2005....
, Sagrada FamíliaThe Temple Expiatori de la Sagrada Família , often simply called the Sagrada Família, is a massive, privately-funded Roman Catholic church that has been under construction in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain since 1882 and is not expected to be complete until at least 2026...
(Nativity façade and crypt), Casa BatllóCasa Batlló , is a building restored by Antoni Gaudí and Josep Maria Jujol, built in the year 1877 and remodelled in the years 1905–1907; located at 43, Passeig de Gràcia , part of the Illa de la Discòrdia in the Eixample district of Barcelona, Catalonia.The local name for the building is...
, Crypt in Colonia Güell. The first three works were inscribed as a World Heritage Site in 1984. The other four were added as extensions to the site in 2005.
Media
El Periódico de CatalunyaEl Periódico de Catalunya is a morning daily newspaper based in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain and owned by Grupo Zeta. El Periódico is actually two newspapers, publishing separate editions in Spanish and in Catalan...
(Catalan and Spanish editions) and
La VanguardiaLa Vanguardia is a Spanish daily newspaper, the fourth most read in the country and the one with the highest-circulation in Catalonia...
(Spanish) are Barcelona's two major daily newspapers while
SportSport is a Spanish sports daily newspaper based in Barcelona, Catalonia. Founded in 1979, it belongs to Grupo Zeta, who also publishes El Periódico de Catalunya....
and
El Mundo Deportivo (both in Spanish) are the city's two major sports daily newspapers, published by the same companies. The city is also served by a number of smaller publications such as
AvuiAvui is a catalan language daily newspaper, based in Barcelona, Catalonia. It is one of the city's newest papers, having been founded in 1976, for the prohibition of the catalan language in Spain till the death of Francisco Franco. "Avui" means "Today" in catalan...
and
El PuntEl Punt is a Catalan language daily newspaper based in Girona, Catalonia. The newspaper was renamed in 1990 from Punt Diari.- History :...
(both in Catalan), by nation-wide newspapers with special Barcelona editions like
El PaisEl País is the most widely-circulated daily newspaper in Spain. According to the 2005 Estudio General de Medios , it has about 2.1 million readers; El Mundo is second with an estimated 1.29 million readers...
and
El MundoEl Mundo is the second largest daily newspaper in Spain and one of the newspapers of record in that country, with a circulation topping 330,000. It first appeared on October 23, 1989, founded by Alfonso de Salas, Pedro J...
(both in Spanish), and by several free newspapers like
MetroMetro International is a Swedish media company based in Luxembourg that publishes the Metro newspapers. Metro International's advertising sales have grown at a compound annual growth rate of 41% since launch of the first newspaper edition in 1995. It is a freesheet, meaning that distribution is...
,
20 minutos20 minutos is a free Spanish newspaper, with local editions in several Spanish cities, published by "Multiprensa & Mas S.L.", a company founded in Madrid in 1999....
,
ADN and
Què (all bilingual).
Several major FM stations include
Catalunya RàdioCatalunya Ràdio is Catalonia's public radio network. It's part of Corporació Catalana de Mitjans Audiovisuals, owned by the Generalitat de Catalunya. Catalunya Ràdio broadcasts exclusively in Catalan and is the major Catalan-language network today, although Ràdio 4 was the first post-war station to...
,
RAC 1- Description :RAC 1 is the main catalan language private radio station. It is mainly owned by media group Godó and is based in Barcelona. It has a sister radio station, RAC 105, dedicated to chart music....
, RAC 105 and
Cadena SERCadena SER is the principal radio station in Spain covering news, sports, talk shows and culture. Cadena SER belongs to Unión Radio...
. Barcelona also has several local
TV stationsA television channel is a physical or virtual channel over which a television station or television network is distributed. For example, in North America, "channel 2" refers to the broadcast or cable band of 54 to 60 MHz, with carrier frequencies of 55.25 MHz for NTSC analog video and 59.75 MHz...
, among them BTV (owned by city council) and
8TV8TV is a Catalan private tv station based in Barcelona, Spain. The channel is run by Grupo Godó and broadcasts from street-level studios on the Avenida Diagonal in the heart of Barcelona.- History :8TV began as a local tv channel in Barcelona in 2001...
(owned by the Godó group, that also owns
La Vanguardia). The headquarters of
Televisió de CatalunyaTelevisió de Catalunya is Catalonia's public broadcasting network, officially composed of seven channels: TV3, 33, K3, 3/24, 300, TV3CAT and Canal Super3. It is part of the Corporació Catalana de Ràdio i Televisió, a public corporation created by the Generalitat de Catalunya by a Founding Act in...
, Catalonia's public network, are located in
Sant Joan DespíSant Joan Despí is a city and municipality located in the Baix Llobregat area . It is situated on the left bank of the Llobregat river...
, in Barcelona's metropolitan area.
Sports
Barcelona has a long sporting tradition and hosted the successful
1992 Summer OlympicsThe 1992 Summer Olympic Games, officially known as the Games of the XXV Olympiad, were an international multi-sport event celebrated in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain in 1992.-Host city selection:...
as well as several matches during the
1982 FIFA World CupThe 1982 FIFA World Cup, the 12th FIFA World Cup, was held in Spain from 13 June to 11 July. Spain was chosen as hosts by FIFA in July 1966. This World Cup was won by Italy, who beat West Germany 3-1 in the final. With their third World Cup title , Italy drew level with Brazil as the most...
. It has also hosted the
EurobasketThe EuroBasket, also referred to as the FIBA European Basketball Championship, is the main basketball competition contested biennially by the men's national teams governed by FIBA Europe, the European zone within the International Basketball Federation. The championship was first held in 1935 and...
twice and the
X FINA World ChampionshipsBarcelona, Spain was the host city of the X FINA World Aquatics Championships or the 10th FINA World Championships in Aquatics, which were held from July 12 until July 27, 2003....
.
FC BarcelonaFútbol Club Barcelona , also known simply as Barcelona and familiarly as Barça , is a football club based in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. The team was founded in 1899 by a group of Swiss, English and Spanish men led by Joan Gamper. The club has become a Catalan institution, hence the motto "Més que...
is a
sports clubA sports club, athletics club or sports association is an eclectic institution oriented to multiple sports, which fields many teams and in several sports, working under the same umbrella organization. In a larger sense, it may also refer to any sports institution, even those that have only one...
best known for its football team, one of the biggest in Europe, three-time winner of the
UEFA Champions LeagueThe UEFA Champions League is an annual association football cup competition organised by UEFA since 1955 for the top football clubs in Europe...
. FC Barcelona also has teams in the Spanish
basketballBasketball is a team sport in which two teams of 5 players try to score points against one another by placing a ball through a
10 foot high hoop under organized rules...
ACB league (Regal FC Barcelona), the
handballHandball is a team sport in which two teams of seven players each pass and bounce a ball to throw it into the goal of the opposing team...
ASOBAL league (FC Barcelona Handbol), and the
roller hockeyRoller hockey is a form of hockey played on a dry surface using skates with wheels. The term "Roller Hockey" is often used interchangeably to refer to two variant forms chiefly differentiated by the type of skate used. There is traditional "Roller Hockey," played with quad roller skates, and...
league (
FC Barcelona HoqueiFC Barcelona is a professional roller hockey team based in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. It's part of the FC Barcelona family and plays in the OK Liga.-History:...
). The club's museum is the second most visited in Catalonia. Twice a season, FC Barcelona and cross-town rivals
RCD EspanyolRCD Espanyol de Barcelona is a sports club based in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. It is best known for its football team. Espanyol currently play in the Estadi Cornellà-El Prat with seats for 40,500 spectators. It was inaugurated on 2 August 2009 with a match against Liverpool won by Espanyol...
contest in the
local derbyEl derbi Barcelonès, , , is the name given to football matches between FC Barcelona and RCD Espanyol, both of them from Barcelona, Spain.- Rivalry culture :...
in the
La LigaThe Primera División of the Liga de Fútbol Profesional , commonly known as La Liga or, in terms of sponsorship, Liga BBVA since 2008, is the top professional football league in Spain...
. Barcelona also has other clubs in lower categories, like
CE EuropaClub Esportiu Europa is a Spanish/Catalan sports club, based in the Gràcia district of Barcelona. The club is best known for its football team who in 1928, along with city neighbours FC Barcelona and RCD Espanyol, were founder members of La Liga. During the late 1990s they won the Copa Catalunya...
and
UE Sant AndreuUnió Esportiva Sant Andreu is a Spanish football team formed in 1909 and based in the city of Barcelona, on the district of Sant Andreu. They will play the 2008-09 season in the Segunda División B - Group 3...
.
Barcelona has two
UEFAThe Union of European Football Associations is the administrative and controlling body for European football. It is almost always referred to by its acronym UEFA ....
5-star rated football stadiums: FC Barcelona's
Camp NouThe Camp Nou , often erroneously called the Nou Camp is a football stadium in Barcelona, Spain. The stadium has been the home of FC Barcelona since its construction in 1957. It is a UEFA 5-star rated stadium, and has hosted numerous international matches at senior level, and UEFA Champions League...
and the publicly-owned
Estadi Olímpic Lluís CompanysEstadi Olímpic Lluís Companys is a stadium in Barcelona, Spain. Originally built in 1927 for the 1929 International Exposition in the city , it was renovated in 1989 to be the main stadium for the 1992 Summer Olympics...
, used for the
1992 OlympicsThe 1992 Summer Olympic Games, officially known as the Games of the XXV Olympiad, were an international multi-sport event celebrated in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain in 1992.-Host city selection:...
and, until last season, home of RCD Espanyol, while the club's new stadium was being built.
The
Open Seat GodóThe Torneo Godó, also known as Trofeo Conde de Godó, Open Banco Sabadell , and Open SEAT , is an annual tennis tournament for male professional players. The event is held annually in Barcelona, Spain, and is played on clay courts...
, a 50-year-old
ATP World TourThe Association of Tennis Professionals or ATP was formed in 1972 to protect the interests of male professional tennis players. Since 1990, the association has organized the principal worldwide tennis tour for men, the ATP Tour, which was renamed in January 2009 and is now known as the ATP World Tour...
500 Series tennis tournamentThe ATP World Tour 500 series is a new series for tennis tournaments of the Association of Tennis Professionals from the 2009 ATP World Tour, replacing the ATP International Series Gold, and incorporating many of the same events...
, is held annually in the facilities of the
Real Club de Tenis BarcelonaThe Real Club de Tenis Barcelona 1899 is a private tennis club in Barcelona, Spain. The facility has 18 clay courts, including a stadium court with a capacity of 7,200 and show court for 2,000 spectators. Since moving to its current location in the northwest of the city in 1953, the club has...
(Barcelona Royal Tennis Club). Several popular running competitions are organized year-round in Barcelona: Cursa del Corte Inglés (with about 60,000 participants each year), Cursa de la Mercè, Cursa Jean Bouin, Milla Sagrada Família and the San Silvestre. Also, each Christmas, a swimming race across the port is organized. Near Barcelona, in
MontmelóMontmeló is a municipality in the comarca of Vallès Oriental in Catalonia, Spain. It contains the Circuit de Catalunya, which is the home of the Formula One Spanish Grand Prix and the MotoGP Catalan Grand Prix.- Demography :-References:...
, the 131,000 capacity
Circuit de CatalunyaThe Circuit de Catalunya aka Circuit de Barcelona is a racetrack in Montmeló, to the north of Barcelona, Catalonia. It is home to the Formula One Spanish Grand Prix and the motorcycle Catalonia Grand Prix. With long straights and a variety of corners, the Circuit de Catalunya is seen as an...
racetrack hosts the
Formula One Spanish Grand PrixThe Spanish Grand Prix is a Formula One race currently held at the Circuit de Catalunya in Barcelona, Spain, as part of the annual Formula One championship season....
and the
Catalan motorcycle Grand PrixThe Catalan motorcycle Grand Prix is a motorcycling event held at the Circuit de Catalunya in Montmeló, Catalonia, Spain, as part of the Grand Prix motorcycle racing season.-Winners of the Catalan motorcycle Grand Prix:...
. Barcelona has also become very popular with
skateboardersSkateboarding is the act of riding and performing tricks using a skateboard. A person who skateboards is most often referred to as a skateboarder, or just skater....
, which has led to a new anti-skateboarding law, which came into effect in 2006.
Airports
Barcelona is served by Barcelona Airport in the town of
El Prat de LlobregatEl Prat de Llobregat, commonly known as El Prat, is a municipality in the comarca of Baix Llobregat inCatalonia, Spain. It is situated in the delta of the Llobregat river on the right bank. More than a quarter of...
, about from the centre of Barcelona. It is the second-largest airport in Spain, and the largest on the Mediterranean coast. It is a main hub for
Vueling AirlinesVueling Airlines is a low-fare airline based in Barcelona, Spain. It serves destinations in Europe and the western Mediterranean. Its main base is Barcelona Airport, with additional hubs at Valencia Airport and Madrid's Barajas Airport.- History :...
, and also a focus for
SpanairSpanair is the second largest airline in Spain, with its head office on the grounds of Palma de Mallorca Airport in Palma de Mallorca. It was, until 2009, a subsidiary of Scandinavian Airlines Systems, which now holds slightly under 20% of the company. Spanair provides a scheduled passenger network...
,
Air EuropaAir Europa Líneas Aéreas, S.A.U. is an airline headquartered in the Centro Empresarial Globalia in Llucmajor, Majorca, Spain. It operates inclusive tour services between northern and western Europe and holiday resorts in the Canary Islands and Balearic Islands. It also operates domestic scheduled...
and
IberiaIberia, Líneas Aéreas de España, S.A. is the flag carrier airline of Spain. Based in Madrid, it operates an international network of services. Its main bases are Madrid-Barajas Airport and Barcelona El Prat Airport. In 2008 the airline reported a net profit of €32 million - its 13th consecutive...
. The airport mainly serves domestic and European destinations, but some airlines offer destinations in
AsiaAsia is the world's largest and most populous continent, located in the eastern and northern hemispheres. It covers 8.6% of the earth's total surface area and with approximately 4 billion people, it hosts 60% of the world's current human population.Asia is traditionally defined as part of the...
and the
United StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. The airport is connected to the city by highway, commuter train and scheduled bus service. The airport handled 32,800,570 passengers in 2007. A new terminal (T1) has been built, and entered service on 17 June 2009.
Sabadell AirportThe Sabadell Airport is located next to the city of Sabadell, 10 km from Barcelona. This, and the Cuatro Vientos Airport, are the most important airports for general aviation in Spain. There are more than 200 aircraft registered in this airport, doing around 150.000 operations per year...
is a smaller airport in the nearby town of
SabadellSabadell is the second largest city in the comarca of the Vallès Occidental in Catalonia, Spain. It is in the south of the comarca, on the River Ripoll, 20 km north-west of Barcelona...
, devoted to
pilot trainingFlight training is a course of study used when learning to pilot an aircraft. The overall purpose of primary and intermediate flight training is the acquisition and honing of basic airmanship skills....
, commercial flights, aerotaxi and private flights. Some low-cost airlines, like
Ryanair
and
MartinairMartinair is an airline based in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. It operates passenger and cargo services to over 50 destinations worldwide. Services are largely on a scheduled basis, but charter services are also operated. Its main base is Amsterdam Airport Schiphol.- History:The airline was founded...
, prefer to use
Girona-Costa Brava AirportGirona-Costa Brava Airport is an airport located southwest of the city of Girona, next to the small village of Vilobí d'Onyar, in the north-east of Catalonia, Spain. It is well connected to the Costa Brava, Barcelona and the Pyrenees....
, situated about to the north of Barcelona and
Reus AirportThe Reus Airport is located by the beaches of Costa Daurada, equidistant in relation to the towns of Constantí and Reus and approximately from the city of Tarragona, in Catalonia, Spain....
, situated to the south.
Seaport
The Port of Barcelona has a 2000-year history and a great contemporary commercial importance. It is Europe's ninth largest
containerContainerization is a system of intermodal freight transport using standard intermodal containers that are standardised by the International Organization for Standardization...
port, with a trade volume of 2.3 million TEU's in 2006. The port is managed by the Port Authority of Barcelona. Its are divided into three zones: Port Vell (the Old Port), the commercial port and the logistics port (
Barcelona Free PortThe Barcelona Free Port or Zona Franca de Barcelona is a tariff-free industrial park that has developed within the Port of Barcelona, across the flat land of the Llobregat delta between the city of Barcelona and Barcelona International Airport to the south.-Information:In common with much of...
). The port is undergoing an enlargement that will double its size thanks to diverting the mouth of the
LlobregatThe Llobregat is the second longest river in Catalonia, Spain. It originates in Castellar de n'Hug at an altitude of 1,259 meters in the Serra del Cadí, and ends in the Mediterranean Sea, in the municipality of El Prat de Llobregat, near Barcelona...
river 2 km (1¼ mi) to the south.
The
Port VellPort Vell is a waterfront harbour in Barcelona, Spain. It was built as part of an urban renewal program prior to the 1992 Barcelona Olympics. Before this, it was a run-down area of empty warehouses, railroad yards, and factories...
area also houses the Maremagnum (a commercial mall), a multiplex cinema, the
IMAXIMAX is a motion picture film format and projection standard created by Canada's IMAX Corporation. The traditional version of IMAX has the capacity to record and display images of far greater size and resolution than conventional film systems...
Port Vell and Europe's largest aquarium, containing 8,000 fish and 11 sharks contained in 22 basins filled with 6 million litres of sea water. The Maremagnum, due to being situated a designated tourist zone, is the only commercial mall in the city that can open on Sundays and public holidays.
Public transport
Barcelona is served by a comprehensive local
public transportPublic transport comprises passenger transportation services which are available for use by the general public, as opposed to modes for private use such as automobiles or vehicles for hire.Public transport services are usually funded by fares charged to each passenger, with varying levels of subsidy...
network that includes a
metroA rapid transit, metro, subway, underground, or elevated railway system is an electric passenger railway in an urban area with high capacity and frequency, and which is grade separated from other traffic. Rapid transit systems are typically either in underground tunnels or elevated above street level...
, a
busA bus is a road vehicle designed to carry passengers. A bus seats a maximum of 8 to 300 passengers...
network, two separate modern
tramA tram, tramcar, trolley, trolleycar, or streetcar is a railborne vehicle, of lighter weight and construction than a conventional train, designed for the transport of passengers within, close to, or between villages, towns and/or cities, on tracks running primarily on streets...
networks, a separate historic tram line, and several funiculars and
aerial cable carsAn aerial tramway or cable car is a type of aerial lift in which a cabin or other conveyance is suspended from a fixed cable and is pulled by another cable....
. The
Barcelona MetroThe Barcelona Metro , part of the public transportation system of Barcelona, Spain is an extensive network of electrified railways that run underground in central Barcelona and above ground into the city's suburbs...
network comprises nine lines, identified by an "L" followed by the line number as well as by individual colours. Most of the network is operated by the
Transports Metropolitans de BarcelonaTransports Metropolitans de Barcelona is the main public transit authority in Barcelona, made up of two formerly separate companies, Ferrocarril Metropolità de Barcelona, SA. and Transports de Barcelona, SA....
(TMB), but three lines are FGC commuter lines that run through the city. When finished, the L9 will be the second longest underground metro line in Europe with 42.6 km; only shorter than London's 76 km Central Line.
TMB also provides most of the services of the city's daytime bus network, as well as a tourist bus service. The tourist bus service gives the opportunity to visit the city on open-topped
double-decker busA double-decker bus is a bus that has two levels. While double-decker long-distance coaches are in widespread use around the world, double-decker city buses are less common. Double-decker buses are popular in some cities of Europe and in parts of Asia, usually in former British colonies...
es. The Barcelona Bus Turistic runs along three sightseeing routes, and passengers can get on and off as many times as they like. The
night busA night bus service or owl service is a public transport bus service which operates through the night time hours. Many cities operate such services, in substitution for either ordinary daytime bus services or metro/subway rail services which may shut for maintenance or through lack of passenger...
network, known as Nitbus, is operated by Tusgsal and Mohn. Transports Ciutat Comtal operates the Aerobus (to the airport) and the Tibibus (bus from Plaça Catalunya to
TibidaboTibidabo is a mountain overlooking Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. At 512 meters it is the tallest mountain in the Serra de Collserola. Rising sharply to the north-west, it affords spectacular views over the city and the surrounding coastline....
amusement parkAmusement park or theme park is the generic term for a collection of rides and other entertainment attractions assembled for the purpose of entertaining a large group of people. An amusement park is more elaborate than a simple city park or playground, usually providing attractions meant to cater...
) services. Other companies operate services that connect the city with towns in the metropolitan area.
Another company, TRAMMET, operates the city's two modern tram networks, known as
TrambaixThe Trambaix is a light rail system operated by TRAMMET connecting the Baix Llobregat area with the city of Barcelona in Spain. It opened to the public on April 5 2004 after a weekend when the tram could be used free of charge....
and
TrambesòsThe Trambesòs is a light rail system operated by TRAMMET connecting Sant Adrià de Besòs and Badalona with the city of Barcelona in Catalonia. The original line, known as T4, opened on May 8 2004 and runs from Ciutadella-Vila Olímpica in Barcelona to the east of the city and extends roughly...
. The historic tram line, the
Tramvia BlauTramvia Blau is one of Barcelona's three tram systems. It is a heritage streetcar line serving a hilly area of the Sarrià-Sant Gervasi district between the terminus of FGC Barcelona Metro L7 and the Funicular del Tibidabo...
, connects the metro to the
Funicular del Tibidabo260px|right|thumb|Car of the Funicular260px|thumb|right|Station at Plaça Dr. AndreuThe Funicular del Tibidabo is a funicular railway in the the city of Barcelona, in Catalonia, that connects the Tibidabo with the Plaça del Doctor Andreu, where arrives the Tramvia Blau.The line was opened in...
. The Funicular de Tibidabo climbs the Tibidabo hill, as does the
Funicular de Vallvidreraright|300px|thumb|Funicular cab at Vallvidrera Superior stationThe Funicular de Vallvidrera, or Vallvidrera funicular, is a funicular railway in the Vallvidrera district of the city of Barcelona, in Catalonia, Spain...
. The
Funicular de MontjuïcThe Funicular de Montjuïc, or Montjuïc funicular, is a funicular railway in the city of Barcelona, in Catalonia, Spain. The line is largely in tunnel and connects the Barcelona Metro Paral·lel station with the hill of Montjuïc and the various sporting and other facilities there. The funicular uses...
climbs the
MontjuïcMontjuïc is a hill located in Barcelona, Spain.-Etymology:Montjuïc is translated as 'Hill of the Jews' in medieval Catalan, or is perhaps related to the Latin phrase Mons Jovicus...
hill. The city has two
aerial cable carsAn aerial tramway or cable car is a type of aerial lift in which a cabin or other conveyance is suspended from a fixed cable and is pulled by another cable....
: one to the Montjuïc castle and another that runs via
Torre Jaume ITorre Jaume I is a 107 meter high steel truss tower in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain, which was built in 1931 by Carlos Boigas. The tower is the second-tallest aerial tramway support pillar in the world, and is a part of the aerial tramway from Torre Sant Sebastia to Montjuïc. Torre Jaume I also has...
and
Torre Sant SebastiàTorre Sant Sebastia is a 78 metre tall lattice tower in Barcelona, Spain. It is the terminal of the harbour aerial tramway of Barcelona, which runs over Torre Jaume I to Montjuïc. Torre Sant Sebastia was built in 1931.- External links :...
over the port.
Barcelona is a major hub for
RENFERenfe Operadora is the state-owned company which operates freight and passenger trains on the 1668-mm "Iberian gauge" and 1435-mm "European gauge" networks of the Spanish national railway infrastructure company ADIF .-History:The name RENFE is derived from that of the former Spanish National...
, the Spanish state railway network, and its main
intercity trainInter-city rail services are express train passenger services which cover longer distances than commuter or regional trains.There is no clear definition of Inter-city rail. Most broadly, it includes all rail service except short distance commuter rail within one city area and slow regional rail...
station is
Barcelona-SantsBarcelona Sants is the name of the main railway station in Barcelona, operated by RENFE. It has become the Catalan capital's most important transportation hub - being the centre of commuter and medium-distance train services, as well as the main inter-city train station for national and...
station. The
AVEAlta Velocidad Española is a service of high speed trains operating at speeds of up to on dedicated track in Spain. The name is literally translated from Spanish as "Spanish High Speed", but also a play on the word , meaning "bird"....
high-speed railHigh-speed rail is a type of passenger rail transport that operates significantly faster than the normal speed of rail traffic. Specific definitions include 200 km/h and faster — depending on whether the track is upgraded or new — by the European Union, and above 90 mph by the United...
system was recently extended from
MadridMadrid is the capital and largest city of Spain. It is the third-most populous municipality in the European Union after Greater London and Berlin, and its metropolitan area is the third-most populous city by urban area in the European Union after Paris and London.The city is located on the river...
to Barcelona.
Renfe cercanías/rodaliesCercanías is the name given to the commuter rail systems of Spain's major metropolitan areas. In Catalonia and Valencia, however, the term is replaced by Rodalies , while the bilingual designation Cercanías - Aldirikoak is used in the Basque Country.Operated by the national rail company Renfe,...
and the
Ferrocarrils de la Generalitat de CatalunyaFerrocarrils de la Generalitat de Catalunya , or FGC, is a railway company which operates several unconnected lines in Catalonia, Spain...
(FGC) run Barcelona's widespread commuter train service. The Estació del Nord (Northern Station), a former railway station that was renovated for the 1992 Olympic Games, now serves as the terminus for long-distance and regional bus services.
Barcelona has a
metered taxiA taxicab, also taxi or cab, is a type of vehicle for hire, with a driver, for a single passenger, or small group of passengers, typically for a non-shared ride. A taxicab conveys passengers between locations of their choice...
fleet governed by the Institut Metropolità del Taxi (Metropolitan Taxi Institute), composed of more than 10,000 cars. Most of the licences are in the hands of
self-employedSelf-employment is where a person works for themselves rather than someone else or a company that they do not own. To be self-employed, an individual is normally highly skilled in a trade or has a niche product or service for their local community. With the creation of the Internet the ability for...
drivers. With their black and yellow livery, Barcelona's taxis are easily spotted.
On 22 March 2007, Barcelona's City Council started the
BicingBicing is the name of a 'community bicycle program' in Barcelona inaugurated in March 2007, similar to the Vélô service in Toulouse, Vélo'v in Lyon and Vélib' in Paris, and apparently uses the same system and bicycles with Stockholm City Bikes...
service, a bicycle service understood as a public transport. Once the user has their user card, they can take a bicycle from any of the 100 stations spread around the city and use it anywhere the urban area of the city, and then leave it at another station. The service has been a success, with 50,000 subscribed users in three months.
Roads and highways
Barcelona is circled by three
ring roadsA beltway, loop , ring road, or orbital motorway is a circumferential highway found around or within many cities....
or bypasses, Ronda de Dalt (on the mountain side), Ronda del Litoral (along the coast) and Ronda del Mig (separated into two parts:
Gran Via de les Corts CatalanesGran Via de les Corts Catalanes, often popularly known as just Gran Via, is one of Barcelona's major avenues.-Location:It crosses all the city proper, stretching from the North-Eastern boundaries of the municipality, bordering Sant Adrià de Besòs, to its South-Western limits, in L'Hospitalet de...
in the north and the Gran via Carles III), two partially covered fast highways with several exits that bypass the city.
The city's main arteries include
Diagonal AvenueAvinguda Diagonal is the name of one of Barcelona's most important avenues. It cuts the city in two, diagonally from west to east, hence the name.-Location:...
, which crosses the city diagonally,
Meridiana AvenueAvinguda Meridiana is a major avenue in Barcelona, Spain, spanning parts of the Sant Andreu, Nou Barris and Sant Martí northern districts of the city...
which leads to
GlòriesPlaça de les Glòries Catalanes, most often shortened to Glòries, is a large square in Barcelona, first designed by Ildefons Cerdà to serve as the city centre in his original urban plan , but nowadays relegated to quite a secondary position...
and connects with Diagonal Avenue and
Gran Via de les Corts CatalanesGran Via de les Corts Catalanes, often popularly known as just Gran Via, is one of Barcelona's major avenues.-Location:It crosses all the city proper, stretching from the North-Eastern boundaries of the municipality, bordering Sant Adrià de Besòs, to its South-Western limits, in L'Hospitalet de...
, which crosses the city from east to west, passing through the centre of the city.
Twin towns – Sister cities
Barcelona is
twinnedSister cities, also known as town twinning, is an agreement between towns, cities and even counties in geographically and politically distinct areas to promote cultural and commercial ties...
with the following cities (in chronological order):
MontpellierMontpellier is a city in southern France. It is the capital of the Languedoc-Roussillon region, as well as the Hérault department.-Population:...
, FranceFrance , officially the French Republic , is a country located in Western Europe, with several overseas islands and territories located on other continents. Metropolitan France extends from the Mediterranean Sea to the English Channel and the North Sea, and from the Rhine to the Atlantic Ocean...
, 1963 Rio de JaneiroRio de Janeiro is the capital city of the State of Rio de Janeiro, the second largest city of Brazil, and the third largest metropolitan area and agglomeration in South America. The city was the capital of Brazil for nearly two centuries, from 1763 to 1822 during the Portuguese colonial era, and...
, BrazilBrazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is a country in South America. It is the fifth largest country by geographical area, occupying nearly half of South America, the fifth most populous country, and the fourth most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Atlantic Ocean...
, 1972 MonterreyMonterrey Monterrey Monterrey (also known as "Sultana del Norte" (Sultan of the North), is the capital city of the northeastern Mexican state of Nuevo León It has the third largest metropolitan area in Mexico, after Mexico City and Guadalajara. In 2005, the city...
, MexicoThe United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
, 1977 BostonBoston is the capital and largest city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is considered the economic and cultural center of the region and is sometimes regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England"...
, United StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, 1983 BusanBusan Metropolitan City, also known as Pusan is the largest port city in South Korea and the fifth largest port in the world. Busan has a population of about 3.6 million. It is South Korea's second largest metropolis, after Seoul. The city is located on the Southeasternmost tip of the Korean...
, South KoreaSouth Korea, officially the Republic of Korea and often simply referred to as Korea, is a country in East Asia, located on the southern half of the Korean Peninsula. It is neighbored by China to the west, Japan to the east, and North Korea to the north. Its capital is Seoul, the second largest...
, 1983 CologneCologne is Germany's fourth-largest city , and is the largest city both in the German Federal State of North Rhine-Westphalia and within the Rhine-Ruhr Metropolitan Area, one of the major European metropolitan areas with more than ten million inhabitants...
, GermanyGermany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered to the north by the North Sea, Denmark, and the Baltic Sea; to the east by Poland and the Czech Republic; to the south by Austria and Switzerland; and to the west by France, Luxembourg, Belgium,...
, 1984 São PauloSão Paulo is the largest city in Brazil and the world's 7th largest metropolitan area. The city is the capital of the state of São Paulo, the most populous Brazilian state. It is also the richest city in Brazil. The name of the city honors Saint Paul. São Paulo exerts strong regional influence in...
, BrazilBrazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is a country in South America. It is the fifth largest country by geographical area, occupying nearly half of South America, the fifth most populous country, and the fourth most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Atlantic Ocean...
, 1985 MontevideoMontevideo is the largest city, the capital and chief port of Uruguay. Montevideo is the only city in the country with a population over 1,000,000...
, UruguayUruguay , is a country located in the southeastern part of South America. It is home to 3.46 million people, of whom 1.1 million live in the capital Montevideo and its metropolitan area. An estimated 88–94% of the population are of mostly European and/or mixed descent.Uruguay's only land border is...
, 1985 St.PetersburgSaint Petersburg is a city and a federal subject of Russia located on the Neva River at the head of the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea. The city's other names were Petrograd and Leningrad...
, RussiaRussia , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia . It is a semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
, 1985 HavanaHavana is the capital city, major port, and leading commercial centre of Cuba. The city is one of the 14 Cuban provinces. The city/province has 2.4 million inhabitants, and the urban area over 3.7 million, making Havana the largest city in both Cuba and the Caribbean region...
, CubaThe Republic of Cuba is an island country in the Caribbean. It consists of the island of Cuba, the Isla de la Juventud, and several archipelagos. Havana is the largest city in Cuba and the country's capital. Santiago de Cuba is the second largest city. Cuba is home to over 11 million people and is...
, 1993 Kobeis the sixth-largest city in Japan and is the capital city of Hyōgo Prefecture and a prominent port city in Japan with a population of about 1.5 million. The city is located in the Kansai region of Japan and is part of the metropolitan area...
, Japanis an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, People's Republic of China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
, 1993 |
Antwerp ||-||-||-||}Antwerp is a city and municipality in Belgium and the capital of the Antwerp province in Flanders, one of Belgium's three regions. Antwerp's total population is 472,071 and its total area is , giving a population density of 2,308 inhabitants per km²...
, BelgiumThe Kingdom of Belgium is a country in northwest Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts its headquarters, as well as those of other major international organizations, including NATO...
, 1997 IstanbulIstanbul is the largest city in Turkey and fifth largest city proper in the world with a population of 12.6 million. Istanbul is also a megacity, as well as the cultural and financial centre of Turkey. The city covers 39 districts of the Istanbul province...
, TurkeyTurkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country that stretches across the Anatolian peninsula in Western Asia and Thrace in the Balkan region of southeastern Europe...
, 1997 Tel AvivTel Aviv-Yafo , usually called Tel Aviv, is the second largest city in Israel, with an estimated population of 391,300. The city is situated on the Israeli Mediterranean coastline, with a land area of...
, IsraelIsrael officially the State of Israel , is a developed state in Western Asia located on the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea. It borders Lebanon in the north, Syria in the northeast, Jordan in the east, and Egypt on the southwest, and contains geographically diverse features within its...
, 1998 GazaGaza is a Palestinian city in the Gaza Strip, with a population of about 410,000, making it the largest city under the control of the Palestinian National Authority....
, Palestinian National AuthorityThe Palestinian National Authority is the administrative organization established to govern parts of the Palestinian territories of the West Bank and Gaza Strip....
, 1998 DublinDublin is the largest city and capital of Ireland. It is officially known in Irish as Baile Átha Cliath or Áth Cliath ; the English name comes from the Irish Dubh Linn meaning "black pool". It is located near the midpoint of Ireland's east coast, at the mouth of the River Liffey and at the...
, IrelandIreland is a country in north-western Europe. The modern sovereign state occupies about five-sixths of the island of Ireland, which was partitioned on 3 May 1921. It is a parliamentary democracy and a republic...
, 1998 AthensAthens , the capital and largest city of Greece, dominates the Attica periphery; as one of the world's oldest cities, its recorded history spans around 3,400 years....
, GreeceGreece , officially the Hellenic Republic , is a country in southeastern Europe, situated on the southern end of the Balkan Peninsula....
, 1999 Isfahan, IranIran , officially the Islamic Republic of Iran is a country in Western Asia. The name Iran has been in use natively since the Sassanid period and came into international use from 1935, before which the country was known internationally as Persia...
, 2000 SarajevoSarajevo is the capital and largest city of Bosnia and Herzegovina, with a population of 304,614 people in the four municipalities that make up the city proper, and an estimated urban area population of 421,289 people in the Sarajevo Canton . It is also the capital of the Federation of Bosnia and...
, Bosnia and HerzegovinaBosnia and Herzegovina Bosnia and Herzegovina Bosnia and Herzegovina ( or (Bosnian, Croatian, Serbian Latin: Bosna i Hercegovina; Serbian Cyrillic: Босна и Херцеговина) is a country in Southeast Europe, on the Balkan Peninsula...
, 2000 ValparaísoValparaíso is a city in central Chile and one of that country's most important seaports and an increasingly vital cultural center in the hemisphere's Pacific Southwest. The city is the capital of the Region of Valparaíso...
, ChileChile, officially the Republic of Chile , is a country in South America occupying a long, narrow coastal strip between the Andes mountains to the east and the Pacific Ocean to the west. It borders Peru to the north, Bolivia to the northeast, Argentina to the east, and the Drake Passage in the far...
, 2001 ShanghaiShanghai is the largest city in China, and one of the largest metropolitan areas in the world, with over 20 million people. Located on China's central eastern coast at the mouth of the Yangtze River, the city is administered as a municipality of the People's Republic of China with province-level...
, People's Republic of ChinaThe People's Republic of China , commonly known as China, is the largest country in East Asia and the most populous in the world with over 1.3 billion people, approximately one-fifth of the world's population...
, 2001 DubaiDubai is one of the seven emirates and the most populous state of the United Arab Emirates . It is located along the southern coast of the Persian Gulf on the Arabian Peninsula. The Dubai Municipality is sometimes called Dubai state to distinguish it from the emirate...
, United Arab EmiratesThe United Arab Emirates is a federation of seven emirates situated in the southeast of the Arabian Peninsula in Southwest Asia on the Persian Gulf, bordering Oman and Saudi Arabia. The UAE consists of seven states, termed emirates, which are Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Sharjah, Ajman, Umm al-Quwain, Ras...
, 2006 Thiruvananthapuram, also known as Trivandrum, is the capital of the Indian state of Kerala and the headquarters of the Thiruvananthapuram District. It is located on the west coast of India near the extreme south of the mainland. Referred to by Mahatma Gandhi as the "Evergreen city of India", the city is...
(Trivandrum), IndiaIndia, officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the south, the Arabian Sea on the west, and the Bay of Bengal...
, 2009 |
Other forms of cooperation and city friendship similar to the twin city programmes exist to many cities worldwide.
See also
- Barcelona metropolitan area
The Área Metropolitana de Barcelona , often referred to as Greater Barcelona, is integrated by three territorial organisms of management...
- Catalan cuisine
Catalan cuisine is a Mediterranean cuisine from Catalonia in Spain. It may also refer to the shared cuisine of French Catalonia and Andorra, which has a similar cuisine to the Alt Urgell and Cerdanya comarques, often referred to as "Catalan mountain cuisine"...
- Catalan language
Catalan is a Romance language, the national and official language of Andorra, and a co-official language in the Spanish autonomous communities of the Balearic Islands, Catalonia and Valencian Community, where it is known as Valencià , as well as in the city of Alghero on the Italian island of...
- Flag of Barcelona
The current flag of Barcelona combines the cross of Saint George , the patron saint of the city, with the traditional red and yellow bars of the Senyera, the ancient symbol of the Crown of Aragon .The flag in its current form has been official since 2004, though it The current flag of Barcelona...
- Guardia Urbana
- List of Markets in Barcelona
- List of tallest buildings and structures in Barcelona
- Mossos
Mossos d'Esquadra is the police force of Catalonia, one of the autonomous communities of Spain, along with the Policía Municipal...
- Urban Region of Barcelona
External links
Travel Guide Featuring Itineraries, Monuments, Hotels, Pubs, Museums, Maps, Parks And Things To Do Barcelona Yellow Pages with comprehensive list of upcoming events UK based travel guide with a different view on the Catalan city