Plaça de les Glòries Catalanes, Barcelona
Encyclopedia
Barcelona
Barcelona is the second largest city in Spain after Madrid, and the capital of Catalonia, with a population of 1,621,537 within its administrative limits on a land area of...
, first designed by Ildefons Cerdà
Ildefons Cerdà
Ildefons Cerdà i Sunyer was the progressive Catalan Spanish urban planner who designed the 19th-century "extension" of Barcelona called the Eixample.-Biography:...
to serve as the city centre in his original urban plan
Urban planning
Urban planning incorporates areas such as economics, design, ecology, sociology, geography, law, political science, and statistics to guide and ensure the orderly development of settlements and communities....
(Pla Cerdà), but nowadays relegated to quite a secondary position. It is located in the Sant Martí
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...
district, bordering Eixample
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....
, at the junction of three of the city's most important thoroughfares: Avinguda Diagonal, Avinguda Meridiana and Gran Via de les Corts Catalanes. Currently it serves largely as a roundabout of elevated highways. However, beginning in the early 2000s, and as of 2007, revamping project for Glòries has started, which is aimed to give the square a new role in Barcelona and revitalize the northern districts of the city, under the name 22@
22@
22@ , also known as Districte de la innovació is the corporative name given to a business development in Barcelona's formerly industrial area of Poblenou, in the district of Sant Martí, nicknamed "the Catalan Manchester" in the 19th century...
. These plans supplement other large-scale plans in Sagrera and the Fòrum
Universal Forum of Cultures
The Universal Forum of Cultures is an international cultural event intended to take place every three years. This event is organized by Forum Foundation....
area. The first installment of this project was the construction of the controversial Torre Agbar
Torre Agbar
The Torre Agbar is a 38-storey tower located between Avinguda Diagonal and Carrer Badajoz, near Plaça de les Glòries Catalanes, which marks the gateway to the new technological district of Barcelona, Spain. It was designed by French architect Jean Nouvel in association with the Spanish firm B720...
skyscraper.
The square nowadays
Resembling nothing of what it was intended to be, most of the current Glòries was built in the 1960s, with further additions in the 1990s, as well as some adaptations for the 1992 Summer Olympics1992 Summer Olympics
The 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. The International Olympic Committee voted in 1986 to separate the Summer and Winter Games, which had been held in the same...
in Barcelona. Large portions of the square are occupied by parking lots and its central area is surrounded by concrete walls, part of the not very aesthetic elevated highways. The rest of the square hosts a shopping centre (the Centre Comercial Glòries), a secondary school (IES Salvador Espriu), and the Torre Agbar
Torre Agbar
The Torre Agbar is a 38-storey tower located between Avinguda Diagonal and Carrer Badajoz, near Plaça de les Glòries Catalanes, which marks the gateway to the new technological district of Barcelona, Spain. It was designed by French architect Jean Nouvel in association with the Spanish firm B720...
. The square also serves as the venue for one of the city's most renowned traditional open-air marketplaces, Els Encants Vells.
The project
Glòries and its immediate area is planned to become a park with a multitude of services including a public library, a major underground train station (served by RENFERENFE
Renfe 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...
and Ferrocarrils de la Generalitat de Catalunya
Ferrocarrils de la Generalitat de Catalunya
Ferrocarrils de la Generalitat de Catalunya , or FGC, is a railway company which operates several unconnected lines in Catalonia, Spain....
), a public clinic, a sports centre as well as a museum of design. Integration with other buildings already completed in the area (Teatre Nacional de Catalunya, L'Auditori
L'Auditori
L'Auditori is a modern building of 42,000 square metres designed by the architect Rafael Moneo, opened on 22 March 1999, in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain....
and Mercat dels Encants) is a key component of proposed redevelopment.
Furthermore, the three major thoroughfares that cross Glòries partially laid underground to make room for open green space. Els Encants will be moved to a new location in the square.
Completed
- Torre AgbarTorre AgbarThe Torre Agbar is a 38-storey tower located between Avinguda Diagonal and Carrer Badajoz, near Plaça de les Glòries Catalanes, which marks the gateway to the new technological district of Barcelona, Spain. It was designed by French architect Jean Nouvel in association with the Spanish firm B720...
by Jean NouvelJean NouvelJean Nouvel is a French architect. Nouvel studied at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris and was a founding member of Mars 1976 and Syndicat de l'Architecture... - La Farinera del Clot, a cultural centre. The building, a former factory, was recently rebuilt.
In progress
- Complex de Cinemes-Plaça de les Arts, by Zaha HadidZaha HadidZaha Hadid, CBE is an Iraqi-British architect.-Life and career:Hadid was born in 1950 in Baghdad, Iraq. She received a degree in mathematics from the American University of Beirut before moving to study at the Architectural Association School of Architecture in London.After graduating she worked...
- Edifici Ona, and administrative building for the city council.
- Centre del Disseny
Tram
- Glòries (TrambesòsTrambesòsThe 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...
routes T4 and T5). - La Farinera (TrambesòsTrambesòsThe 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...
route T5)
Bus
- Line 7 Diagonal Mar - Zona Universitària
- Line 56 Collblanc - Besòs/Verneda
- Line 60 Pl. Glòries - Zona Universitària
- Line 92 Pg. Marítim - Gràcia
- Line B21 Barcelona (Rda. St. Pere) - Sta. Coloma (Av. Ramon Berenguer IV)
- Line 192 Hospital de Sant Pau - Poblenou
Nit Bus
- N0 Pl. Portal de la Pau - Pl. Portal de la Pau
- N2 Hospitalet (Av. Carrilet) - Badalona (Via Augusta)
- N7 Pl. Pedralbes - Pl. Llevant (Fòrum)
Transport projects
A new large station joining the different rail systems of Barcelona has been proposed, but is still under consideration.- A controversial FGCFerrocarrils de la Generalitat de CatalunyaFerrocarrils de la Generalitat de Catalunya , or FGC, is a railway company which operates several unconnected lines in Catalonia, Spain....
rail and metro station planned by the Barcelona city council but still not approved by Generalitat de CatalunyaGeneralitat de CatalunyaThe Generalitat of Catalonia is the institution under which the autonomous community of Catalonia is politically organised. It consists of the Parliament, the President of the Generalitat of Catalonia and the Government of Catalonia....
. - A RenfeRENFERenfe 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...
train station which will probably replace Arc de Triomf train station. It will be served by R1, R3 and R4 Rodalies lines. - A disputed extension into Avinguda Diagonal of TrambesòsTrambesòsThe 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...
. Convergència i UnióConvergència i UnióConvergence and Union is a centre-right electoral alliance in Catalonia, Spain. CiU is technically a federation of two constituent parties, the larger Democratic Convergence of Catalonia and its smaller counterpart, the Democratic Union of Catalonia . It is currently led by Artur Mas, who is the...
approved the project but Partit dels Socialistes de Catalunya deemed it too expensive.
Events
- Barcelona Visual Sound, a multimedia festival held in February in different parts of the city, hosts in Glòries its most important acts.
See also
- PoblenouPoblenouEl 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...
- List of streets and squares in Eixample
- Glòries metro station