Barcelona
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ABOUT BARCELONA
Barcelona is the capital of Catalonia and the second largest city in
Spain. It is located on the Mediterranean coast, between the mouths of the
rivers Llobregat and Besòs, and is limited to the west by the Serra de
Collserola ridge (512 m).
Barcelona is a major economic centre, with one of Europes' principal
Mediterranean ports, and its airport is the second largest in Spain. The city
is also a major tourist destination, with a rich cultural heritage.
Particularly renowned are the architectural works of Antoni Gaudí and Lluís
Domènech i Montaner, which are UNESCO World Heritage Sites.
As the capital of Catalonia, Barcelona houses the seat of the Catalan
government, known as the Generalitat de Catalunya; of particular note are the
executive branch, the Parliament and the Supreme Court of Catalonia. The city
is also the capital of the county (comarca) of the Barcelonès.
Barcelona's culture is rich, stemming from the city's 2000 years of history. To
a greater extent than the rest of Catalonia, where Catalonia's native Catalan
is more dominant, Barcelona is a bilingual city: Catalan and Spanish are both
official and widely spoken. The Catalan spoken in Barcelona, Central Catalan,
is the one closest to standard Catalan. Since the arrival of democracy, the
Catalan culture (very much repressed during the dictatorship) has been
promoted, both by recovering works from the past and by stimulating the
creation of new works. Even today, however, Catalans experience persecution for
speaking their native language in their own country.
Barcelona has a number of theatres, including the world-renowned Gran
Teatre del Liceu opera theater, the Teatre Nacional de Catalunya and the Palau
de la Música Catalana concert hall. The GREC festival takes place every summer
and brings highly renowned performers and companies to Barcelona.
THE ARC DE TRIOMF
The Arc de Triomf is an archway structure in Barcelona. It was built for
the 1888 Universal exhibition, as its main access gate by architect Josep
Vilaseca i Casanovas.
The arch is built in reddish brickwork in the Moorish Revival style. The front
frieze contains the stone sculpture "Barcelona rep les nacions" (Catalan for
"Barcelona welcomes the nations") by Josep Reynés. The opposite frieze contains
a stone carving named "Recompense", a work from the earliest period of Josep
Llimona.
The top of the arch is decorated with the Barcelona coat of arms as well
as a representation of all 49 other Spanish provinces, work of Torquat Tassó
and Antoni Vilanova.
The arch is located between the Passeig de Lluís Companys and the Passeig de
Sant Joan, at the end of a wide promenade connecting with the Park of the
Ciutadella.
MUSEUMS
Barcelona Museum of Contemporary Art (MACBA) Barcelona houses a great
number of museums, which cover different areas and eras. The City History
Museum, situated in a medieval building that used to be a royal residence,
explains the story of the city, and includes a visit to the Roman ruins in the
museum's basement. It also comprises the Museum-Monastery of Pedralbes, one of
the best examples of Catalan Gothic architecture, the Museum-House Verdaguer,
dedicated to poet Jacint Verdaguer, the Park Güell Interpretation Center and
several other minor sites.
The Museum of the History of Catalonia, open in 1996, covers the story of
Catalonia since prehistoric times and administers the monuments that belong to
the Generalitat de Catalunya. The Archaeology Museum of Catalonia covers the
story of Catalonia up to the Middle Ages, and of the cultures it came into
contact with, and also runs several other archaeological sites in Catalonia.
The National Museum of Art of Catalonia possesses a well-known collection
of Romanesque art, including wall-paintings from Romanesque churches and
chapels around Catalonia that have been transferred to the museum, Gothic art
from the thirteenth-fifteenth centuries, Renaissance and Baroque art from the
16th-18th centuries, Modern art from the 19th century and the first decades of
the 20th century, as well as the Thyssen-Bornemisza Collection.
The Barcelona Museum of Contemporary Art, usually known as MACBA (acronym
of Museu d'Art Contemporani de Barcelona), focuses on post-1945 Catalan and
Spanish art, though it also includes foreign works. Adjacent to the MACBA, the
Centre de Cultura Contemporània de Barcelona, or CCCB, hosts temporary
exhibitions, a cinema, concerts and other cultural events.
The works of Joan Miró are found in the museum of the Fundació Joan Miró,
together with guest exhibitions from other museums around the world, while the
Picasso Museum features early works by Pablo Picasso and his "Las meninas"
series. The Fundació Antoni Tàpies holds a collection of Tàpies works.
The Museu Marítim de Barcelona, founded in 1929, is a nautical museum
situated in the historical Barcelona's royal shipyard complex, with the purpose
of illustrating Catalan seafaring culture and maritime history. Cosmocaixa
(formerly the Science Museum) is a science museum run by the La Caixa
Foundation that received the European Museum of the Year Award in 2006.
The Erotic museum of Barcelona is the first Museum of erotic art and
culture where the visitor can contemplate the development of eroticism through
the various artistic and cultural facets of the human being. The Museum's
assets consist of more than 800 pieces of great historical value, spanning
various cultures' erotic manifestations of both a ritual/religious as well as
recreational nature.
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