Beautiful Photography: Get to Know Barcelona in 30 Photos
“The haunting of history is ever present in Barcelona. I see cities as organisms, as living creatures. To me, Madrid is a man and Barcelona is a woman. And it’s a woman who’s extremely vain.”
Who has not dreamed of visiting Barcelona? Everybody knows that it is a stunning city with marvelous architecture, great food and a rich history that spans more than two thousand years. It is currently the 2nd largest city in Spain, with a population of 1.6 million, and the capital of the autonomous community of Catalonia.
Although the recession clamped down hard on the city, it is showing signs of economic recovery, and it is still the 3rd most visited city in Europe, after Paris and London.
The exact story of the foundation of Barcelona is unclear. The two most famous myths regarding the city date back from ancient times, and they cite either Hercules or Hamilcar Barca (Carthaginian general and father of the famous Hannibal Barca) as the founders of the city.
Personally, we prefer thinking that Hamilcar Barca founded the city, seeing as he did it to spite the Romans, and he is an actual historical figure that existed, as opposed to Hercules, who we all know is only Kevin Sorbo’s alter ego.
Being such an old city, Barcelona has been ruled by many factions throughout its history, including the Carthaginians, the Romans, the Visigoths and the Moors, and each of these people left their mark on the city, making it the lovely cultural melting pot that it is today.
When the Romans defeated the Carthaginians and took over the Iberian Peninsula, Barcelona was by no means an important settlement, being dwarfed by the two major cities in the area at the time, Tarraco and Caesaraugusta, known today as Zaragoza. In fact, Barcelona, or Barcino as it was known then, was one of many settlements under the control of the much larger Tarraco.
By the 2nd century, however, the city grew in population. Its main economic activity was the cultivation of the surrounding lands, and it became an important producer of wines, which it widely exported.
As the raids of Germanic tribes started in the middle of the 3rd century, Barcino became more and more fortified, until it became the most fortified settlement in the province, increasing its importance even further.
During the 5th century, the Visigoths finally broke through into the Iberian Peninsula, moving across the Pyrenees into Tarrraconensis, in 414. Ataulf, the Visigoths leader at the time, established a court at Barcino, but that didn’t last very long, as he was murdered by his own troops just a year later, right there in Barcino.
Barcino would become the capital of the Visigoth Kingdom during Gesalec’s rule, and would remain such until 573, when Leoviglidus would move the capital to what is now known as Toledo. It did remain, however, an important provincial center.
Barcelona would remain under Visigoth control until the Moorish conquest of Tarraco, in 717. The city surrendered peacefully, and as such was spared from major destruction.
The Moorish occupation of the city lasted less than a century, and in the year 801, following a siege that lasted several month, Louis the Pious captured Barcelona, making it part of the Holy Roman Empire, and the empire’s southernmost city.
The city would be ruled by counts appointed by Carolingian authorities, but steadily gained more power and independence from central rule, until 897 when the position would be occupied by inheritance, rather than appointment, by the previous count’s son, Wifred II.
Over the centuries, Barcelona continued to become a more and more important city, and its counts gaining more and more power by expanding their territories through conquest, taking over Moorish occupied territories. The cities fortifications played no small role in this venture, making the city easily defendable, and an excellent starting point for military campaigns.
When the Kingdom of Aragon united with the County of Barcelona, in 1137, Barcelona began focusing its economic power towards trade, as the newly formed Crown of Aragon became an important power in the Mediterranean.
Barcelona would flourish from trade, until 1469, when Spain would begin to channel its resources to the colonization of the Americas. This lead to Barcelona loosing much of its importance within the Spanish Empire, and to a period of “political irrelevance” for the city, until the advent of the Industrial Revolution, at the end of the 18th century.
The 19th century was a period of highs and lows for Barcelona. Early on in this century -the 19th-, Barcelona became part of the First French Empire for two years (1812-1814) before Napoleon’s defeat.
The war left the province ravaged, but Barcelona would recover by the end of the century, when it hosted the Exposició Universal de Barcelona in 1888. The exposition marked the extension of Barcelona’s urbanized area, and to the absorption of six surrounding municipalities 9 years later.
It is during this time that the Barcelona we know from pictures and postcards began taking shape, as it is the period in which Antoni Gaudi began designing the marvelous buildings that make Barcelona, what many might say, the most distinctly recognizable city in the world.
1924 saw the inauguration of the Barcelona Metro, due to the announcement of the second major international exposition in 1929, the Exposició Internacional de Barcelona. The first metro line went from Lesseps to Plaça Catalunya, and it was extended two years later to Bordeta, so that it would link the city center to Montjuïc, the site where the exposition was held.
The list of Modernista buildings you can see in Barcelona is truly staggering, so you can be sure that by going to visit this absolutely gorgeous city, you will definitely not get bored of sightseeing, if you are an architecture enthusiast.
The most famous of these buildings has to be the Sagrada Família, designed by Antoni Gaudi. The basilica has been under construction since before the 1888 exposition, namely since 1882, making it one of the oldest WIPs in history. It is estimated that it should be done by 2026 or 2028, but there are architects calling for the halting of construction out of respect for Gaudi.
Gaudi also designed a park for Barcelona, namely the Park Güell, situated on El Carmel hill. It was originally part of an unsuccessful housing site, and it bares the name of Count Eusebi Güell, the man who came up with the idea.
The housing project, alas, failed miserably, and only two people actually lived on the premises, namely the count and Gaudi, and neither of the houses were designed by Gaudi himself. The house he lived in, however, is now the Gaudi House Museum and declared a historical artistic monument.
During Franco’s regime, Catalan culture was oppressed, but all that changed in the post-Franco years, and Barcelona soon regained its rightful place among European and World cultural centers. Classical music is right at home in the many concert halls that Barcelona has, and it is also the home of two massive music festivals, namely Sónar and the Primavera Sound Festival.
That wraps up our little “discover Barcelona” article. We really hope you enjoyed it, and that you’ll get to see all the wonderful places we’ve shown you in this article live, for yourself. We’ve gathered all these lovely pictures from PhotographyBlogger.net, so be sure to check them if you want to see more stunning photos of marvelous cities. Also, don’t forget to share your thoughts in the comment section below.
Great collection, can’t wait to go there one day; love the ‘ancient’ feel to everything. (mixed with modern)
Thank you, Andra.
Wow…!
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Really i appreciate it.