The Contrast in Barcelona’s Architecture.

One of the many reasons to visit the city is to enjoy the contrast in the city’s architecture design. Barcelona is one of the few cities were you can find Roman Ruins , the gothic buildings of the XIV century (, the modernist design of Antoni Gaudi  and the contemporary design of Barcelona’s business center.

The city started as a roman colony near Montjuïc . The city through roman history was not of great importance thanks to how near it was to Tarragona  one of the most important roman colonies. Barcelona still conserves the roman city layout in its city center.

If you want to visit roman archeology in the city center, go to the “Templo de Augusta” a temple dedicated to emperor Augustus Caesar. This temple was the center of the city center of Barcino. If you visit the Barcelona’s History Museum you can find more roman archeological ruins recovered throughout the city.

Barcelona’s medieval age is represented in its Gothic Neighborhood  in the city center. During this age Barcelona’s government decided to remove the roman architecture in favor of churches and palaces. To visit the historic center, we recommend one of our own tours  where a local guide will take you around the best and unknown spots. The Plaça Reial is a most visit as it was the official residence of the crown of Aragón. The plaza has its iconic shape as it was remodeled to accept jousting tournaments. As it is common in Barcelona, they discovered roman ruins during the plaza’s refurbishment that lead to the Barcelona’s History Museum to be open.

Another attraction of the area is the Catedral de Santa Eulalia. The cathedral was constructed between the XIII and XV century on top of several ruins. Even though the cathedral was finished in the XV century, it was no until the start of the XX century that the façade had its finishing touch. Among many other things, another most visit is El Call de Barcelona.  All this area is of Jewish origin, as the population was segregated. After the anti-Semite revolts of the XIV century the Jewish population was forced to convert to Christianism and many buildings were destroyed, but still remains can be found all around the Gothic Center.

Barcelona enjoyed many other refurbishments of its buildings any many new styles can be seen throughout the city. It wasn’t until the XIX century that Barcelona’s city fell into what makes the City famous, Modernism . Here again if you are visiting the city we recommend one of our own tour guides as our guides know in full depth what the movement meant to the City. Hear architects like Antoni Gaudí designed many famous buildings like the Sagrada Familia, today one of the most visited places on earth as well as The Apple of Discord including many buildings designed by modernist architects. Also during this era, many of Barcelona’s markets were designed to satisfy the expanding population as well as Park Güell.

Barcelona to this day is trying to keep up with architectural changes. Even though its background, Barcelona is still one Europe most modern cities. Torre Agbar towers over the city as one of the cities emblems. You must visit the tower at night, thanks to its LED technology the tower can be illuminated in different colors and create different images. Next to Torre Agbar, we can find the Design Museum.

Barcelona’s industry is closely related to the designing industry, therefore in 2005 Barcelona’s government decided build a museum to commemorate this. Throughout the year, several different expos are located in the HUB, being the most recent one honoring David Bowie.

Barcelona’s business center, World Trade Center Barcelona, is located next to the sea and its design resembles one of a boat. To accomplish this, the architect Henry N.Cobb designed the building to be constructed inside the sea, with a platform connecting it to the main land.

To better establish Barcelona’s art culture, the government decided to create a Modern Art Museum called MACBA. The architect is no other than Richard Meier, who was inspired by the art of Le Corbusier and the main purpose of the building is its luminosity.

So as we can see by visiting Barcelona you go through the history of architecture, covering from the first architects the Romans to modern day ones like Meier. If you are visiting Barcelona the best way to know the city’s main icon is through our local tourist guides.