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The open air museum of Barcelona that many have called major, is covered across two streets in which, in some form, it delimits, the Gran Vía de les Corts Catalanes and the
Avenida Diagonal, and its centre is in
Paseo de Gracia. Including Sant Antoni, Fort Pienc, Sagrada Familia and the Dreta i l'Esquerra de l'Eixample (Right and Left of the Eixample), five suburbs with personality and very different from each other.
The Eixample, wedges Modernism by excellence, and was born as a result of the necessity of the expansion of Barcelona away from the walls from XIX Century, the years of industrialization, one of the eras of most splendor of the count city.
The new suburb grew further over the plain that included the city and the villages that surrounded, and that, subsequently, moved on to form part of the city, such as Horta, Gràcia, Sant Andreu de Palomar, Sant Martí de Provençals or Sarriá and Sant Gervasi.
The engineer
Ildefons Cerdà devised an urban plan for the Eixample to translate in to a egalitarian city, without difference between the suburbs from living conditions of life taxes and services, if not the same, but similar in every area. It was based in a network of streets perpendicular and crossroads, of divided sections, slanted by two overlaps, the Diagonal and Meridiana, and with its centre, the
Plaza de las Glorias Catalanas. The initial plan multiplied the actual green and garden spaces to the point that a forest by the shore was designed in Besòs, works that, finally, were not approved.
These days, the true nerve centre of the district is between the Paseo de Gracia and the Rambla Catalunya, busy business areas, with the most exclusive shops and cafés of the city and with unique architectural mark: the first Modernism buildings of Barcelona.
In a named discord block, situated in the
Paseo de Gracia between Aragó and
Consell de Cent streets, we can find the famous group of Modernism buildings and how they demonstrate the different architectural tendencies of the era. In the area one can enjoy the view of the four great architectural works: the
Casa Lleó Morera , of
Lluís Domènech i Montaner, the
Casa Amatller, of Puig i Cadafalch, the
Casa Batlló and the
Casa Milà (the latter better known as "
la Pedrera"), both from
Antoni Gaudí.
In the Diagonal the Palau Quadras (Quadras Palace) is situated, where the Museo de la Música (Museum of Music) is located, and the most important work of the architect Puig i Cadafalch, the
Casa de les Punxes. If from there you walk down the Roger de Lluría street, you can see the works of Doménech I Montaner: the Casa Thomas and the Palau Montaner. Further on that street, with its intersection with Casp street, you can find another building of Gaudí´s, the
Casa Calvet. In the same area, one may also visit the University of Barcelona, in front of Plaza Universitat, or the Tàpies Foundation where the works of the author are displayed in the first building of metal designed by Doménech i Montaner.
A little further off from the centre of Eixample, in particular the suburb that owes its name, the most emblematic building of the district, and possibly of the city of Barcelona, is situated: the Templo Expiatorio de la Sagrada Familia (Expiatory Temple of the Holy Family) work of ex-libris of Antoni Gaudí and perhaps the most representative symbol of the city for the foreigner.
In the interior of the precinct one may visit a museum with a demo of the temple, not yet finished, based on the original plans of the project.
Not very far from the
Sagrada Familia, in the Sant Antoni Maria Claret street, you´ll find an emblematic building designed in 1902 by Doménech i Montaner, in the
Hospital de Sant Pau i la Santa Creu, worthy of a visit for its architecture and for its sculptures of Gargallo that is in the interior.
But the charm of Eixample is not only found in its buildings of magnificence nor it’s intricacy of its decorations or the luxury of the shops. Its charm lies in the fact that the suburb mixes the most different types of people. From the aggressive executive of
Paseo de Gracia from the gay couple walking hand in hand, the suburb is popularly known as Gayxample (between the streets of Casanova and
Rambla Catalunya, currently). They live in perfect harmony with aged octogenarians that have been living in the district for decades and the young Argentinean that shares a flat with five students right next door. Very thing girls fit for the catwalk for the top brands or middle aged couples that spend their afternoon murmuring on the benches adorned by thousands of tiles dulled out from the pollution of the city. It’s the spice of the suburb, the strength of Eixample that make Barcelona, a much more diverse and cosmopolitan capital.
José Maria Closa :.