Ciutat Vella (, meaning in

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ...

"Old City") is a district of Barcelona, numbered District 1. The name means "old city" in

Catalan Catalan may refer to: Catalonia From, or related to Catalonia: * Catalan language, a Romance language * Catalans, an ethnic group formed by the people from, or with origins in, Northern or southern Catalonia Places * 13178 Catalan, asteroid #1 ...

and refers to the oldest neighborhoods in the city of

Barcelona Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within c ...

Catalonia Catalonia (; ca, Catalunya ; Aranese Occitan: ''Catalonha'' ; es, Cataluña ) is an autonomous community of Spain, designated as a '' nationality'' by its Statute of Autonomy. Most of the territory (except the Val d'Aran) lies on the no ...

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = '' Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , ...

. ''Ciutat Vella'' is nestled between the

Mediterranean Sea The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa, and on ...

and the neighborhood called ''l'

Eixample The Eixample (; ) is a district of Barcelona between the old city ( Ciutat Vella) and what were once surrounding small towns ( Sants, Gràcia, Sant Andreu, etc.), constructed in the 19th and early 20th centuries. Its population was 262,000 ...

'' ("the Extension"). There are four administrative neighborhoods (some of them include former or traditional neighborhoods): *

La Barceloneta La Barceloneta () is a neighborhood in the Ciutat Vella district of Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. The neighborhood was constructed during the 18th century for the residents of the Ribera neighborhood who had been displaced by the construction ...

* El Gòtic *

El Raval El Raval () is a neighborhood in the ''Ciutat Vella'' district of Barcelona, the capital city of Catalonia. The neighborhood, especially the part closest to the old port, was formerly (informally) known as ''Barri Xinès'' or ''Barrio Chino'', mea ...

Sant Pere, Santa Caterina i la Ribera Sant Pere, Santa Caterina i la Ribera () is a neighborhood in the ''Ciutat Vella'' district of Barcelona, Catalonia (Spain). It is formed by the former neighborhoods of Sant Pere, Santa Caterina and la Ribera La Ribera (, 'The Shore') is ...

: **Sant Pere **Santa Caterina **

La Ribera La Ribera (, 'The Shore') is one of the areas of the quarter of Sant Pere, Santa Caterina i la Ribera of Ciutat Vella ("the old city") of Barcelona. Overview Many of the buildings date from late Medieval times. It was a well-to-do quarter dur ...

Les Rambles

Running down the center of the ''Ciutat Vella'' (dividing the ''Raval'' and ''Barri Gòtic'') are the boulevards ''Les Rambles'', popularly known as '' La Rambla'' (in singular) since they are continuous, like a single street. ''Les Rambles'' stretches from '' Plaça Catalunya'' to the

and, since the 1990s, now extends out over the sea into one of Barcelona's newest centers of entertainment, '' Maremàgnum''. Each of ''Les Rambles'' has its own specialty. ''La Rambla de les Flors'' (The Flowers ''Rambla'') is devoted to flower stands, another ''Rambla'' to animal vendors (selling mainly birds), and the lowest ''Rambla'' hosts temporary art fairs. ''El Mercat de Sant Josep'' (more commonly known as ''

La Boqueria The Mercat de Sant Josep de la Boqueria, often simply referred to as La Boqueria (; es, La Boquería}), is a large public market in the Ciutat Vella district of Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain, and one of the city's foremost tourist landmarks, with ...

'') and ''Gran Teatre del Liceu'' (Barcelona's Opera House) are both located here. ''Les Rambles'' are among the most frequently travelled streets by pedestrians in Barcelona. At the bottom, there is the ''Museu Marítim'' (naval museum), which chronicles the history of life on the Mediterranean, including a full-scale model of a

galley A galley is a type of ship that is propelled mainly by oars. The galley is characterized by its long, slender hull, shallow draft, and low freeboard (clearance between sea and gunwale). Virtually all types of galleys had sails that could be u ...

. The museum is housed in the medieval ''Drassanes'' (shipyards), where the ships that made

a great

sea power Command of the sea (also called control of the sea or sea control) is a naval military concept regarding the strength of a particular navy to a specific naval area it controls. A navy has command of the sea when it is so strong that its rivals ...

in the Mediterranean were built.

Raval

This portion of the city is often referred to as ''el Barri Xinès'', or ''

Chinatown A Chinatown () is an ethnic enclave of Chinese people located outside Greater China, most often in an urban setting. Areas known as "Chinatown" exist throughout the world, including Europe, North America, South America, Asia, Africa and Aust ...

''. The ''

Museu d'Art Contemporani de Barcelona The Barcelona Museum of Contemporary Art ( ca, Museu d'Art Contemporani de Barcelona, , MACBA) is a contemporary art museum situated in the Plaça dels Àngels, in El Raval, Ciutat Vella, Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. The museum opened to the publ ...

'' (Contemporary Art Museum of Barcelona), the ''Rambla del Raval'' (a walkway to the sea) and the ''

Filmoteca de Catalunya The Filmoteca de Catalunya is a film archive located in Catalunya, Spain, aiming at the preservation of film and the dissemination of audiovisual and film culture. The head office and public rooms (cinemas, exhibition rooms, library) are located ...

'' are in this neighborhood.

Barri Gòtic

On the other side of ''Les Rambles'', is '. This neighborhood houses the

Cathedral of Barcelona The Cathedral of the Holy Cross and Saint Eulalia ( ca, Catedral de la Santa Creu i Santa Eulàlia), also known as Barcelona Cathedral, is the Gothic cathedral and seat of the Archbishop of Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. The cathedral was cons ...

, the

Palau de la Generalitat de Catalunya The Palau de la Generalitat de Catalunya is a historic palace in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. It houses the offices of the Presidency of the Generalitat de Catalunya. It is one of the few buildings of medieval origin in Europe that still functio ...

, and lAjuntament de Barcelona'' (Barcelona city hall). Tourists visit this neighborhood to see ' (a Spanish-style plaza) and to shop in one of the tourist shops along '. The

Museu Picasso The Museu Picasso (, "Picasso Museum") is an art museum in Barcelona, in Catalonia, Spain. It houses an extensive collection of artworks by the twentieth-century Spanish artist Pablo Picasso, with a total of 4251 of his works. It is housed in f ...

can be found in the area known as ''el Born'', within the Barri Gótic, in addition to the historic restaurant '' Els Quatre Gats'' (The Four Cats), which was a popular hang-out for artists, including

Pablo Picasso Pablo Ruiz Picasso (25 October 1881 – 8 April 1973) was a Spanish painter, sculptor, printmaker, ceramicist and Scenic design, theatre designer who spent most of his adult life in France. One of the most influential artists of the 20th ce ...

. To the north of the Gothic Quarter lie the ''Jardins de Fonseré i Mestre'' which contain modernist buildings housing zoological and geological collections. The adjacent ' includes both the ' (Catalan Parliament) and the (zoo) whose most famous resident was an

albino Albinism is the congenital absence of melanin in an animal or plant resulting in white hair, feathers, scales and skin and pink or blue eyes. Individuals with the condition are referred to as albino. Varied use and interpretation of the term ...

gorilla Gorillas are herbivorous, predominantly ground-dwelling great apes that inhabit the tropical forests of equatorial Africa. The genus ''Gorilla'' is divided into two species: the eastern gorilla and the western gorilla, and either four ...

, Floquet de Neu ("Snowflake"), who died in 2003 of

skin cancer Skin cancers are cancers that arise from the skin. They are due to the development of abnormal cells that have the ability to invade or spread to other parts of the body. There are three main types of skin cancers: basal-cell skin cancer (BCC) ...

La Ribera and El Born

La Barceloneta

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