Via Laietana () Vía Layetana in Spanish, is a major thoroughfare in

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 ci ...

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 north ...

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") , i ...

, in the

Ciutat Vella Ciutat Vella (, meaning in English "Old City") is a district of Barcelona, numbered District 1. The name means "old city" in Catalan and refers to the oldest neighborhoods in the city of Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. ''Ciutat Vella'' is nestle ...

district. The avenue runs from Plaça Urquinaona to Plaça d'Antonio López, by the seafront, and separates the neighbourhoods of the old city it has on either side:

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 ...

El Born 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 duri ...

and Sant Pere on one and

Barri Gòtic The Gothic Quarter ( ca, Barri Gòtic or ''El Gòtic'', es, Barrio Gótico) is the historic centre of the old city of Barcelona. It stretches from La Rambla to Via Laietana, and from the Mediterranean seafront to the Ronda de Sant Pere. It is ...

on the other. Besides being always overcrowded with both locals and tourists attracted by its Modernista

Art Nouveau Art Nouveau (; ) is an international style of art, architecture, and applied art, especially the decorative arts. The style is known by different names in different languages: in German, in Italian, in Catalan, and also known as the Modern ...

Art Déco Art Deco, short for the French ''Arts Décoratifs'', and sometimes just called Deco, is a style of visual arts, architecture, and product design, that first appeared in France in the 1910s (just before World War I), and flourished in the Unite ...

, and Noucentista

neo-classical architecture Neoclassical architecture is an architectural style produced by the Neoclassical movement that began in the mid-18th century in Italy and France. It became one of the most prominent architectural styles in the Western world. The prevailing style ...

, in addition to its nearness to the

Ramblas La Rambla () is a street in central Barcelona. A tree-lined pedestrian street, it stretches for connecting the in its center with the Christopher Columbus Monument at Port Vell. La Rambla forms the boundary between the neighbourhoods of the ...

and the quiet pedestrian streets of Barri Gòtic, Via Laietana hosts the headquarters of a number of banks (notably the building of the old

Caixa Catalunya CatalunyaCaixa () was the trading name of Catalunya Banc S.A., a Spanish bank with headquarters in Barcelona and owned by Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria (BBVA), and absorbed by it in 2016. Its area of influence is located mainly in Catalonia ...

) and institutions. It can be seen as an extension of Carrer de Pau Claris in

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 at t ...

. Via Laietana was named after the ''Laietanii'', an Iberian people who inhabited the region around

Maresme Maresme () is a ''comarca'' (county) located along the Catalan Mediterranean coast in Spain, between the ''comarques'' of Barcelonès (at the Southwest) and Selva (at the Northeast), and also bordering with Vallès Oriental (at the west). Its c ...

Vallès El Vallès (or simply Vallès) is a historical county in Catalonia, Spain, located in the center of the Catalan Pre-Coastal Range. It is nowadays represented by two separate administrative divisions ( ''comarques'') which are part of the Barcelon ...

, and

Baix Llobregat Baix Llobregat () is a comarca (county) on the coast of Catalonia, Spain. Its capital is Sant Feliu de Llobregat. Municipalities Proposed changes It has long been proposed to split the northern part of Baix Llobregat into a separate comarca. ...

History

The construction of Via Laietana was first projected in 1879 and started in 1907, with the aim of communicating

with the waterfront, amid much controversy. The demolition of a large number of houses and the removal of the streets in the area was required to do so. As some of the traditional

guild A guild ( ) is an association of artisans and merchants who oversee the practice of their craft/trade in a particular area. The earliest types of guild formed as organizations of tradesmen belonging to a professional association. They sometimes ...

s of the city, some dating back to the Middle Ages, were located there, they had to be relocated in different parts of Barri Gòtic, notably

Plaça de Sant Felip Neri Plaça de Sant Felip Neri is a small square in the Gothic Quarter in the district of Ciutat Vella in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. The square takes its name from the Church of Saint Philip Neri, which presides over the square. To the right of t ...

. The first section to be built was named

Carrer de Bilbao Carrer may refer to: People with the surname: *Gustavo Carrer (1885-1968), Italian athlete in football *Pavlos Carrer (1829-1896) Greek music composer In street names; *In Barcelona, Spain: **Carrer d'Aragó **Carrer d'Ausiàs Marc, Barcelona **C ...

, which nowadays is a separate, shorter street that stems from the larger Via Laietana. The avenue was finished in 1926.

Francesc Cambó Francesc Cambó i Batlle (; 2 September 1876 – 30 April 1947) was a conservative Spanish politician from Catalonia, founder and leader of the autonomist party ''Lliga Regionalista''. He was a minister in several Spanish governments. He supported ...

, a prominent politician of the time, built his personal residence in the avenue. During the years of the

Spanish Civil War The Spanish Civil War ( es, Guerra Civil Española)) or The Revolution ( es, La Revolución, link=no) among Nationalists, the Fourth Carlist War ( es, Cuarta Guerra Carlista, link=no) among Carlists, and The Rebellion ( es, La Rebelión, lin ...

(1936-1939) it was renamed ''Via

Durruti José Buenaventura Durruti Dumange (14 July 1896 – 20 November 1936) was a Spanish insurrectionary, anarcho-syndicalist militant involved with the CNT and FAI in the periods before and during the Spanish Civil War. Durruti played an in ...

''.

Architecture

As an avenue built in the early 20th century, its buildings reflect the aesthetic ideals of the period, and of the different political regimes. The style of some of its buildings has no other referent in Barcelona and has much more in common with the architecture that can be seen in

Madrid Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the second-largest city in the European Union (EU), and ...

. A number of these buildings are being converted into hotels.

Buildings of interest

Conservatori Superior de Música del Liceu Conservatori Superior de Música del Liceu () is a music college in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. It was created in 1837 with the name ''Liceo Filo-dramático de Montesión''. In 1847 the institution inaugurated the opera house Gran Teatre del Lic ...

* Caixa de Pensions Building (1917), by

Enric Sagnier Enric Sagnier i Villavecchia (; 1858 in Barcelona – 1931) was a Spanish architect. Although now not as well known as his contemporaries Antoni Gaudí, Lluís Domènech i Montaner and Josep Puig i Cadafalch, he was responsible for a numbe ...

- Unusual office building built in a trend of the

Neo-Gothic Gothic Revival (also referred to as Victorian Gothic, neo-Gothic, or Gothick) is an architectural movement that began in the late 1740s in England. The movement gained momentum and expanded in the first half of the 19th century, as increasingly ...

style inspired by

central Europe Central Europe is an area of Europe between Western Europe and Eastern Europe, based on a common historical, social and cultural identity. The Thirty Years' War (1618–1648) between Catholicism and Protestantism significantly shaped the area' ...

an churches with a white façade. * Casa Bulbena-Salas (1924-1926) by Joan A. Roig. * Edifici del Col·legi d'Enginyers Industrials (1922) by

Antoni Ferrater Antoni is a Catalan, Polish, and Slovene given name and a surname used in the eastern part of Spain, Poland and Slovenia. As a Catalan given name it is a variant of the male names Anton and Antonio. As a Polish given name it is a variant of the fem ...

. * Casa Artur Suqué (1927) by

Adolf Florensa Adolf (also spelt Adolph or Adolphe, Adolfo and when Latinisation (literature), Latinised Adolphus) is a given name used in German language, German-speaking countries, Scandinavia, the Netherlands and Flanders, France, Italy, Spain, Portugal, L ...

. * Caixa Catalunya building (1931) by José Yárnoz Larrosa and Luis Menéndez Pidal Álvarez - It's been the

headquarters since 1955, but originally hosted

Banco de España The Bank of Spain ( es, link=no, Banco de España) is the central bank of Spain. Established in Madrid in 1782 by Charles III of Spain, Charles III, today the bank is a member of the European System of Central Banks and is also Spain's national ...

. * Casa dels Velers (1758-1763) by Juan Garrido i Bertrán * Foment del Treball building (1934-1936) by

- rationalist building, influenced by the Chicago School. * Edifici de Tabacs (1923) by Francesc Guàrdia Vidal. * Edifici de Correus (1926-1927 by Josep Goday Casals and Jaume Torres Grau.

Places of interest in the vicinity

Palau de la Música Catalana Palau de la Música Catalana (, en, Palace of Catalan Music) is a concert hall in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. Designed in the Catalan '' modernista'' style by the architect Lluís Domènech i Montaner, it was built between 1905 and 1908 for O ...

* Santa Caterina market *

Cathedral of Santa Eulàlia 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 const ...

Two closed metro stations

Via Laietana hosted two

metro Metro, short for metropolitan, may refer to: Geography * Metro (city), a city in Indonesia * A metropolitan area, the populated region including and surrounding an urban center Public transport * Rapid transit, a passenger railway in an urba ...

stations that were finally dismantled and abandoned because of different reasons.

Correos Sociedad Estatal de Correos y Telégrafos, S.A., trading as Correos (literally "Mails"), is a state-owned company responsible for providing postal service in Spain and, due to bilateral agreements, it has responsibility for mail services in Ando ...

was closed because of major changes in the metro line that crossed the area, and Banco was never opened.

Transport

Bus

*Line 17 *Line 19 *Line 40 *Line 45

Metro

Jaume I James I the Conqueror ( es, Jaime el Conquistador, ca, Jaume el Conqueridor; 2 February 1208 – 27 July 1276) was King of Aragon and Lord of Montpellier from 1213 to 1276; King of Majorca from 1231 to 1276; and Valencia from 1238 to 127 ...

( L4) * Urquinaona ( L1, L4)

Gallery

Image:Via Laietana.jpg, Casa Heribert Sales, with Casa Bulbena-Salas in the background. Image:Caixa de Pensions Barcelona.jpg, Caixa de Pensions building. Image:Domènech.i.Montaner.Palau.Musica.Catalana.8.Barcelona.JPG, The prestigious

is located next to Via Laietana File:View North,Via Laietana 18th April 2009 (1).JPG, View North along the Via Laietana.

References

*ALBAREDA, Joaquim, GUÀRDIA, Manel i altres. Enciclopèdia de Barcelona, Gran Enciclopèdia Catalana, Barcelona, 2006.

External links

Photo gallery at Poblesdecatalunya.cat
{{Coord, 41, 23, 07, N, 2, 10, 37, E, region:ES-B_type:landmark_source:kolossus-eswiki, display=title Streets in Barcelona Ciutat Vella