Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

autonomous community The autonomous communities () are the first-level administrative divisions of Spain, created in accordance with the Spanish Constitution of 1978, with the aim of guaranteeing limited autonomy to the nationalities and regions that make up Sp ...

Catalonia Catalonia is an autonomous community of Spain, designated as a ''nationalities and regions of Spain, nationality'' by its Statute of Autonomy of Catalonia of 2006, Statute of Autonomy. Most of its territory (except the Val d'Aran) is situate ...

province of Barcelona Barcelona (; ) is a province of eastern Spain, in the center of the autonomous community of Catalonia. The province is bordered by the provinces of Tarragona, Lleida, and Girona, and by the Mediterranean Sea. Its area is . making it the fifth most populous urban area of the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational union, supranational political union, political and economic union of Member state of the European Union, member states that are Geography of the European Union, located primarily in Europe. The u ...

after

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

, the

Ruhr The Ruhr ( ; , also ''Ruhrpott'' ), also referred to as the Ruhr Area, sometimes Ruhr District, Ruhr Region, or Ruhr Valley, is a polycentric urban area in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. With a population density of 1,160/km2 and a populati ...

area,

Madrid Madrid ( ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in Spain, most populous municipality of Spain. It has almost 3.5 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 7 million. It i ...

and

Milan Milan ( , , ; ) is a city in northern Italy, regional capital of Lombardy, the largest city in Italy by urban area and the List of cities in Italy, second-most-populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of nea ...

. It is one of the largest metropolises on 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 east by the Levant in West Asia, on the north by Anatolia in West Asia and Southern Eur ...

, located on the coast between the mouths of the rivers

Llobregat The Llobregat () is the second longest river in Catalonia, Spain, after the Ter. It flows into the Mediterranean south of the city of Barcelona. Its name could have originated in an ancient Latin word meaning 'dark', 'muddy' or 'slippery', or ...

and Besòs, bounded to the west by the

Serra de Collserola The Serra de Collserola (), or simply Collserola, is a mountain range between the rivers Besòs (river), Besòs and Llobregat. It is part of the Catalan Coastal Range. These mountains separate Barcelona from the Vallès plain and their tallest p ...

mountain range. According to tradition, Barcelona was founded by either the

Phoenicia Phoenicians were an Ancient Semitic-speaking peoples, ancient Semitic group of people who lived in the Phoenician city-states along a coastal strip in the Levant region of the eastern Mediterranean, primarily modern Lebanon and the Syria, Syrian ...

ns or the

Carthaginians The Punic people, usually known as the Carthaginians (and sometimes as Western Phoenicians), were a Semitic people, Semitic people who Phoenician settlement of North Africa, migrated from Phoenicia to the Western Mediterranean during the Iron ...

, who had trading posts along the Catalonian coast. In the Middle Ages, Barcelona became the capital of the

County of Barcelona The County of Barcelona (, ) was a polity in northeastern Iberian Peninsula, originally located in the southern frontier region of the Carolingian Empire. In the 10th century, the Counts of Barcelona progressively achieved independence from F ...

. After joining with the

Kingdom of Aragon The Kingdom of Aragon (; ; ; ) was a medieval and early modern Monarchy, kingdom on the Iberian Peninsula, corresponding to the modern-day Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Aragon, in Spain. It became a part of the larger ...

to form the composite monarchy of the

Crown of Aragon The Crown of Aragon (, ) ;, ; ; . was a composite monarchy ruled by one king, originated by the dynastic union of the Kingdom of Aragon and the County of Barcelona (later Principality of Catalonia) and ended as a consequence of the War of the Sp ...

, Barcelona, which continued to be the capital of the

Principality of Catalonia The Principality of Catalonia (; ; ; ) was a Middle Ages, medieval and early modern state (polity), state in the northeastern Iberian Peninsula. During most of its history it was in dynastic union with the Kingdom of Aragon, constituting together ...

, became the most important city in the Crown of Aragon and its main economic and administrative centre, only to be overtaken by

Valencia Valencia ( , ), formally València (), is the capital of the Province of Valencia, province and Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Valencian Community, the same name in Spain. It is located on the banks of the Turia (r ...

, wrested from Moorish control by the Catalans, shortly before the dynastic union between the

Crown of Castile The Crown of Castile was a medieval polity in the Iberian Peninsula that formed in 1230 as a result of the third and definitive union of the crowns and, some decades later, the parliaments of the kingdoms of Kingdom of Castile, Castile and Kingd ...

and the Crown of Aragon in 1516. Barcelona became the centre of

Catalan separatism The Catalan independence movement (; ; ) is a social and political movement with roots in Catalan nationalism that seeks the independence of Catalonia from Spain. While proposals, organizations and individuals advocating for Catalan independen ...

, briefly becoming part of

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

during the 17th century

Reapers' War The Reapers' War (, ; , ), also known as the Catalan Revolt or Catalan Revolution, was a conflict that affected the Principality of Catalonia between 1640 and 1659, in the context of the Franco-Spanish War (1635–1659), Franco-Spanish War of 1 ...

and again in 1812 until 1814 under

Napoleon Napoleon Bonaparte (born Napoleone di Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French general and statesman who rose to prominence during the French Revolution and led Military career ...

. Experiencing industrialization and several workers movements during the 19th and early 20th century, it became the capital of autonomous Catalonia in 1931 and it was the epicenter of the revolution experienced by Catalonia during the

Spanish Revolution of 1936 The Spanish Revolution was a social revolution that began at the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War in 1936, following the Spanish coup of July 1936, attempted coup to overthrow the Second Spanish Republic and arming of the worker movements an ...

, until its capture by the fascists in 1939. After the

Spanish transition to democracy The Spanish transition to democracy, known in Spain as (; ) or (), is a period of History of Spain, modern Spanish history encompassing the regime change that moved from the Francoist dictatorship to the consolidation of a parliamentary system ...

in the 1970s, Barcelona once again became the capital of an autonomous Catalonia. Barcelona has a rich cultural heritage and is today an important cultural centre and a major tourist destination. Particularly renowned are the architectural works of

Antoni Gaudí Antoni Gaudí i Cornet ( , ; ; 25 June 1852 – 10 June 1926) was a Catalans, Catalan architect and designer from Spain, widely known as the greatest exponent of Catalan ''Modernisme''. Gaudí's works have a style, with most located in Barc ...

and

Lluís Domènech i Montaner Lluís Domènech i Montaner (; 21 December 1850 – 27 December 1923) was a Catalan architect who was very much involved in and influential for the Catalan '' Modernisme català'', the Art Nouveau/ Jugendstil movement. He was also a Catalan pol ...

, which have been designated UNESCO

World Heritage Site World Heritage Sites are landmarks and areas with legal protection under an treaty, international treaty administered by UNESCO for having cultural, historical, or scientific significance. The sites are judged to contain "cultural and natural ...

s. The city is home to two of the most prestigious universities in Spain: the

University of Barcelona The University of Barcelona (official name in ; UB), formerly also known as Central University of Barcelona (), is a public research university located in the city of Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. It was established in 1450. With 76,000 students, ...

and

Pompeu Fabra University Pompeu Fabra University (, ; ) is a public university located in the city of Barcelona, Catalonia in Spain. Established in 1990 by the Autonomous Government of Catalonia and named after Pompeu Fabra, it is known for its competitiveness in resea ...

. The headquarters of the

Union for the Mediterranean The Union for the Mediterranean (UfM; , ''Al-Ittiḥād min ajl al-Mutawasseṭ'') is an intergovernmental organization of 43 member states from Europe and the Mediterranean Basin: the 27 Member state of the European Union, EU member states (i ...

are located in Barcelona. The city is known for hosting the

1992 Summer Olympics The 1992 Summer Olympics (, ), officially the Games of the XXV Olympiad (, ) and officially branded as Barcelona '92, were an international multi-sport event held from 25 July to 9 August 1992 in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. Beginning in 1994 ...

as well as world-class conferences and expositions. In addition, many international sport tournaments have been played here. Barcelona is a major cultural, economic, and financial centre in

southwestern Europe Europe is often divided into regions and subregions based on geographical, cultural or historical factors. Since there is no universal agreement on Europe's regional composition, the placement of individual countries may vary based on criteria ...

, as well as the main

biotech Biotechnology is a multidisciplinary field that involves the integration of natural sciences and engineering sciences in order to achieve the application of organisms and parts thereof for products and services. Specialists in the field are kn ...

hub in Spain. As a leading world city, Barcelona's influence in global socio-economic affairs qualifies it for

global city A global city (also known as a power city, world city, alpha city, or world center) is a city that serves as a primary node in the global economic network. The concept originates from geography and urban studies, based on the thesis that glo ...

status (Beta +). Barcelona is a

transport hub A transport hub is a place where passengers and cargo are exchanged between vehicles and/or between mode of transport, transport modes. Public transport hubs include train station, railway stations, metro station, rapid transit stations, bus ...

, with the

Port of Barcelona The Port of Barcelona (, ; ) is a major port in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. Its are divided into three zones: Port Vell (the Old Port), the commercial/industrial port, and the logistics port (Barcelona Free Port). The port is managed by the Port ...

being one of Europe's principal seaports and busiest European passenger port, an international airport, Barcelona–El Prat Airport, which handles over 50-million passengers per year, an extensive motorway network, and a

high-speed rail High-speed rail (HSR) is a type of rail transport network utilising trains that run significantly faster than those of traditional rail, using an integrated system of specialised rolling stock and dedicated railway track, tracks. While there is ...

line with a link to France and the rest of Europe.

Names

The name ''Barcelona'' comes from the ancient Iberian ''Baŕkeno'', attested in an ancient coin inscription found on the right side of the coin in

Iberian script Iberian refers to Iberia. Most commonly Iberian refers to: *Someone or something originating in the Iberian Peninsula, namely from Spain, Portugal, Gibraltar and Andorra. The term ''Iberian'' is also used to refer to anything pertaining to the fo ...

as

, in

Ancient Greek Ancient Greek (, ; ) includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the classical antiquity, ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Greek ...

sources as , ''Barkinṓn''; and in

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

as ''Barcino'', ''Barcilonum'' and ''Barcenona''. Other sources suggest that the city may have been named after the

Carthaginian The term Carthaginian ( ) usually refers to the civilisation of ancient Carthage. It may also refer to: * Punic people, the Semitic-speaking people of Carthage * Punic language The Punic language, also called Phoenicio-Punic or Carthaginian, i ...

general

Hamilcar Barca Hamilcar Barca or Barcas (; – 228BC) was a Ancient Carthage, Carthaginian general and statesman, leader of the Barcid family, and father of Hannibal, Hasdrubal Barca, Hasdrubal and Mago Barca, Mago. He was also father-in-law to Hasdrubal the F ...

, who was supposed to have founded the city in the 3rd century BC, but there is no evidence its name in antiquity, ''Barcino'', was connected with the

Barcid The Barcid () family was a notable Punic ( Phoenician) family in the ancient city of Carthage; many of its members were fierce enemies of the Roman Republic. "Barcid" is an adjectival form coined by historians (''cf.'' " Ramesside" and "Abbasid" ...

family of Hamilcar. During

the Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of World history (field), global history. It began with the fall of the West ...

, the city was variously known as ''Barchinona'', ''Barçalona'', ''Barchelonaa'', and ''Barchenona''. An abbreviated form sometimes used by locals for the city is ''Barna''. ''Barça'' is only applied to the local football club

FC Barcelona Futbol Club Barcelona (), commonly known as FC Barcelona and colloquially as Barça (), is a professional Football club (association football), football club based in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain, that competes in La Liga, the top flight of ...

, not to the city. Another common abbreviation is 'BCN', which is also the

IATA airport code An IATA airport code, also known as an IATA location identifier, IATA station code, or simply a location identifier, is a unique three-letter geocode designating many airports, cities (with one or more airports) and metropolitan areas (citie ...

of the Barcelona-El Prat Airport. The city is referred to as the ''Ciutat Comtal'' in Catalan and ''Ciudad Condal'' in Spanish (i.e., "Comital City" or "City of Counts"), owing to its past as the seat of the

Count of Barcelona The count of Barcelona (, , , ) was the ruler of the County of Barcelona and also, by extension and according with the Usages of Barcelona, Usages and Catalan constitutions, of the Principality of Catalonia as Prince#Prince as generic for ruler, p ...

.

History

Legendary founding

The origin of the earliest settlement at the site of present-day Barcelona is unclear. The ruins of an early settlement have been found, including different tombs and dwellings dating to earlier than 5000 BC. In Greek mythology, the founding of Barcelona had been attributed to the mythological

Hercules Hercules (, ) is the Roman equivalent of the Greek divine hero Heracles, son of Jupiter and the mortal Alcmena. In classical mythology, Hercules is famous for his strength and for his numerous far-ranging adventures. The Romans adapted the Gr ...

.

Punic Barcelona

According to tradition, Barcelona was founded by Punic ( Phoenician) settlers, who had trading posts along the Catalonian coast. In particular, some historians attribute the foundation of the city directly to the historical

Carthaginian The term Carthaginian ( ) usually refers to the civilisation of ancient Carthage. It may also refer to: * Punic people, the Semitic-speaking people of Carthage * Punic language The Punic language, also called Phoenicio-Punic or Carthaginian, i ...

general,

Hamilcar Barca Hamilcar Barca or Barcas (; – 228BC) was a Ancient Carthage, Carthaginian general and statesman, leader of the Barcid family, and father of Hannibal, Hasdrubal Barca, Hasdrubal and Mago Barca, Mago. He was also father-in-law to Hasdrubal the F ...

, father of

Hannibal Hannibal (; ; 247 – between 183 and 181 BC) was a Punic people, Carthaginian general and statesman who commanded the forces of Ancient Carthage, Carthage in their battle against the Roman Republic during the Second Punic War. Hannibal's fat ...

, who supposedly named the city ''Barcino'' after his family in the 3rd century BC, but this theory has been questioned. Iberia and Barcelona was controlled by the

Carthaginian Empire Ancient Carthage ( ; , ) was an Ancient Semitic-speaking peoples, ancient Semitic civilisation based in North Africa. Initially a settlement in present-day Tunisia, it later became a city-state, and then an empire. Founded by the Phoenicians ...

and was an important location for trade due to it's proximity to Punic

Ibiza Ibiza (; ; ; #Names and pronunciation, see below) or Iviza is a Spanish island in the Mediterranean Sea off the eastern coast of the Iberian Peninsula. It is 150 kilometres (93 miles) from the city of Valencia. It is the third largest of th ...

. Archeological evidence in the form of coins from the 3rd century BC have been found on the hills at the foot of Montjuïc with the name Bárkeno written in an ancient script in the Iberian language. Thus, some has argued that the Laietani, an ancient Iberian (pre-Roman) people of the Iberian peninsula, who inhabited the area occupied by the city of Barcelona around 3–2 BC after the Punic withdrawal from Iberia, called the area Bàrkeno, which means "The Place of the Plains" (Barrke = plains/terrace).

Roman Barcelona

In about 15 BC, the

Romans Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of Roman civilization *Epistle to the Romans, shortened to Romans, a letter w ...

redrew the town as a ''

castrum ''Castra'' () is a Latin language, Latin term used during the Roman Republic and Roman Empire for a military 'camp', and ''castrum'' () for a 'Fortification, fort'. Either could refer to a building or plot of land, used as a fortified milita ...

'' (Roman military camp) centred on the "''Mons Taber''", a little hill near the

Generalitat Generalitat (, literally in English 'Generality') is the name of two major medieval and early modern political institutions and their modern-day analogues in Kingdom of Spain. The ancient Principality of Catalonia and the Kingdom of Valencia we ...

(Catalan Government) and city hall buildings. The Roman Forum, at the crossing of the

Cardo Maximus A ''cardo'' (: ''cardines'') was a north–south street in ancient Roman cities and military camps as an integral component of city planning. The ''cardo maximus'', or most often the ''cardo'', was the main or central north–south-oriented str ...

and

Decumanus Maximus In Roman urban planning, a ''decumanus'' was an east–west-oriented road in a Roman city or '' castrum'' (military camp). The main ''decumanus'' of a particular city was the ''decumanus maximus'', or most often simply "the ''decumanus''". In t ...

, was approximately placed where current Plaça de Sant Jaume is. Thus, the political centre of the city,

Catalonia Catalonia is an autonomous community of Spain, designated as a ''nationalities and regions of Spain, nationality'' by its Statute of Autonomy of Catalonia of 2006, Statute of Autonomy. Most of its territory (except the Val d'Aran) is situate ...

, and its domains has remained in the same place for over 2,000 years. Under the Romans, it was a colony with the surname of ''Faventia'', or, in full, ''Colonia Faventia Julia Augusta Pia Barcino'' or ''Colonia Julia Augusta Faventia Paterna Barcino''.

Pomponius Mela Pomponius Mela, who wrote around AD 43, was the earliest known Roman geographer. He was born at the end of the 1st century BC in Tingentera (now Algeciras) and died AD 45. His short work (''De situ orbis libri III.'') remained in use nea ...

mentions it among the small towns of the district, probably as it was eclipsed by its neighbour ''

Tarraco Tarraco is the ancient name of the current city of Tarragona (Catalonia, Spain). It was the oldest Roman settlement on the Iberian Peninsula. It became the capital of Hispania Tarraconensis following the latter's creation during the Roman Empire ...

'' (modern

Tarragona Tarragona (, ; ) is a coastal city and municipality in Catalonia (Spain). It is the capital and largest town of Tarragonès county, the Camp de Tarragona region and the province of Tarragona. Geographically, it is located on the Costa Daurada ar ...

), but it may be gathered from later writers that it gradually grew in wealth and consequence, favoured as it was with a beautiful situation and an excellent harbour. It enjoyed immunity from imperial burdens. The city minted its own coins; some from the era of

Galba Galba ( ; born Servius Sulpicius Galba; 24 December 3 BC – 15 January AD 69) was Roman emperor, ruling for 7 months from 8 June AD 68 to 15 January 69. He was the first emperor in the Year of the Four Emperors and assumed the throne follow ...

survive. Important Roman vestiges are displayed in

Plaça del Rei Plaça del Rei (meaning "King's Square" in Catalan language, Catalan, in ) is a 14th-century medieval public square in the Barri Gòtic of Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. http://www.fodors.com/world/europe/spain/barcelona/review-115955.html FODOR T ...

underground, as a part of the

Barcelona City History Museum The Museum of the History of Barcelona (, MUHBA) is a history museum that conserves, researches, communicates and exhibits the historical heritage of the city of Barcelona, from its origins in Roman times until the present day. The museum's headq ...

(MUHBA); the typically Roman grid plan is still visible today in the layout of the historical centre, the ''

Barri Gòtic The Gothic Quarter ( or ; ) 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 a part of Ciutat Vella district. The quarter enc ...

'' (Gothic Quarter). Some remaining fragments of the

Roman walls Defensive walls are a feature of ancient Roman architecture. The Romans generally fortified cities, rather than building stand-alone fortresses, but there are some fortified camps, such as the Saxon Shore#The forts, Saxon Shore forts like Portu ...

have been incorporated into the cathedral. The cathedral, Catedral Basílica Metropolitana de Barcelona, is also sometimes called ''La Seu'', which simply means cathedral (and see, among other things) in Catalan. It is said to have been founded in 343.

Medieval Barcelona

The city was conquered by the

Visigoths The Visigoths (; ) were a Germanic people united under the rule of a king and living within the Roman Empire during late antiquity. The Visigoths first appeared in the Balkans, as a Roman-allied Barbarian kingdoms, barbarian military group unite ...

in the early 5th century, becoming for a few years the capital of all

Hispania Hispania was the Ancient Rome, Roman name for the Iberian Peninsula. Under the Roman Republic, Hispania was divided into two Roman province, provinces: Hispania Citerior and Hispania Ulterior. During the Principate, Hispania Ulterior was divide ...

. After being conquered by the Umayyads in the early 8th century, it was conquered after a siege in 801 by

Charlemagne Charlemagne ( ; 2 April 748 – 28 January 814) was List of Frankish kings, King of the Franks from 768, List of kings of the Lombards, King of the Lombards from 774, and Holy Roman Emperor, Emperor of what is now known as the Carolingian ...

's son

Louis Louis may refer to: People * Louis (given name), origin and several individuals with this name * Louis (surname) * Louis (singer), Serbian singer Other uses * Louis (coin), a French coin * HMS ''Louis'', two ships of the Royal Navy See also ...

, who made Barcelona the seat of the

Carolingian The Carolingian dynasty ( ; known variously as the Carlovingians, Carolingus, Carolings, Karolinger or Karlings) was a Frankish noble family named after Charles Martel and his grandson Charlemagne, descendants of the Arnulfing and Pippinid c ...

"

Hispanic March The Spanish March or Hispanic March was a march or military buffer zone established c. 795 by Charlemagne in the eastern Pyrenees and nearby areas, to protect the new territories of the Christian Carolingian Empire—the Duchy of Gascony, the Du ...

" (''Marca Hispanica''), a

buffer zone A buffer zone, also historically known as a march, is a neutral area that lies between two or more bodies of land; usually, between countries. Depending on the type of buffer zone, it may serve to separate regions or conjoin them. Common types o ...

ruled by the

Count of Barcelona The count of Barcelona (, , , ) was the ruler of the County of Barcelona and also, by extension and according with the Usages of Barcelona, Usages and Catalan constitutions, of the Principality of Catalonia as Prince#Prince as generic for ruler, p ...

.

The Counts of Barcelona became increasingly independent and expanded their territory to include much of modern

Catalonia Catalonia is an autonomous community of Spain, designated as a ''nationalities and regions of Spain, nationality'' by its Statute of Autonomy of Catalonia of 2006, Statute of Autonomy. Most of its territory (except the Val d'Aran) is situate ...

, although in 985, Barcelona was sacked by the army of

Almanzor Abu ʿĀmir Muḥammad ibn ʿAbdullāh ibn Abi ʿĀmir al-Maʿafiri (), nicknamed al-Manṣūr (, "the Victorious"), which is often Latinized as Almanzor in Spanish, Almansor in Catalan language, Catalan and Almançor in Portuguese ( 938 – 8 A ...

. The sack was so traumatic that most of Barcelona's population was either killed or enslaved. In 1137,

Aragon Aragon ( , ; Spanish and ; ) is an autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community in Spain, coextensive with the medieval Kingdom of Aragon. In northeastern Spain, the Aragonese autonomous community comprises three provinces of Spain, ...

and the

County of Barcelona The County of Barcelona (, ) was a polity in northeastern Iberian Peninsula, originally located in the southern frontier region of the Carolingian Empire. In the 10th century, the Counts of Barcelona progressively achieved independence from F ...

merged in

dynastic union A dynastic union is a type of union in which different states are governed beneath the same dynasty, with their boundaries, their laws, and their interests remaining distinct from each other. It is a form of association looser than a personal un ...

by the marriage of Ramon Berenguer IV and

Petronilla of Aragon Petronilla (29 June/11 August 1136 – 15 October 1173), whose name is also spelled Petronila or Petronella ( Aragonese: ''Peyronela'' or ''Payronella'', and ), was Queen of Aragon (1137–1164) from the abdication of her father, Ramiro II, ...

, their titles finally borne by only one person when their son

Alfonso II of Aragon Alfonso II (1–25 March 1157Benito Vicente de Cuéllar (1995)«Los "condes-reyes" de Barcelona y la "adquisición" del reino de Aragón por la dinastía bellónida» p. 630-631; in ''Hidalguía''. XLIII (252) pp. 619–632."Alfonso II el Casto, h ...

ascended to the throne in 1162. His territories were later to be known as the

Crown of Aragon The Crown of Aragon (, ) ;, ; ; . was a composite monarchy ruled by one king, originated by the dynastic union of the Kingdom of Aragon and the County of Barcelona (later Principality of Catalonia) and ended as a consequence of the War of the Sp ...

, which conquered many overseas possessions and ruled the western

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 east by the Levant in West Asia, on the north by Anatolia in West Asia and Southern Eur ...

with outlying territories in Naples and Sicily and as far as

Athens Athens ( ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Greece, largest city of Greece. A significant coastal urban area in the Mediterranean, Athens is also the capital of the Attica (region), Attica region and is the southe ...

in the 13th century. The Call Mayor- Carrer de Marlet y Carrer de la Fruita

Barcelona also had a substantial Jewish community at the time, then the largest

Jewish community Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, religion, and community are highly inte ...

in the Crown of Aragon. Called
the Call
" for the many small streets that defined the area, it later became enclosed. Montjuïc or Montjuich, in medieval Latin and Catalan, meaning "Jewish Mountain" and the birthplace of the city, is the site of a medieval Jewish cemetery, Jews continued to live in Barcelona until the

Massacre of 1391 The Massacre of 1391, also known as the pogroms of 1391, refers to a murderous wave of mass violence committed against the Jews of Spain by the Catholic populace in the kingdoms of Castile and Aragon, both in present-day Spain, in the year 139 ...

diminished their numbers. The

Spanish Inquisition The Tribunal of the Holy Office of the Inquisition () was established in 1478 by the Catholic Monarchs of Spain, Catholic Monarchs, King Ferdinand II of Aragon and Queen Isabella I of Castile and lasted until 1834. It began toward the end of ...

forced the remaining Jews who refused to convert to Christianity to be burned at the stake, or sell their property and leave. Barcelona was the leading

slave trade Slave trade may refer to: * History of slavery - overview of slavery It may also refer to slave trades in specific countries, areas: * Al-Andalus slave trade * Atlantic slave trade ** Brazilian slave trade ** Bristol slave trade ** Danish sl ...

centre of the Crown of Aragon up until the 15th century, when it was eclipsed by

Valencia Valencia ( , ), formally València (), is the capital of the Province of Valencia, province and Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Valencian Community, the same name in Spain. It is located on the banks of the Turia (r ...

. It initially fed from eastern and Balkan slave stock later drawing from a Maghribian and, ultimately,

Subsaharan Sub-Saharan Africa is the area and regions of the continent of Africa that lie south of the Sahara. These include Central Africa, East Africa, Southern Africa, and West Africa. Geopolitically, in addition to the list of sovereign states and ...

pool of slaves. The Bank or

Taula de canvi de Barcelona The Taula de canvi of Barcelona, created in 1401 and still extant in diminished form in the 19th century, was a municipal bank in Barcelona that has been described as the first-ever central bank. A Taula de canvi ("Table of change" in Catalan) ...

, often viewed as the oldest public bank in Europe, was established by the city

magistrate The term magistrate is used in a variety of systems of governments and laws to refer to a civilian officer who administers the law. In ancient Rome, a '' magistratus'' was one of the highest ranking government officers, and possessed both judi ...

s in 1401. It originated from necessities of the state, as did the Bank of Venice (1402) and the Bank of Genoa (1407).

Barcelona under the Spanish monarchy

In the beginning of the Early Modern period, Barcelona lost political primacy, but the economy managed to achieve a balance between production capacity and imports. In the context of the wider early recovery of Catalonia from the 17th-century crisis in the second half of the century, increasing maritime activity since 1675 doubled traffic in the port of Barcelona compared to figures from the beginning of the 17th century. In the late 17th and early 18th century, Barcelona repeatedly endured the effects of war, including the 1691 bombing, the sieges of 1697, 1704, 1705, 1706, and the 1713 blockade and ensuing 1714 siege and assault. In the 18th century, the population grew from 30,000 to about 100,000 inhabitants, as the city became one of the key mercantile centres in the Western Mediterranean, with inland influence up to

Zaragoza Zaragoza (), traditionally known in English as Saragossa ( ), is the capital city of the province of Zaragoza and of the autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Aragon, Spain. It lies by the Ebro river and its tributaries, the ...

, and to the south up to

Alicante Alicante (, , ; ; ; officially: ''/'' ) is a city and municipalities of Spain, municipality in the Valencian Community, Spain. It is the capital of the province of Alicante and a historic Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean port. The population ...

. A fortress was built at

Montjuïc Montjuïc () is a hill in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. Montjuïc or Montjuich, meaning "Jewish Mountain" in medieval Latin and Catalan, is a broad, shallow hill in Barcelona with a rich history. It was the birthplace of the city, and its st ...

that overlooked the harbour. Much of Barcelona was negatively affected by the

Napoleonic wars {{Infobox military conflict , conflict = Napoleonic Wars , partof = the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars , image = Napoleonic Wars (revision).jpg , caption = Left to right, top to bottom:Battl ...

, but the start of industrialization saw the fortunes of the province improve.

Transforming the city

In the mid-1850s, Barcelona was struggling with population density as it became an industrial,

port city A port is a maritime facility comprising one or more wharves or loading areas, where ships load and discharge cargo and passengers. Although usually situated on a sea coast or estuary, ports can also be found far inland, such as Hamburg, Manche ...

and European capital. The city's density was at 856 people per hectare, more than double that of Paris. Mortality rates were on the rise and any outbreaks of disease would devastate the population. To solve the issue, a civil engineer named

Ildefons Cerdà Ildefons Cerdà Sunyer (; ; 23 December 1815, Centelles (Catalonia) – 21 August 1876, Caldas de Besaya (Cantabria)) was a Spanish urban planner and civil engineer who designed the 19th-century "extension" of Barcelona called the ''Eixampl ...

proposed a plan for a new district known as the

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 ...

. The citizens of Barcelona had begun to demolish the medieval wall surrounding and constricting the city. Cerdà thought it best to transform the land outside the walls into an area characterized by a scientific approach to

urbanization Urbanization (or urbanisation in British English) is the population shift from Rural area, rural to urban areas, the corresponding decrease in the proportion of people living in rural areas, and the ways in which societies adapt to this change. ...

. His proposal consisted of a grid of streets to unite the old city and surrounding villages. There would also be wide streets to allow people to breathe clean air, gardens in the centre of each street block, integration of rich and poor giving both groups access to the same services, and smooth-flowing traffic. Urban quality, egalitarianism, hygiene, sunlight, and efficiency were all major keys for Cerdà's vision. Not everything he imagined would be realized within the Eixample district, but the iconic octagonal superblocks with chamfered corners for better visibility are his direct brainchild and remain immensely helpful even 170 years later. The district and its ideals were not appreciated at the time. The city council awarded the design of the extension plan to another architect. The Spanish government was the one to step in and impose Cerdà's plan, laying the groundwork for many more tensions between the Spanish and Catalan administrations. Regardless, some of the upper class citizens of Barcelona were excited by the new plan and began a race to build "the biggest, tallest, most attractive house" in the district. Their interest and money fueled the rich diversity that we now see in the district's architecture. In the end, Cerdà's ideas would have a lasting impact on Barcelona's development, earning it international recognition for its highly efficient approach to urban planning and design.

The Spanish Civil War and the Franco period

Government of the Republican Spain in Barcelona

Shortly after the establishment of the Second Spanish Republic, in 1931, it became the capital of the autonomous region of Catalonia. During the

Spanish Civil War The Spanish Civil War () was a military conflict fought from 1936 to 1939 between the Republican faction (Spanish Civil War), Republicans and the Nationalist faction (Spanish Civil War), Nationalists. Republicans were loyal to the Left-wing p ...

, the city, and Catalonia in general, were resolutely Republican. Many enterprises and public services were

collectivized Collective farming and communal farming are various types of "agricultural production in which multiple farmers run their holdings as a joint enterprise". There are two broad types of communal farms: agricultural cooperatives, in which member-o ...

by the CNT and UGT unions. As the power of the Republican government and the Generalitat diminished, much of the city was under the effective control of anarchist groups. The anarchists lost control of the city to their own allies, the Communists and official government troops, after the street fighting of the Barcelona

May Days The May Days (, ), sometimes also called May Events (, ), were a series of clashes between 3 and 8 May 1937 during which factions on the Republican faction (Spanish Civil War), Republican side of the Spanish Civil War engaged one another in str ...

. The fall of the city on 26 January 1939, caused a mass exodus of civilians who fled to the French border. The resistance of Barcelona to

Franco Franco may refer to: Name * Franco (name) * Francisco Franco (1892–1975), Spanish general and dictator of Spain from 1939 to 1975 * Franco Luambo (1938–1989), Congolese musician, the "Grand Maître" * Franco of Cologne (mid to late 13th cent ...

's ''coup d'état'' was to have lasting effects after the defeat of the Republican government. The autonomous institutions of

Catalonia Catalonia is an autonomous community of Spain, designated as a ''nationalities and regions of Spain, nationality'' by its Statute of Autonomy of Catalonia of 2006, Statute of Autonomy. Most of its territory (except the Val d'Aran) is situate ...

were abolished, and the use of the

Catalan language Catalan () is a Western Romance languages, Western Romance language and is the official language of Andorra, and the official language of three autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous communities in eastern Spain: Catalonia, the Balearic I ...

in public life was suppressed. Barcelona remained the second largest city in Spain, at the heart of a region which was relatively industrialized and prosperous, despite the devastation of the civil war. The result was a large-scale immigration from poorer regions of Spain (particularly

Andalusia Andalusia ( , ; , ) is the southernmost autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community in Peninsular Spain, located in the south of the Iberian Peninsula, in southwestern Europe. It is the most populous and the second-largest autonomou ...

,

Murcia Murcia ( , , ) is a city in south-eastern Spain, the Capital (political), capital and most populous city of the autonomous community of the Region of Murcia, and the Ranked lists of Spanish municipalities#By population, seventh largest city i ...

and Galicia), which in turn led to rapid urbanization.

Late twentieth century

In 1992, Barcelona hosted the

Summer Olympics The Summer Olympic Games, also known as the Summer Olympics or the Games of the Olympiad, is a major international multi-sport event normally held once every four years. The inaugural Games took place in 1896 in Athens, then part of the King ...

. The after-effects of this are credited with driving major changes in what had, up until then, been a largely industrial city. As part of the preparation for the games, industrial buildings along the sea-front were demolished and of beach were created. New construction increased the road capacity of the city by 17%, the sewage handling capacity by 27% and the amount of new green areas and beaches by 78%. Between 1990 and 2004, the number of hotel rooms in the city doubled. Perhaps more importantly, the outside perception of the city was changed making, by 2012, Barcelona the 12th most popular city destination in the world and the 5th amongst European cities.

Recent history

The death of Franco in 1975 brought on a period of democratization throughout Spain. Pressure for change was particularly strong in Barcelona, which considered that it had been punished during nearly forty years of Francoism for its support of the Republican government. Massive, but peaceful, demonstrations on 11 September 1977 assembled over a million people in the streets of Barcelona to call for the restoration of Catalan autonomy. It was granted less than a month later. The development of Barcelona was promoted by two events in 1986: Spanish accession to the European Community, and particularly Barcelona's designation as host city of the

1992 Summer Olympics The 1992 Summer Olympics (, ), officially the Games of the XXV Olympiad (, ) and officially branded as Barcelona '92, were an international multi-sport event held from 25 July to 9 August 1992 in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. Beginning in 1994 ...

. The process of

urban regeneration Urban renewal (sometimes called urban regeneration in the United Kingdom and urban redevelopment in the United States) is a program of land redevelopment often used to address real or perceived urban decay. Urban renewal involves the clearing ...

has been rapid, and accompanied by a greatly increased international reputation of the city as a tourist destination. The increased cost of housing has led to a slight decline (−16.6%) in the population over the last two decades of the 20th century as many families move out into the suburbs. This decline has been reversed since 2001, as a new wave of immigration (particularly from Latin America and from

Morocco Morocco, officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It has coastlines on the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to Algeria–Morocc ...

) has gathered pace. In 1987, an

ETA Eta ( ; uppercase , lowercase ; ''ē̂ta'' or ''ita'' ) is the seventh letter of the Greek alphabet, representing the close front unrounded vowel, . Originally denoting the voiceless glottal fricative, , in most dialects of Ancient Greek, it ...

car bomb A car bomb, bus bomb, van bomb, lorry bomb, or truck bomb, also known as a vehicle-borne improvised explosive device (VBIED), is an improvised explosive device designed to be detonated in an automobile or other vehicles. Car bombs can be roug ...

ing at Hipercor killed 21 people. On 17 August 2017, a van was driven into pedestrians on La Rambla, killing 14 and injuring at least 100, one of whom later died. Other attacks took place elsewhere in Catalonia. The Prime Minister of Spain,

Mariano Rajoy Mariano Rajoy Brey (, ; born 27 March 1955) is a Spanish politician who served as Prime Minister of Spain from 2011 to 2018, when a 2018 vote of no confidence in the government of Mariano Rajoy, vote of no confidence ousted his government. A m ...

, called the attack in Barcelona a

jihadist Jihadism is a neologism for modern, armed militant Political aspects of Islam, Islamic movements that seek to Islamic state, establish states based on Islamic principles. In a narrower sense, it refers to the belief that armed confrontation ...

attack.

Amaq News Agency Amaq News Agency () is a news outlet linked to the Islamic State (IS). Amaq is often the "first point of publication for claims of responsibility" for terrorist attacks in Western countries by the Islamic State. In March 2019, Amaq News Agency w ...

attributed indirect responsibility for the attack to the

Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant The Islamic State (IS), also known as the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) and Daesh, is a transnational Salafi jihadist organization and unrecognized quasi-state. IS occupied signi ...

(ISIL). During the 2010s, Barcelona became the focus city for the ongoing

Catalan independence movement The Catalan independence movement (; ; ) is a Social movement, social and political movement with roots in Catalan nationalism that seeks the independence of Catalonia from Spain. While proposals, organizations and individuals advocating for Ca ...

, its consequent standoff between the regional and national government and later protests. In July 2023, Barcelona was announced as the UNESCO-UIA World Capital of Architecture for the 2024–2026 term. This means it will be the hub for discussion around global challenges including culture, heritage, urban planning and architecture. In addition to being the capital through 2026, it will also host the UIA World Congress of Architects for that year. The honour is befitting of Barcelona, as its history is peppered with architectural achievement and various iconic styles and influences. From its ancient Roman roots, to the Gothic and Modernisme movements, Barcelona has thrived through the way it ties together architecture and culture.

Geography

Location

Barcelona is located on the northeast coast of the

Iberian Peninsula The Iberian Peninsula ( ), also known as Iberia, is a peninsula in south-western Europe. Mostly separated from the rest of the European landmass by the Pyrenees, it includes the territories of peninsular Spain and Continental Portugal, comprisin ...

, facing 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 east by the Levant in West Asia, on the north by Anatolia in West Asia and Southern Eur ...

, on a

plain In geography, a plain, commonly known as flatland, is a flat expanse of land that generally does not change much in elevation, and is primarily treeless. Plains occur as lowlands along valleys or at the base of mountains, as coastal plains, and ...

approximately wide limited by the mountain range of

Collserola The Serra de Collserola (), or simply Collserola, is a mountain range between the rivers Besòs and Llobregat. It is part of the Catalan Coastal Range. These mountains separate Barcelona from the Vallès plain and their tallest peak is the Ti ...

, the

Llobregat The Llobregat () is the second longest river in Catalonia, Spain, after the Ter. It flows into the Mediterranean south of the city of Barcelona. Its name could have originated in an ancient Latin word meaning 'dark', 'muddy' or 'slippery', or ...

river to the southwest and the Besòs river to the north. This plain covers an area of , of which are occupied by the city itself. It is south of the

Pyrenees The Pyrenees are a mountain range straddling the border of France and Spain. They extend nearly from their union with the Cantabrian Mountains to Cap de Creus on the Mediterranean coast, reaching a maximum elevation of at the peak of Aneto. ...

and the Catalan border with France.

Tibidabo Tibidabo () is a hill overlooking Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. At , it is the tallest hill in the Serra de Collserola. Rising sharply to the north-west, it has views over the city and the surrounding coastline. The summit of the hill is occupi ...

, high, offers striking views over the city and is topped by the

Torre de Collserola Torre de Collserola () is a uniquely designed tower located on the Tibidabo hill in the Serra de Collserola, in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. It was designed by the architect Sir Norman Foster and by the Spanish civil engineers Julio Martínez Cal ...

, a

telecommunications tower Radio masts and towers are typically tall structures designed to support antennas for telecommunications and broadcasting, including television. There are two main types: guyed and self-supporting structures. They are among the tallest human-m ...

that is visible from most of the city. Barcelona is peppered with small hills, most of them urbanized, that gave their name to the neighbourhoods built upon them, such as Carmel (), Putxet (es) () and Rovira (). The escarpment of

Montjuïc Montjuïc () is a hill in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. Montjuïc or Montjuich, meaning "Jewish Mountain" in medieval Latin and Catalan, is a broad, shallow hill in Barcelona with a rich history. It was the birthplace of the city, and its st ...

(), situated to the southeast, overlooks the harbour and is topped by

Montjuïc Castle Montjuïc () is a hill in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. Montjuïc or Montjuich, meaning "Jewish Mountain" in medieval Latin and Catalan, is a broad, shallow hill in Barcelona with a rich history. It was the birthplace of the city, and its st ...

, a fortress built in the 17–18th centuries to control the city as a replacement for the Ciutadella. Today, the fortress is a museum and Montjuïc is home to several sporting and cultural venues, as well as Barcelona's biggest park and gardens. The city borders on the municipalities of

Santa Coloma de Gramenet Santa Coloma de Gramenet (), informally simply known as Santa Coloma, and formerly as ''Gramenet de Besòs'' between 1936 and 1939, is a municipality in Barcelonès county, in Catalonia, Spain. It is situated on the south-east side of the Catal ...

and

Sant Adrià de Besòs Sant Adrià de Besòs () is a city and a municipality within the comarca of Barcelonès in Catalonia, north-eastern Spain. It is situated on the Mediterranean coast, at the mouth of river Besòs, extending to both sides of the estuary although th ...

to the north; 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 east by the Levant in West Asia, on the north by Anatolia in West Asia and Southern Eur ...

to the east;

El Prat de Llobregat El Prat de Llobregat (), commonly known as El Prat , is a municipality of Spain located in the ''comarca'' of Baix Llobregat in Catalonia. The Josep Tarradellas Barcelona–El Prat Airport largely lies within the municipal limits. It is part of ...

and

L'Hospitalet de Llobregat L'Hospitalet de Llobregat (; ), often shortened to L'Hospitalet or just L'H, is a Municipalities of Spain, municipality in the Barcelonès Comarques of Catalonia, ''comarca'', in Catalonia (Spain). It is part of the Barcelona metropolitan area, ...

to the south; and

Sant Feliu de Llobregat Sant Feliu de Llobregat () is an industrial city and municipality in Catalonia, Spain, in the province of Barcelona (province), Barcelona. It is the capital of the Comarques of Catalonia, comarca of Baix Llobregat, and the see of a Roman Catholic ...

,

Sant Just Desvern ; ) is a town near Barcelona, in the ''comarca'' of the Baix Llobregat, Catalonia, Spain. Sant Just Desvern is located in the 2,078317º of longitude and 41,381611º of latitude. It is situated at 122 m (average) above sea level. The maxim ...

,

Esplugues de Llobregat Esplugues de Llobregat () is a municipality of the Barcelona metropolitan area. Formerly in the ''Barcelonès'', since 1990 it has been part of the Comarques of Catalonia, comarca of Baix Llobregat. During recent decades Esplugues has evolved fro ...

,

Sant Cugat del Vallès Sant Cugat del Vallès () is a town and municipality north of Barcelona, Catalonia. Known as ''Castrum Octavianum'' in antiquity (which means ''the castle of Octavianus'') and as ''Pins del Vallès'' during the Second Spanish Republic, it is nam ...

, and

Montcada i Reixac Montcada i Reixac (), often referred to as simply Montcada, is a municipalities of Spain, municipality in the Comarques of Catalonia, ''comarca'' of the Vallès Occidental in Catalonia, Spain. It is situated at the confluence of the Ripoll river an ...

to the west. The municipality includes two small sparsely-inhabited

exclave An enclave is a territory that is entirely surrounded by the territory of only one other state or entity. An enclave can be an independent territory or part of a larger one. Enclaves may also exist within territorial waters. ''Enclave'' is s ...

s to the north-west.

Climate

According to the

Köppen climate classification The Köppen climate classification divides Earth climates into five main climate groups, with each group being divided based on patterns of seasonal precipitation and temperature. The five main groups are ''A'' (tropical), ''B'' (arid), ''C'' (te ...

, Barcelona has a hot summer

Mediterranean climate A Mediterranean climate ( ), also called a dry summer climate, described by Köppen and Trewartha as ''Cs'', is a temperate climate type that occurs in the lower mid-latitudes (normally 30 to 44 north and south latitude). Such climates typic ...

(''Csa''), with mild winters and warm to hot summers, while the rainiest seasons are autumn and spring. The rainfall pattern is characterized by a short (3 months)

dry season The dry season is a yearly period of low rainfall, especially in the tropics. The weather in the tropics is dominated by the tropical rain belt, which moves from the northern to the southern tropics and back over the course of the year. The t ...

in summer, as well as less winter rainfall than in a typical Mediterranean climate. However, both June and August are wetter than February, which is unusual for the Mediterranean climate. This subtype, labelled as "Portuguese" by the French geographer George Viers after the climate classification of

Emmanuel de Martonne Emmanuel de Martonne (, 1 April 1873 – 24 July 1955) was a French people, French geographer. He participated in the Paris Peace Conference, 1919, Paris Peace Conference. Early life and education Martonne was born on 1 April 1873 in Chabris, Ind ...

and found in the NW Mediterranean area (e.g.

Marseille Marseille (; ; see #Name, below) is a city in southern France, the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Departments of France, department of Bouches-du-Rhône and of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur Regions of France, region. Situated in the ...

), can be seen as transitional to the

humid subtropical climate A humid subtropical climate is a subtropical -temperate climate type, characterized by long and hot summers, and cool to mild winters. These climates normally lie on the southeast side of all continents (except Antarctica), generally between ...

(''Cfa'') found in inland areas. Barcelona is densely populated, thus heavily influenced by the

urban heat island effect Urban areas usually experience the urban heat island (UHI) effect; that is, they are significantly warmer than surrounding rural areas. The temperature difference is usually larger at night than during the day, and is most apparent when winds ar ...

. Areas outside of the urbanized districts can have as much as 2 °C of difference in temperatures throughout the year. Its average annual temperature is during the day and at night. The average annual temperature of the sea is about . In the coldest month, January, the temperature typically ranges from during the day, at night and the average sea temperature is . In the warmest month, August, the typical temperature ranges from during the day, about at night and the average sea temperature is . Generally, the summer or "holiday" season lasts about six months, from May to October. Two months – April and November – are transitional; sometimes the temperature exceeds , with an average temperature of during the day and at night. December, January and February are the coldest months, with average temperatures around during the day and at night. Large fluctuations in temperature are rare, particularly in the summer months. Because of the proximity to the warm sea plus the

urban heat island Urban areas usually experience the urban heat island (UHI) effect; that is, they are significantly warmer than surrounding rural areas. The temperature difference is usually larger at night than during the day, and is most apparent when winds ar ...

, frosts are very rare in the city of Barcelona. Snow is also very infrequent in the city of Barcelona, but light snowfalls can occur yearly in the nearby

Collserola The Serra de Collserola (), or simply Collserola, is a mountain range between the rivers Besòs and Llobregat. It is part of the Catalan Coastal Range. These mountains separate Barcelona from the Vallès plain and their tallest peak is the Ti ...

mountains, such as in the

Fabra Observatory The Fabra Observatory (, ; obs. code: 006) is an astronomical observatory located in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain pointed towards the south at 415 metres above sea level (latitude: 41,4184° N; longitude: 2,1239° E). It was established in 1904 ...

located in a nearby mountain. Barcelona averages 78 rainy days per year (≥ 1 mm), and annual average relative humidity is 72%, ranging from 69% in July to 75% in October. Rainfall totals are highest in late summer and autumn (September–November) and lowest in early and mid-summer (June–August), with a secondary winter minimum (February–March). Sunshine duration is 2,524 hours per year, from 138 (average 4.5 hours of sunshine a day) in December to 310 (average 10 hours of sunshine a day) in July.

Demographics

Province of Barcelona population pyramid

According to Barcelona's City Council, the city's population was 1,608,746 people,"Ajuntament de Barcelona – Population, household and homes statistics"
, retrieved 12 June 2017. on a land area of . It is the main component of an administrative area of Greater Barcelona, with a population of 3,218,071 in an area of (density 5,060 inhabitants/km²). The population of the urban area was 4,840,000. It is the central nucleus of the

Barcelona metropolitan area The Barcelona urban area is an urban area in Catalonia (Spain) centered on the city of Barcelona and located less than 100 km south of the border with France. With a population of over 5 million, it is one of the largest urban areas in Europ ...

, which relies on a population of 5,474,482.Population on 1 January by broad age group, sex and metropolitan regions
–

Eurostat Eurostat ("European Statistical Office"; also DG ESTAT) is a department of the European Commission ( Directorate-General), located in the Kirchberg quarter of Luxembourg City, Luxembourg. Eurostat's main responsibilities are to provide statist ...

, 2017 In 1900, Barcelona had a population of 533,000, which grew steadily but slowly until 1950, when it started absorbing a high number of people from other less-industrialized parts of Spain. Barcelona's population peaked in 1979 at 1,906,998, and fell throughout the 1980s and 1990s as more people sought a higher

quality of life Quality of life (QOL) is defined by the World Health Organization as "an individual's perception of their position in life in the context of the culture and value systems in which they live and in relation to their goals, expectations, standards ...

in outlying cities in the Barcelona Metropolitan Area. After bottoming out in 2000 with 1,496,266 residents, the city's population began to rise again as younger people started to return, causing a great increase in housing prices.

Languages spoken

Spanish is the most spoken language in Barcelona (according to the linguistic census held by the Government of Catalonia in 2013) and it is understood almost universally. Catalan is also very commonly spoken in the city: it is understood by 95% of the population, while 72.3% can speak it, 79% can read it, and 53% can write it. Knowledge of Catalan has increased significantly in recent decades thanks to a

language immersion Language immersion, or simply immersion, is a technique used in Bilingual education, bilingual language education in which two languages are used for instruction in a variety of topics, including maths, science, or social studies. The languages ...

educational system. After Catalan and Spanish, the most spoken languages in Barcelona are those from North Africa, such as

Amazigh Berbers, or the Berber peoples, also known as Amazigh or Imazighen, are a diverse grouping of distinct ethnic groups indigenous to North Africa who predate the arrival of Arabs in the Maghreb. Their main connections are identified by their u ...

and

Arabic Arabic (, , or , ) is a Central Semitic languages, Central Semitic language of the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family spoken primarily in the Arab world. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) assigns lang ...

, followed by

Bengali Bengali or Bengalee, or Bengalese may refer to: *something of, from, or related to Bengal, a large region in South Asia * Bengalis, an ethnic and linguistic group of the region * Bengali language, the language they speak ** Bengali alphabet, the w ...

,

Urdu Urdu (; , , ) is an Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in South Asia. It is the Languages of Pakistan, national language and ''lingua franca'' of Pakistan. In India, it is an Eighth Schedule to the Constitution of Indi ...

, Panjabi,

Mandarin Chinese Mandarin ( ; zh, s=, t=, p=Guānhuà, l=Mandarin (bureaucrat), officials' speech) is the largest branch of the Sinitic languages. Mandarin varieties are spoken by 70 percent of all Chinese speakers over a large geographical area that stretch ...

,

Romanian Romanian may refer to: *anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Romania **Romanians, an ethnic group **Romanian language, a Romance language ***Romanian dialects, variants of the Romanian language **Romanian cuisine, traditional ...

, English, Russian and

Quechua Quechua may refer to: *Quechua people, several Indigenous ethnic groups in South America, especially in Peru *Quechuan languages, an Indigenous South American language family spoken primarily in the Andes, derived from a common ancestral language ...

, according to data collected by the University of Barcelona.

Population density

Barcelona is one of the most densely populated cities in Europe. For the year 2008 the city council calculated the population to 1,621,090 living in the 102.2 km² sized municipality, giving the city an average population density of 15,926 inhabitants per square kilometre with

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 ...

being the most populated district.This text is entirely based on the municipal statistical database provided by the city council. In the case of Barcelona though, the land distribution is extremely uneven. Half of the municipality or 50.2 km², all of it located on the municipal edge is made up of the ten least densely populated neighbourhoods containing less than 10% of the city's population, the uninhabited

Zona Franca A free-trade zone (FTZ) is a class of special economic zone. It is a geographic area where goods may be imported, stored, handled, manufactured, or reconfigured and re-exported under specific customs regulation and generally not subject to ...

industrial area and

Montjuïc Montjuïc () is a hill in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. Montjuïc or Montjuich, meaning "Jewish Mountain" in medieval Latin and Catalan, is a broad, shallow hill in Barcelona with a rich history. It was the birthplace of the city, and its st ...

forest park. Leaving the remaining 90% or slightly below 1.5 million inhabitants living on the remaining at an average density close to 28,500 inhabitants per square kilometre. Of the 73 neighbourhoods in the city, 45 had a population density above 20,000 inhabitants per square kilometre with a combined population of 1,313,424 inhabitants living on 38.6 km² at an average density of 33,987 inhabitants per square kilometre. The 30 most densely populated neighbourhoods accounted for 57.5% of the city population occupying only 22.7% of the municipality, or in other words, 936,406 people living at an average density of 40,322 inhabitants per square kilometre. The city's highest density is found at and around the neighbourhood of la Sagrada Família where four of the city's most densely populated neighbourhoods are located side by side, all with a population density above 50,000 inhabitants per square kilometre.

Age structure

In 1900, almost a third (28.9 percent) of the population were children (aged younger than 14 years). In 2017, this age group constituted only 12.7% of the population. In 2017, people aged between 15 and 24 years made up 9 percent of the population; those aged between 25 and 44 years made up 30.6 percent of the population; while those aged between 45 and 64 years formed 56.9% of all Barcelonans. In 1900, people aged 65 and older made up just 6.5 percent of the population. In 2017, this age group made up 21.5 percent of the population.

Migration

In 2016, about 59% of the inhabitants of the city were born in

Catalonia Catalonia is an autonomous community of Spain, designated as a ''nationalities and regions of Spain, nationality'' by its Statute of Autonomy of Catalonia of 2006, Statute of Autonomy. Most of its territory (except the Val d'Aran) is situate ...

and 18.5% coming from the rest of the country. In addition to that, 22.5% of the population was born outside of Spain, a proportion which has more than doubled since 2001 and more than quintupled since 1996 when it was 8.6% and 3.9% respectively. The most important region of origin of migrants is Europe, with many coming from Italy (26,676) or France (13,506). Moreover, many migrants come from Latin American nations such as

Bolivia Bolivia, officially the Plurinational State of Bolivia, is a landlocked country located in central South America. The country features diverse geography, including vast Amazonian plains, tropical lowlands, mountains, the Gran Chaco Province, w ...

,

Ecuador Ecuador, officially the Republic of Ecuador, is a country in northwestern South America, bordered by Colombia on the north, Peru on the east and south, and the Pacific Ocean on the west. It also includes the Galápagos Province which contain ...

or

Colombia Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country primarily located in South America with Insular region of Colombia, insular regions in North America. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Caribbean Sea to the north, Venezuel ...

. Since the 1990s, and similar to other migrants, many Latin Americans have settled in northern parts of the city. There exists a relatively large Pakistani community in Barcelona with up to twenty thousand nationals. The community consists of significantly more men than women. Many of the Pakistanis are living in

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 nest ...

. First Pakistani migrants came in the 1970s, with increasing numbers in the 1990s. Other significant migrant groups come from Asia as from China and the

Philippines The Philippines, officially the Republic of the Philippines, is an Archipelagic state, archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. Located in the western Pacific Ocean, it consists of List of islands of the Philippines, 7,641 islands, with a tot ...

. There is a Japanese community clustered in Bonanova,

Les Tres Torres Les Tres Torres (, "the three towers") is a residential neighbourhood in the inland Sarrià-Sant Gervasi district of Barcelona, Catalonia (Spain). History The area was originally undeveloped land between the villages of Sarrià and Sant Gervas ...

,

Pedralbes Pedralbes (, Old Catalan for ''white stones'') is a neighborhood in '' Les Corts'' district of Barcelona, Catalonia (Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in No ...

, and other northern neighbourhoods, and a

Japanese international school ''Zaigai kyōiku shisetsu'' ( 在外教育施設 'Overseas educational institution'), or in English, Japanese international school or overseas Japanese school, may refer to one of three types of institutions officially classified by the Ministry ...

serves that community.

Religion

In 2007, most of the inhabitants stated they are

Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

(208 churches). In a 2011 survey conducted by InfoCatólica, 49.5% of Barcelona residents of all ages identified themselves as

Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

. This was the first time that more than half of respondents did not identify themselves as Catholic Christians. The numbers reflect a broader trend in Spain whereby the numbers of self-identified Catholics have declined. In 2019, a survey by

Centro de Investigaciones Sociológicas Centro may refer to: Places Brazil *Centro, Santa Maria, a neighborhood in Santa Maria, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil * Centro, Porto Alegre, a neighborhood of Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil * Centro (Duque de Caxias), a neighborhood of Du ...

showed that 53.2% of residents in Barcelona identified themselves as

Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

(9.9% practising Catholics, 43.3% non-practising Catholics). The province has the largest

Muslim Muslims () are people who adhere to Islam, a Monotheism, monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God ...

community in Spain, 322,698 people in Barcelona province are of Muslim religion. A considerable number of Muslims live in Barcelona due to immigration (169 locations, mostly professed by

Moroccans in Spain Moroccans in Spain (; ) formed 16.4% of the 4,549,858 foreigners in Spain as of 1 January 2017. They are again the largest foreign group in Spain, after they were surpassed temporarily by Romanians in 2007. In 2003, they were estimated to make u ...

). In 2014, 322,698 out of 5.5 million people in the province of Barcelona identified themselves as Muslim, which makes 5.6% of the total population. The city also has the largest Jewish community in Spain, with an estimated 3,500 Jews living in the city. There are also a number of other groups, including

Evangelical Evangelicalism (), also called evangelical Christianity or evangelical Protestantism, is a worldwide, interdenominational movement within Protestantism, Protestant Christianity that emphasizes evangelism, or the preaching and spreading of th ...

(71 locations, mostly professed by

Roma Roma or ROMA may refer to: People, characters, figures, names * Roma or Romani people, an ethnic group living mostly in Europe and the Americas. * Roma called Roy, ancient Egyptian High Priest of Amun * Roma (footballer, born 1979), born ''Paul ...

),

Jehovah's Witnesses Jehovah's Witnesses is a Christian denomination that is an outgrowth of the Bible Student movement founded by Charles Taze Russell in the nineteenth century. The denomination is nontrinitarian, millenarian, and restorationist. Russell co-fou ...

(21

Kingdom Hall A Kingdom Hall is a place of worship used by Jehovah's Witnesses. The term was first suggested in 1935 by Joseph Franklin Rutherford, then president of the Watch Tower Society, for a building in Hawaii. Rutherford's reasoning was that these ...

s),

Buddhists Buddhism, also known as Buddhadharma and Dharmavinaya, is an Indian religion and philosophical tradition based on teachings attributed to the Buddha, a wandering teacher who lived in the 6th or 5th century BCE. It is the world's fourth ...

(13 locations), and

Eastern Orthodox Eastern Orthodoxy, otherwise known as Eastern Orthodox Christianity or Byzantine Christianity, is one of the three main Branches of Christianity, branches of Chalcedonian Christianity, alongside Catholic Church, Catholicism and Protestantism ...

.

Economy

General information

The Barcelona metropolitan area comprises over 66% of the people of Catalonia, one of the richer regions in Europe and the fourth richest region per capita in Spain, with a GDP per capita amounting to €28,400 (16% more than the EU average). The greater Barcelona metropolitan area had a GDP amounting to $177 billion (equivalent to $34,821 in per capita terms, 44% more than the EU average), making it the 4th most economically powerful city by gross GDP in the European Union, and 35th in the world in 2009. Barcelona city had a very high GDP of €80,894 per head in 2004, according to

Eurostat Eurostat ("European Statistical Office"; also DG ESTAT) is a department of the European Commission ( Directorate-General), located in the Kirchberg quarter of Luxembourg City, Luxembourg. Eurostat's main responsibilities are to provide statist ...

.Urban Audit – CityProfiles: Barcelona
– Eurostat, 2004 Furthermore, Barcelona was Europe's fourth best business city and fastest improving European city, with growth improved by 17% per year . Barcelona was the 24th most "livable city" in the world in 2015 according to lifestyle magazine ''

Monocle A monocle is a type of corrective lens used to correct or enhance the visual perception in only one eye. It consists of a circular lens placed in front of the eye and held in place by the eye socket itself. Often, to avoid losing the monoc ...

''. Similarly, according to Innovation Analysts 2thinknow, Barcelona occupies 13th place in the world on ''Innovation Cities™ Global Index''. At the same time it is according to the Global Wealth and Lifestyle Report 2020 one of the most affordable cities in the world for a luxury lifestyle. Barcelona has a long-standing mercantile tradition. Less well known is that the city industrialized early, taking off in 1833, when Catalonia's already sophisticated textile industry began to use steam power. It became the first and most important industrial city in the Mediterranean basin. Since then, manufacturing has played a large role in its history. Borsa de Barcelona (Barcelona Stock Exchange) is the main stock exchange in the northeastern part of the Iberian Peninsula. Barcelona was recognized as the Southern European City of the Future for 2014/15, based on its economic potential, by ''

FDi Magazine ''fDi Intelligence'' is an English-language bi-monthly news and foreign direct investment (FDI) publication, providing an up-to-date review of global investment activity. The A4 glossy pages reach a circulation of 15,488 ABC audited, active corp ...

'' in their bi-annual rankings.

Trade fair and exhibitions

It also has several congress halls, notably

Fira de Barcelona Fira de Barcelona is Barcelona’s trade fair institution. Every year, it organises numerous trade shows and congresses. Information of interest It hosts over 150 trade shows, congresses and corporate events per year with 30,000 exhibitors, both ...

– the second largest trade fair and exhibition centre in Europe, that host a quickly growing number of national and international events each year (at present above 50). The total exhibition floor space of Fira de Barcelona venues is , not counting Gran Via centre on the

Plaza de Europa A town square (or public square, urban square, city square or simply square), also called a plaza or piazza, is an open public space commonly found in the heart of a traditional town or city, and which is used for community gatherings. Rela ...

. However, the

Eurozone crisis The euro area crisis, often also referred to as the eurozone crisis, European debt crisis, or European sovereign debt crisis, was a multi-year debt crisis and financial crisis in the European Union (EU) from 2009 until, in Greece, 2018. The ...

and deep cuts in business travel affected the council's positioning of the city as a convention centre. An important business centre, the World Trade Center Barcelona, is located in Barcelona's Port Vell harbour. The city is known for hosting well as world-class conferences and expositions, including the 1888 ''

Exposición Universal de Barcelona The 1888 Barcelona Universal Exposition (in Catalan: ''Exposició Universal de Barcelona'' and ''Exposición Universal de Barcelona'' in Spanish) was Spain's first International World's Fair and ran from 8 April to 9 December 1888. The second o ...

'', the

1929 Barcelona International Exposition The 1929 Barcelona International Exposition (also 1929 Barcelona Universal Exposition, or Expo 1929, officially in Spanish language, Spanish: ''Exposición Internacional de Barcelona 1929'') was the second World's fair, World Fair to be held in ...

(Expo 1929), the

2004 Universal Forum of Cultures The 2004 Universal Forum of Cultures (, ) was a 141-day international event that took place in the ''Centre de Convencions Internacional de Barcelona (CCIB)'' and its surrounding venues, Barcelona, Spain from May 9 to September 26, 2004, and was t ...

and the 2004

World Urban Forum The World Urban Forum (WUF) is the world’s premier conference on urban issues. It was established in 2001 by the United Nations to examine one of the most pressing issues facing the world today: rapid urbanisation and its impact on communities ...

.

Tourism

In 2023, Barcelona was the 9th most visited city in the world by international visitors and the fifth most visited city in Europe after Paris, Madrid, Amsterdam, and Rome, with around 9 million international arrivals. Barcelona is an internationally renowned tourist destination, with numerous recreational areas, one of the best beaches in the world,Movie "Worlds Best Beaches", Discovery Channel 2005 mild and warm climate, historical monuments, including eight UNESCO

World Heritage Site World Heritage Sites are landmarks and areas with legal protection under an treaty, international treaty administered by UNESCO for having cultural, historical, or scientific significance. The sites are judged to contain "cultural and natural ...

s, 519 hotels including 35 five-star hotels, and developed tourist infrastructure. Due to its large influx of tourists each year, Barcelona, like many other tourism capitals, has to deal with pickpockets, with wallets and passports being commonly stolen items. Despite its moderate pickpocket rate, Barcelona is considered one of the safest cities in terms of security and personal safety, mainly because of a sophisticated policing strategy that has dropped crime by 32% in just over three years and has led it to be considered the 15th safest city in the world by ''

Business Insider ''Business Insider'' (stylized in all caps: BUSINESS INSIDER; known from 2021 to 2023 as INSIDER) is a New York City–based multinational financial and business news website founded in 2007. Since 2015, a majority stake in ''Business Inside ...

'' in 2016. Street art in Barcelona 02

While tourism produces economic benefits, according to one report, the city is "overrun yhordes of tourists". In early 2017, over 150,000 protesters warned that tourism is destabilizing the city. Slogans included "Tourists go home", "Barcelona is not for sale" and "We will not be driven out". By then, the number of visitors had increased from 1.7 million in 1990 to 32 million in a city with a population of 1.62 million, increasing the cost of rental housing for residents and overcrowding the public places. While tourists spent an estimated €30 billion in 2017, they are viewed by some as a threat to Barcelona's identity. A May 2017 article in the British online daily ''

The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publis ...

'' included Barcelona among the "Eight Places That Hate Tourists the Most" and included a comment from Mayor

Ada Colau Ada Colau Ballano ( ; born 3 March 1974) is a Spanish activist and politician who was Mayor of Barcelona between 2015 and 2023. On 13 June 2015 she was elected Mayor of Barcelona, the first woman to hold the office, as part of the citizen munici ...

, "We don't want the city to become a cheap souvenir shop", citing Venice as an example. To moderate the problem, the city has stopped issuing licenses for new hotels and holiday apartments; it also fined AirBnb €30,000. The mayor has suggested introducing a new tourist tax and setting a limit on the number of visitors. One industry insider, Justin Francis, founder of the Responsible Travel agency, stated that steps must be taken to limit the number of visitors that are causing an "overtourism crisis" in several major European cities. "Ultimately, residents must be prioritised over tourists for housing, infrastructure and access to services because they have a long-term stake in the city's success", he said. "Managing tourism more responsibly can help", Francis later told a journalist, "but some destinations may just have too many tourists, and Barcelona may be a case of that".

Manufacturing sector

Industry generates 21% of the total gross domestic product (GDP) of the region, with the energy, chemical and metallurgy industries accounting for 47% of industrial production. The Barcelona metropolitan area had 67% of the total number of industrial establishments in Catalonia as of 1997. Barcelona has long been an important European automobile manufacturing centre. Formerly there were automobile factories of AFA, Abadal, Actividades Industriales, Alvarez,

America The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

, Artés de Arcos, Balandrás, Baradat-Esteve,

Biscúter Biscúter ( Spanish spelling for the pronunciation of BiScooter) is a microcar manufactured in Spain, by Auto Nacional, SA, from 1953 until 1960, total of all versions around 10,000 units. Background Raw material shortages and general economic ...

, J. Castro, Clúa,

David David (; , "beloved one") was a king of ancient Israel and Judah and the third king of the United Monarchy, according to the Hebrew Bible and Old Testament. The Tel Dan stele, an Aramaic-inscribed stone erected by a king of Aram-Dam ...

, Delfín, Díaz y Grilló, Ebro trucks, , Elizalde, Automóviles España,

Eucort Eucort (Eusebio Cortés SA) was a Spanish automobile manufacturer based at Barcelona from 1945 till 1953. An attempt at creating a "popular car", the first Eucort was based on a prewar DKW design. It featured a 764 cc twin-cylinder two-stro ...

, Fenix, Fábrica Hispano, Auto Academia Garriga, Fábrica Española de Automóviles Hebe,

Hispano-Suiza Hispano-Suiza () is a Spanish automotive company. It was founded in 1904 by Marc Birkigt and as an automobile manufacturer and eventually had several factories in Spain and France that produced luxury cars, aircraft engines, trucks and weapons. ...

, Huracán Motors, Talleres Hereter, Junior SL,

Kapi Kapi, Kapı, or KAPI may refer to: Places * Kapi, Estonia, a village in Estonia * Kapı, Karataş, a village in Turkey * a possible old volcanic eruption site near Krakatoa People * Mari Kapi (1950–2009), Papua New Guinean judge * Mustaf ...

,

La Cuadra La Cuadra is a municipality and village in La Rioja Province in northwestern Argentina Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is a country in the southern half of South America. It covers an area of , making it the List of South Am ...

, M.A., Automóviles Matas, Motores y Motos, Nacional Custals, National Pescara, Nacional RG, Nacional Rubi, Nacional Sitjes, Automóviles Nike, Orix, Otro Ford, Patria,

Pegaso Pegaso (, "Pegasus") was a Spanish manufacturer of trucks, buses, tractors, armored vehicles, and, for a while, to train apprentices, and have a good brand image, some sports cars. The parent company, Enasa, was created in 1946 and based in t ...

, PTV, Ricart, Ricart-España, Industrias Salvador, Siata Española, Stevenson, Romagosa y Compañía, Garaje Storm, Talleres Hereter, Trimak, Automóviles Victoria, Manufacturas Mecánicas Aleu. Today, the headquarters and a large factory of

SEAT A seat is a place to sit. The term may encompass additional features, such as back, armrest, head restraint but may also refer to concentrations of power in a wider sense (i.e " seat (legal entity)"). See disambiguation. Types of seat The ...

(the largest Spanish automobile manufacturer) are in one of its suburbs. There is also a

Nissan is a Japanese multinational Automotive industry, automobile manufacturer headquartered in Yokohama, Kanagawa, Japan. The company sells its vehicles under the ''Nissan'' and ''Infiniti'' brands, and formerly the ''Datsun'' brand, with in-house ...

factory in the logistics and industrial area of the city. The factory of

Derbi Derbi is a manufacturer of motorcycles, scooters, mopeds and recreational all-terrain vehicles produced by Nacional Motor S.A.U., currently integrated into the Italian (2009) Piaggio Group. History Derbi's origins began with a little bicycle wo ...

, a large manufacturer of motorcycles, scooters and mopeds, also lies near the city. As in other modern cities, the

manufacturing sector In macroeconomics, the secondary sector of the economy is an economic sector in the three-sector theory that describes the role of manufacturing. It encompasses industries that produce a finished, usable product or are involved in construction ...

has long since been overtaken by the services sector, though it remains very important. The region's leading industries are textiles, chemical,

pharmaceutical Medication (also called medicament, medicine, pharmaceutical drug, medicinal product, medicinal drug or simply drug) is a drug used to diagnose, cure, treat, or prevent disease. Drug therapy ( pharmacotherapy) is an important part of the ...

, motor, electronic, printing, logistics, publishing, in telecommunications industry and culture the notable

Mobile World Congress MWC Barcelona (formerly but still commonly referred to as Mobile World Congress) is an annual trade show dedicated to the mobile communications industry. The event is held in L'Hospitalet de Llobregat, Spain, at the Fira de Barcelona Gran ...

, and information technology services.

Fashion

The traditional importance of textiles is reflected in Barcelona's drive to become a major fashion centre. There have been many attempts to launch Barcelona as a

fashion capital A fashion capital is a city with major influence on the international fashion scene, from history, heritage, designers, trends, and styles, to manufacturing innovation and retailing of fashion products, including events such as fashion weeks, ...

, notably ''Gaudi Home''. Beginning in the summer of 2000, the city hosted the Bread & Butter urban fashion fair until 2009, when its organizers announced that it would be returning to

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

. This was a hard blow for the city as the fair brought €100 m to the city in just three days. From 2009, '' The Brandery'', an urban fashion show, was held in Barcelona twice a year until 2012. According to the

Global Language Monitor The Global Language Monitor (GLM) is a company based in Austin, Texas, that analyzes trends in the English language. History Founded in Silicon Valley in 2003 by Paul J.J. Payack, the GLM describes its role as "a media analytics company ...

's annual ranking of the world's top fifty fashion capitals Barcelona was named as the seventh most important

fashion capital A fashion capital is a city with major influence on the international fashion scene, from history, heritage, designers, trends, and styles, to manufacturing innovation and retailing of fashion products, including events such as fashion weeks, ...

of the world right after

Milan Milan ( , , ; ) is a city in northern Italy, regional capital of Lombardy, the largest city in Italy by urban area and the List of cities in Italy, second-most-populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of nea ...

and before

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

in 2015.

Government and administrative divisions

As the capital of the autonomous community of

Catalonia Catalonia is an autonomous community of Spain, designated as a ''nationalities and regions of Spain, nationality'' by its Statute of Autonomy of Catalonia of 2006, Statute of Autonomy. Most of its territory (except the Val d'Aran) is situate ...

, Barcelona is the seat of the Catalan government, known as the ''

Generalitat de Catalunya The Generalitat de Catalunya (; ; ), or the Government of Catalonia, is the institutional system by which Catalonia is self-governed as an autonomous community of Spain. It is made up of the Parliament of Catalonia, the President of the Govern ...

''; of particular note are the

executive branch The executive branch is the part of government which executes or enforces the law. Function The scope of executive power varies greatly depending on the political context in which it emerges, and it can change over time in a given country. In ...

, the

parliament In modern politics and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...

, and the

High Court of Justice of Catalonia The High Court of Justice of Catalonia () is the highest body and last judicial instance of the Spanish judiciary in Catalonia. Unlike the Parliament of Catalonia (legislative branch) or the Executive Council of Catalonia (executive branch), t ...

. The city is also the capital of the

Province of Barcelona Barcelona (; ) is a province of eastern Spain, in the center of the autonomous community of Catalonia. The province is bordered by the provinces of Tarragona, Lleida, and Girona, and by the Mediterranean Sea. Its area is .Barcelonès Barcelonès () is the most populated comarca of Catalonia, Spain. It contains Barcelona Barcelona ( ; ; ) is a city on the northeastern coast of Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well a ...

comarca A ''comarca'' (, , , ) is a traditional region or local administrative division found in Portugal, Spain, and some of their former colonies, like Brazil, Nicaragua, and Panama. The term is derived from the term ''marca'', meaning a "march, mark ...

(district). Barcelona is governed by a city council formed by 41 city councillors, elected for a four-year term by

universal suffrage Universal suffrage or universal franchise ensures the right to vote for as many people bound by a government's laws as possible, as supported by the " one person, one vote" principle. For many, the term universal suffrage assumes the exclusion ...

. As one of the two biggest cities in Spain, Barcelona is subject to a special law articulated through the ''Carta Municipal'' (Municipal Law). A first version of this law was passed in 1960 and amended later, but the current version was approved in March 2006. According to this law, Barcelona's city council is organized in two levels: a political one, with elected city councillors, and one executive, which administers the programs and executes the decisions taken on the political level. This law also gives the local government a special relationship with the central government and it also gives the mayor wider prerogatives by the means of municipal executive commissions. It expands the powers of the city council in areas like telecommunications, city traffic,

road safety Road traffic safety refers to the methods and measures, such as traffic calming, to prevent road users from being killed or seriously injured. Typical road users include pedestrians, cyclists, Driving, motorists, passengers of vehicles, and p ...

and

public safety Public security or public safety is the prevention of and protection from events that could endanger the safety and security of the public from significant danger, injury, or property damage. It is often conducted by a state government to ensu ...

. It also gives a special economic regime to the city's treasury and it gives the council a veto in matters that will be decided by the central government, but that will need a favourable report from the council. The ''Comissió de Govern'' (Government Commission) is the executive branch, formed by 24 councillors, led by the

Mayor In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a Municipal corporation, municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilitie ...

, with 5 lieutenant-mayors and 17 city councillors, each in charge of an area of government, and 5 non-elected councillors. The plenary, formed by the 41 city councillors, has advisory, planning, regulatory, and fiscal executive functions. The six ''Commissions del Consell Municipal'' (City council commissions) have executive and controlling functions in the field of their jurisdiction. They are composed by a number of councillors proportional to the number of councillors each political party has in the plenary. The city council has jurisdiction in the fields of

city planning Urban planning (also called city planning in some contexts) is the process of developing and designing land use and the built environment, including air, water, and the infrastructure passing into and out of urban areas, such as transportatio ...

, transportation, municipal taxes, public highways security through the '' Guàrdia Urbana'' (the municipal police), city maintenance, gardens, parks and environment, facilities (like schools, nurseries, sports centres, libraries, and so on), culture, sports, youth and

social welfare Welfare spending is a type of government support intended to ensure that members of a society can meet basic human needs such as food and shelter. Social security may either be synonymous with welfare, or refer specifically to social insurance p ...

. Some of these competencies are not exclusive, but shared with the Generalitat de Catalunya or the central

Spanish government The government of Spain () is the central government which leads the executive branch and the General State Administration of the Kingdom of Spain. The Government consists of the Prime Minister and the Ministers; the prime minister has the o ...

. In some fields with shared responsibility (such as public health, education or social services), there is a shared Agency or Consortium between the city and the Generalitat to plan and manage services. The executive branch is led by a Chief Municipal Executive Officer which answers to the Mayor. It is made up of departments which are legally part of the city council and by separate legal entities of two types: autonomous public departments and public enterprises. The seat of the city council is on the Plaça de Sant Jaume, opposite the seat of Generalitat de Catalunya. Since the coming of the Spanish democracy, Barcelona had been governed by the PSC, first with an

absolute majority A majority is more than half of a total; however, the term is commonly used with other meanings, as explained in the " Related terms" section below. It is a subset of a set consisting of more than half of the set's elements. For example, if a gr ...

and later in coalition with ERC and ICV. After the May 2007 election, the ERC did not renew the coalition agreement and the PSC governed in a minority coalition with ICV as the junior partner. After 32 years, on 22 May 2011,

CiU CIU may refer to: *Crash Investigation Unit, an Australian factual television program *Working Men's Club and Institute Union, an association of social clubs in the United Kingdom * Chippewa County International Airport in Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan ...

gained a plurality of seats at the municipal election, gaining 15 seats to the PSC's 11. The PP hold 8 seats, ICV 5 and ERC 2.

Districts

Since 1987, the city has been divided into 10 administrative

districts A district is a type of administrative division that in some countries is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or counties, several municipalities, subdivisions ...

(''districtes'' in Catalan, ''distritos'' in Spanish): *

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 nest ...

*

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 ...

*

Sants-Montjuïc Sants-Montjuïc () is one of the ten districts into which Barcelona has been split since 1984, numbered District 3. Comprising very different areas of the city, it covers the southern part of Barcelona, joining the two former districts ''II'' (made ...

* Les Corts *

Sarrià-Sant Gervasi Sarrià-Sant Gervasi () is one of the biggest districts of Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. It is the district with the highest per capita income, the largest proportion of university degrees and the lowest unemployment rate. Situated on the north-we ...

*

Gràcia Gràcia (), meaning "grace" (in English), is a district of the Mediterranean city of Barcelona, in the northeastern autonomous community of Catalonia, Spain. It comprises the ''barris'' (neighborhoods) of Vila de Gràcia, Vallcarca i els Pe ...

*

Horta-Guinardó Horta-Guinardó () is the name of one of the districts of Barcelona, located in its North-Eastern corner. It is named after two very heterogeneous areas of the city, Horta and El Guinardó, which together cover a large area of 11.92 km2, a ...

*

Nou Barris Nou Barris (, "nine neighbourhoods") is one of the ten districts into which Barcelona has been officially divided since 1984. The name refers to the original nine neighbourhoods it was composed of, even though nowadays it is made up of thirteen. ...

*

Sant Andreu Sant Andreu () is one of the ten districts of Barcelona since its redistricting in 1984. It was named after the former municipality of Sant Andreu de Palomar, which was the largest in the area and now makes up the bulk of the neighbourhood beari ...

* Sant Martí The districts are based mostly on historical divisions, and several are former towns

annexed Annexation, in international law, is the forcible acquisition and assertion of legal title over one state's territory by another state, usually following military occupation of the territory. In current international law, it is generally held to ...

by the city of Barcelona in the 18th and 19th centuries that still maintain their own distinct character. Each district has its own council led by a city councillor. The composition of each district council depends on the number of votes each political party had in that district, so a district can be led by a councillor from a different party than the executive council.

Education

Barcelona has a well-developed higher education system of

public universities A public university, state university, or public college is a university or college that is State ownership, owned by the state or receives significant funding from a government. Whether a national university is considered public varies from o ...

. Most prominent among these are the

University of Barcelona The University of Barcelona (official name in ; UB), formerly also known as Central University of Barcelona (), is a public research university located in the city of Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. It was established in 1450. With 76,000 students, ...

(established in 1450) and the more modern

Pompeu Fabra University Pompeu Fabra University (, ; ) is a public university located in the city of Barcelona, Catalonia in Spain. Established in 1990 by the Autonomous Government of Catalonia and named after Pompeu Fabra, it is known for its competitiveness in resea ...

. Barcelona is also home to the

Polytechnic University of Catalonia The Polytechnic University of Catalonia (, , ; UPC), currently referred to as BarcelonaTech, is the largest polytechnic university in Catalonia, Spain. UPC's objectives are based on internationalization, as it is one of Europe's techni ...

, and in the private sector the EADA Business School (founded in 1957), which became the first Barcelona institution to run manager training programmes for the business community.

IESE IESE Business School is the Catholic graduate business school of the University of Navarra. It was established in Barcelona in 1958 by Opus Dei. From 1963, in collaboration with Harvard Business School, it offers a two-year Master of Business Adm ...

Business School, as well as the largest private educational institution, the

Ramon Llull University University Ramon Llull (, URL; ) is a private university located in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain established in 1990. Currently it is made up of several different colleges specializing in different subjects; most of which are located in downtown Ba ...

, which encompasses schools and institutes such as the

ESADE Esade (Escola Superior d'Administració i Direcció d'Empreses) is an international private educational institution based in Barcelona, Spain. Esade runs two schools of the university, ESADE Business School, Esade Business School and ESADE Law Sch ...

Business School. The

Autonomous University of Barcelona The Autonomous University of Barcelona (; Spanish: ; ; UAB) is a public university mostly located in Cerdanyola del Vallès, near the city of Barcelona in Catalonia, Spain. , the university consists of 57 departments in the experimental, lif ...

, another public university, is located in

Bellaterra Bellaterra () is a decentralized municipal entity of Cerdanyola del Vallès, in the metropolitan area of Barcelona (Catalonia, Spain). It is best known for being the location of the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB). The urbanisation of th ...

, a town in the

Metropolitan Area A metropolitan area or metro is a region consisting of a densely populated urban area, urban agglomeration and its surrounding territories which share Industry (economics), industries, commercial areas, Transport infrastructure, transport network ...

. Toulouse Business School and the

Open University of Catalonia The Open University of Catalonia (; ) is a private Open supported learning, open university based in Barcelona, Spain. The UOC offers graduate and postgraduate programs in Catalan language, Catalan, Spanish language, Spanish and English languag ...

(a private Internet-centred open university) are also based in Barcelona. The city has a network of public schools, from nurseries to high schools, under the responsibility of a consortium led by city council (though the curriculum is the responsibility of the Generalitat de Catalunya). There are also many private schools, some of them Roman Catholic. Most such schools receive a public subsidy on a per-student basis, are subject to inspection by the public authorities, and are required to follow the same curricular guidelines as public schools, though they charge tuition. Known as ''escoles concertades'', they are distinct from schools whose funding is entirely private (''escoles privades''). The language of instruction at public schools and ''escoles concertades'' is Catalan, as stipulated by the 2009 Catalan Education Act. Spanish may be used as a language of instruction by teachers of Spanish literature or language, and foreign languages by teachers of those languages. An experimental partial immersion programme adopted by some schools allows for the teaching of a foreign language (English, generally) across the curriculum, though this is limited to a maximum of 30% of the school day. No public school or ''escola concertada'' in Barcelona may offer 50% or full immersion programmes in a foreign language, nor does any public school or ''escola concertada'' offer International Baccalaureate programmes.

Culture

Barcelona's cultural roots go back 2000 years. Since the arrival of democracy, the Catalan language (very much repressed during the dictatorship of Franco) has been promoted, both by recovering works from the past and by stimulating the creation of new works. Barcelona is designated as a world-class city by the Globalization and World Cities Study Group and Network. It has also been part of the

UNESCO Creative Cities Network The UNESCO Creative Cities Network (UCCN) is a flagship city programme of UNESCO launched in 2004 to promote cooperation among cities which have recognized culture and creativity as strategic drivers of sustainable urban development Urban means ...

as a City of Literature since 2015.

Entertainment and performing arts

Barcelona has many venues for

live music A concert, often known informally as a gig or show, is a live performance of music in front of an audience. The performance may be carried by a single musician, in which case it is sometimes called a recital, or by a musical ensemble such as an ...

and theatre, including the world-renowned

Gran Teatre del Liceu Gran may refer to: People *Grandmother, affectionately known as "gran" * Gran (name) Places * Gran, the historical German name for Esztergom, a city and the primatial metropolitan see of Hungary * Gran, Norway, a municipality in Innlandet coun ...

opera house, the

Teatre Nacional de Catalunya Teatre Nacional de Catalunya (TNC; ; ''National Theatre of Catalonia'') is a public theatre located in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. It was created by the Culture Department of the Catalan Government to normalize and enhance the theatre and dance ...

, the Teatre Lliure and the

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

concert hall. Barcelona also is home to the Barcelona Symphony and Catalonia National Orchestra (Orquestra Simfònica de Barcelona i Nacional de Catalunya, usually known as OBC), the largest symphonic orchestra in Catalonia. In 1999, the OBC inaugurated its new venue in the brand-new Auditorium (

L'Auditori L'Auditori () is a modern building of 42,000 square metres designed by the architect Rafael Moneo, opened on 22 March 1999, in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. It is in the centre of the new pole of urban development of Plaça de les Glòries, wh ...

). It performs around 75 concerts per season and its current director is Eiji Oue. It is home to the Barcelona Guitar Orchestra, directed by Sergi Vicente. The major thoroughfare of La Rambla is home to mime artists and street performers. Yearly, two major pop music festivals take place in the city, the

Sónar Sónar is a festival dedicated to music, creativity and technology, founded in Barcelona in 1994 by Ricard Robles, Enric Palau, and Sergi Caballero. The festival has been divided into two parts since its inception: Sónar by Day and Sónar b ...

Festival and the

Primavera Sound Festival Primavera Sound (commonly referred to as Primavera) is an annual music festival held at the Parc del Fòrum in Barcelona, Spain, during late May and early June. It was founded in 2001 by Pablo Soler as "a showcase for Spanish noise bands", origin ...

. The city also has a thriving

alternative music Alternative music may refer to the following types of music: *Independent music *Alternative rock *Alternative pop *Alternative R&B *Neo soul, sometimes known as alternative soul *Alternative reggaeton *Alternative hip hop *Alternative dance *Alter ...

scene, with groups such as

The Pinker Tones The Pinker Tones is an alternative pop band from Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. They have released six albums. Songs like "Sampleame" and "The Whistling Song" are some of their greatest hits with many of them being included in the FIFA associations ...

receiving international attention. Barcelona is an international hub of highly active and diverse

nightlife Nightlife is a collective term for entertainment that is available and generally more popular from the late evening into the early hours of the morning. It includes pubs, bars, nightclubs, parties, live music, concerts, cabarets, theatre, ...

with bars, dance bars and

nightclub A nightclub or dance club is a club that is open at night, usually for drinking, dancing and other entertainment. Nightclubs often have a Bar (establishment), bar and discotheque (usually simply known as disco) with a dance floor, laser lighti ...

s staying open well past midnight.

Media

''

El Periódico de Catalunya EL, El or el may refer to: Arts and entertainment Fictional entities * El, a character from the manga series ''Shugo Chara!'' by Peach-Pit * Eleven (''Stranger Things'') (El), a fictional character in the TV series ''Stranger Things'' * El, fami ...

'', ''

La Vanguardia ' (; , ) is a Spanish daily newspaper founded in 1881. It is printed in Spanish and, since 3 May 2011, also in Catalan. It has its headquarters in Barcelona and is Catalonia's leading newspaper. Despite being mostly distributed in Catalonia, ...

'' and ''

Ara Ara may refer to: Biology * ''Ara'' (bird), a genus of parrots * Ara (fish) (''Niphon spinosus''), a species of fish * L-arabinose operon, also known as ara Places * Ara (mountain), a mountain in Armenia * Ara, Armenia, a village in Armenia ...

'' are Barcelona's three major daily newspapers (the first two with Catalan and Spanish editions, ''Ara'' only in Catalan) while ''

Sport Sport is a physical activity or game, often Competition, competitive and organization, organized, that maintains or improves physical ability and skills. Sport may provide enjoyment to participants and entertainment to spectators. The numbe ...

'' and ''

El Mundo Deportivo ''Mundo Deportivo'' (; ) is a Spanish nationwide daily sports newspaper published in Barcelona. History and profile ''Mundo Deportivo'' was first published on 1 February 1906, as a weekly newspaper, and since 1929 daily. It is the oldest sports ...

'' (both in Spanish) are the city's two major sports daily newspapers, published by the same companies. The city is also served by a number of smaller publications such as ''Ara'' and ''

El Punt Avui ''El Punt'' (, ) was a Catalan daily newspaper based in Girona, Catalonia (Spain). The newspaper was renamed in 1990 from the original ''Punt Diari'' ('Daily Point'). It was published between 24 February 1979 and 31 July 2011. History and pr ...

'' (in Catalan), by nationwide newspapers with special Barcelona editions such as ''

El País (; ) is a Spanish-language daily newspaper in Spain. is based in the capital city of Madrid and it is owned by the Spanish media conglomerate PRISA. It is the second-most circulated daily newspaper in Spain . is the most read newspaper in ...

'' (in Spanish, with an online version in Catalan) and '' El Mundo'' (in Spanish), and by several free newspapers like ''

20 minutos ''20 minutos'' is a Spanish free newspaper, with local editions in several Spanish cities, published by Multiprensa & Mas S.L. History Multiprensa & Mas S.L. was founded in Madrid in 1999. The founder of 20 minutos is José Antonio Martínez ...

'' and ''Què'' (all bilingual). Barcelona's oldest and main online newspaper '' VilaWeb'' is also the oldest one in Europe (with Catalan and English editions). Several major FM stations include

Catalunya Ràdio ''Catalunya Ràdio'' () is Catalonia's public radio network. With headquarters in Barcelona, it is part of the Corporació Catalana de Mitjans Audiovisuals (CCMA), owned by the Generalitat de Catalunya. Catalunya Ràdio broadcasts exclusively ...

,

RAC 1 RAC 1 is the main Catalan language private radio station. It is mainly owned by Grupo Godó and is based in Barcelona. It has a sister radio station, RAC 105, dedicated to chart music. RAC 1 is a spoken-word radio station, and focuses on news a ...

, RAC 105 and

Cadena SER La Cadena SER (the SER Network) is a Spanish radio network established in 1924, with a regular listenership of 4,139,000 reported in 2018. The acronym SER stands for Sociedad Española de Radiodifusión (Spanish Broadcasting Company). Cadena SE ...

. Barcelona also has a local

TV station A television station is a set of equipment managed by a business, organisation or other entity such as an amateur television (ATV) operator, that transmits video content and audio content via radio waves directly from a transmitter on the earth's ...

, Betevé, owned by city council. The headquarters of

Televisió de Catalunya Televisió de Catalunya (, known by the acronym TVC) is the public broadcasting network of Catalonia, one of the seventeen autonomous communities of Spain. It is part of the Corporació Catalana de Mitjans Audiovisuals, a public corporation c ...

, Catalonia's public network, are located in

Sant Joan Despí ; ) is a city and municipality located in the Baix Llobregat area ( Barcelona province in Catalonia, Spain). It is situated on the left bank of the Llobregat river. ''Es'' is a dialectal form of the masculine article ''el'', hence ''Despí'' wou ...

, in Barcelona's metropolitan area.

Sports

Barcelona has a long sporting tradition and hosted the highly successful

1992 Summer Olympics The 1992 Summer Olympics (, ), officially the Games of the XXV Olympiad (, ) and officially branded as Barcelona '92, were an international multi-sport event held from 25 July to 9 August 1992 in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. Beginning in 1994 ...

as well as several matches during the

1982 FIFA World Cup The 1982 FIFA World Cup was the 12th FIFA World Cup, a quadrennial Association football, football tournament for men's senior national teams, and was played in Spain from 13 June to 11 July 1982. The tournament was won by Italy national footbal ...

(at the two stadiums). It has hosted about 30 sports events of international significance.

FC Barcelona Futbol Club Barcelona (), commonly known as FC Barcelona and colloquially as Barça (), is a professional Football club (association football), football club based in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain, that competes in La Liga, the top flight of ...

is a

sports club A sports club or sporting club, sometimes an athletics club or sports society or sports association, is a group of people formed for the purpose of playing sports. Sports clubs range from organisations whose members play together, unpaid, and ...

best known worldwide for its

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

team, one of the largest and the wealthiest in the world. It has 74 national trophies (while finishing 46 times as runners-up) and 17 continental prizes (with being runners-up 11 times), including five

UEFA Champions League The UEFA Champions League (UCL) is an annual club association football competition organised by the UEFA, Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) that is contested by List of top-division football clubs in UEFA countries, top-divisio ...

trophies out of eight finals and three

FIFA Club World Cup The FIFA Club World Cup (FIFA CWC) is an international men's association football competition organised by the ''Fédération Internationale de Football Association'' (FIFA), the sport's global sports governing body, governing body. The compe ...

wins out of four finals. The club won six trophies in a calendar year in 2009, becoming one of only 2 male football teams in the world to win the coveted

sextuple In mathematics, a tuple is a finite sequence or ''ordered list'' of numbers or, more generally, mathematical objects, which are called the ''elements'' of the tuple. An -tuple is a tuple of elements, where is a non-negative integer. There is on ...

, apart from

FC Bayern Munich Fußball-Club Bayern München e. V. (FCB, ), commonly known as Bayern Munich (), FC Bayern () or simply Bayern, is a German professional sports club based in Munich, Bavaria. They are most known for their men's professional association foo ...

in 2020. FC Barcelona also has professional teams in other sports like

FC Barcelona Regal FC may refer to: Businesses, organisations, and schools * Fergusson College, a science and arts college in Pune, India * Finncomm Airlines (IATA code) * FranklinCovey company, NYSE stock symbol FC * Frontier Corps, a paramilitary force in Paki ...

(basketball),

FC Barcelona Handbol Futbol Club Barcelona Handbol is a professional Spanish handball team based in Barcelona, Catalonia. It is a part of the FC Barcelona multi sports club, and was founded on 29 November 1942. The club competes domestically in the Liga ASOBAL and ...

(

handball Handball (also known as team handball, European handball, Olympic handball or indoor handball) is a team sport in which two teams of seven players each (six outcourt players and a goalkeeper) pass a ball using their hands with the aim of thr ...

),

FC Barcelona Hoquei Futbol Club Barcelona Hoquei is a professional Roller hockey (Quad), roller hockey team based in Barcelona, Spain. It is part of the FC Barcelona multi-sport club and plays in the OK Liga. It is the most successful roller hockey club in Spain an ...

(

roller hockey Roller hockey is a form of hockey played on a dry surface using wheeled skates. It can be played with traditional roller skates (quad skates) or with inline skates and use either a ball or puck. Combined, roller hockey is played in nearly 60 cou ...

),

FC Barcelona Ice Hockey FC Barcelona Ice Hockey is a professional ice hockey club in Barcelona, Catalonia, that is part of FC Barcelona club. They currently play in the Spanish League and their home arena is the Palau de Gel. History The team was founded in 1972, ...

(ice hockey),

FC Barcelona Futsal Futbol Club Barcelona is a professional futsal club based in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. It is a part of the FC Barcelona sports club. Originally FC Barcelona begun to play futsal in 1978, until it was disbanded in 1982. Later, in 1986, the cl ...

(futsal) and

FC Barcelona Rugby Futbol Club Barcelona Rugby is a Spanish rugby union club. The senior team currently plays in División de Honor de Rugby, División de Honor, the premier level of Spain, Spanish rugby union. Formed in 1924, the club is a member of the FC Barcelo ...

(rugby union), all at one point winners of the highest national or European competitions. The club's museum is the second most visited in Catalonia. The matches against cross-town rivals

RCD Espanyol Reial Club Deportiu Espanyol de Barcelona (; "Royal Spanish Sports Club of Barcelona"), commonly known as RCD Espanyol, is a Spanish professional sports club based in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. The club competes in La Liga, the top tier of Spa ...

are of particular interest, but there are other Barcelonan football clubs in lower categories, like

CE Europa Club Esportiu Europa () is a Catalan football team based in the city of Barcelona, with close links to the Vila de Gràcia, in the autonomous community of Catalonia, Spain. Founded in 1907, its first men's team plays in the , the fourth category ...

and

UE Sant Andreu Unió Esportiva Sant Andreu () is a Spanish football club based in the district of Sant Andreu in Barcelona, Catalonia. Founded in 1909, it plays in , holding home matches at '' Camp Municipal Narcís Sala'', with an all-seated capacity of 6,56 ...

. FC Barcelona's basketball team has a noted rivalry in the

Liga ACB The Liga ACB, known as Liga Endesa for sponsorship reasons, is the top professional basketball division of the Spanish basketball league system. Administered by the Asociación de Clubs de Baloncesto (ACB), Liga ACB is contested by 18 teams, w ...

with nearby

Joventut Badalona Club Joventut Badalona, S.A.D. () is a Spanish professional basketball club based in Badalona, Catalonia, Spain, playing in the Liga ACB and the EuroCup. Known to their fans as ''La Penya'' (in English, ''The Club''), it is one of only two team ...

.

Barcelona has three

UEFA elite stadium UEFA stadium categories are categories for association football, football stadiums laid out in UEFA's Stadium Infrastructure Regulations. Using these regulations, stadiums are rated as category one, two, three, or four (renamed from elite) in a ...

s: FC Barcelona's

Camp Nou Camp Nou (), meaning ''New Field'' and often referred to in English as the Nou Camp, is a stadium in Barcelona and the home of La Liga club FC Barcelona since its opening in 1957. It is currently undergoing renovation, and with a planned increa ...

, the largest stadium in Europe with a capacity of 99,354; the publicly owned

Estadi Olímpic Lluís Companys Lluís Companys Olympic Stadium formerly known as the Estadi de Montjuïc and Estadi Olímpic de Montjuïc and also known in English language, English as the Barcelona Olympic Stadium, is a stadium in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. Originally built ...

, with a capacity of 55,926; used for the

1992 Olympics 1992 Olympics may refer to: *1992 Summer Olympics, which were held in Barcelona, Spain *1992 Winter Olympics The 1992 Winter Olympics, officially known as the XVI Olympic Winter Games () and commonly known as Albertville '92 (Franco-Provença ...

; and

Estadi Cornellà-El Prat RCDE Stadium, also known as Estadi Cornellà-El Prat (; ), is an all-seater football stadium on the outskirts of Cornellà de Llobregat and El Prat de Llobregat, in the wider Barcelona urban area (Catalonia, Spain). It took three years to buil ...

, with a capacity of 40,500. Furthermore, the city has several smaller stadiums such as

Mini Estadi Miniestadi (, meaning in English "Mini Stadium"), officially named "Miniestadi", was a football stadium in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. The 15,276-seat stadium was situated across from Camp Nou, the home stadium of FC Barcelona. The stadium was ...

(also owned by FC Barcelona) with a capacity of 15,000,

Camp Municipal Narcís Sala Camp Municipal Narcís Sala () is a football stadium in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. It is the home of the team UE Sant Andreu Unió Esportiva Sant Andreu () is a Spanish football club based in the district of Sant Andreu in Barcelona, Catalo ...

with a capacity of 6,563 and

Nou Sardenya Nou Sardenya is a municipally-owned football stadium in the Gràcia district of Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. It is currently used mostly for football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), k ...

with a capacity of 7,000. The city has a further three multifunctional venues for sports and concerts: the

Palau Sant Jordi Palau Sant Jordi (, ) is an indoor arena, indoor sporting arena and multi-purpose installation that is part of the Anella Olímpica, Olympic Ring complex located in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. Designed by the Japanese architect Arata Isozaki, i ...

with a capacity of 12,000 to 24,000 (depending on use), the

Palau Blaugrana Palau Blaugrana (, meaning in English language, English "Blue and Shades of red#Garnet, Garnet Palace") is an arena in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain, belonging to FC Barcelona. The 7,585 seating capacity arena is home to the FC Barcelona Bàsquet, ...

with a capacity of 7,500, and the

Palau dels Esports de Barcelona The Palau dels Esports de Barcelona (Barcelona Sports Palace) is a multi-purpose indoor arena in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. It is on Lleida Street on the slopes of Montjuïc, a hill to the south east of the city centre. The arena is able to h ...

with a capacity of 3,500. Barcelona was the host city for the

2013 World Aquatics Championships The 15th FINA World Championships (, ) were held from 20 July to 4 August in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. Several

road running Road running is the sport of running on a measured course over an established road. This differs from track and field on a regular track and cross country running over natural terrain. These events are usually classified as long-distance ru ...

competitions are organized year-round in Barcelona: the

Barcelona Marathon The Zurich Barcelona Marathon ( Catalan: ''Marató Barcelona''), formerly the Marathon Catalunya and later the Marató de Catalunya, is an annual marathon race over the classic distance of usually held in March in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain, ...

every March with over 10,000 participants in 2010, the

Cursa de Bombers The Cursa de Bombers () is an annual road running race over 10 km which takes place in April in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. History and course The race was created in 1999 as a joint venture between the ''Bombers de Barcelona'' (Firemen of B ...

in April, the Cursa de El Corte Inglés in May (with about 60,000 participants each year), the Cursa de la Mercè, the

Cursa Jean Bouin Beta Eridani (β Eridani, abbreviated Beta Eri, β Eri), formally named Cursa , is the second-brightest star in the constellation of Eridanus, located in the northeast end of this constellation near the shared border ...

, the Milla Sagrada Família and the San Silvestre. There is also the Ultratrail Collserola which passes through the Collserola forest. The

Open Seat Godó The Barcelona Open (currently sponsored by Banc Sabadell) is an annual tennis tournament for male professional players. The event was founded in 1953 as a combined men's and women's tournament until 1980. It is played at the Real Club de Tenis B ...

, a 50-year-old

ATP World Tour The ATP Tour (known as ATP World Tour between January 2009 and December 2018) is the sole worldwide top-tier tennis tour for men organized by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) founded in 1990 that replaced the earlier dual Grand Pri ...

500 Series tennis tournament, is held annually in the facilities of the Real Club de Tenis Barcelona. Each year on Christmas Day, a 200-meter swimming race across the Old Port of Barcelona takes place. Near Barcelona, in

Montmeló Montmeló () is a municipality in the Comarques of Catalonia, comarca of Vallès Oriental, within the Barcelona metropolitan area, in Catalonia, Spain. It contains the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, which is the home of the Formula One Spanish Gr ...

, the 107,000 capacity

Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya The Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya () is a motorsport race track in Montmeló, Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. With long straights and a variety of corners, the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya is seen as an all-rounder circuit. The track has stands ...

racetrack hosts the

Formula One Formula One (F1) is the highest class of worldwide racing for open-wheel single-seater formula Auto racing, racing cars sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The FIA Formula One World Championship has been one ...

Spanish Grand Prix The Spanish Grand Prix (, ) is a Formula One motor racing event currently held at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya. The race is one of the oldest in the world still contested, celebrating its centenary in 2013. The race had modest beginnings ...

, the

Catalan motorcycle Grand Prix The Catalan motorcycle Grand Prix is a motorcycling event held at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain, as part of the FIM Grand Prix motorcycle racing season. The event is due to take place at the Circuit de Barcelo ...

, the

Spanish GT Championship The Spanish GT Championship / Iber GT (''Campeonato de España de GT / Iber GT'') was a Spanish auto racing series founded in 1999 and organised by the GT Sport Organización. The series runs multiple classes of grand tourer cars in events aroun ...

and races in the

GP2 Series The GP2 Series was a form of open wheel motor racing introduced in 2005 following the discontinuation of the long-term Formula One feeder series, Formula 3000. The GP2 format was conceived by Bernie Ecclestone and Flavio Briatore, while Ecc ...

.

Skateboarding Skateboarding is an extreme sport, action sport that involves riding and Skateboarding trick, performing tricks using a skateboard, as well as a recreational activity, an art form, an entertainment industry Profession, job, and a method of tr ...

and cycling are also very popular in Barcelona; in and around the city there are dozens of kilometers of bicycle paths.

Squatter movement

Barcelona is also home to numerous

social centres Social organisms, including human(s), live collectively in interacting populations. This interaction is considered social whether they are aware of it or not, and whether the exchange is voluntary or not. Etymology The word "social" derives fro ...

and illegal squats that effectively form a shadow society mainly made up of the unemployed, immigrants, dropouts,

anarchists Anarchism is a political philosophy and movement that seeks to abolish all institutions that perpetuate authority, coercion, or hierarchy, primarily targeting the state and capitalism. Anarchism advocates for the replacement of the state w ...

, anti-authoritarians and autonomists.

Peter Gelderloos Peter Gelderloos (born ) is an American anarchist activist and writer. Biography Gelderloos first became involved in political issues as a high school student, and described the Seattle WTO protests in November 1999 as helping influence his ...

estimates that there around 200 squatted buildings and 40 social centres across the city with thousands of inhabitants, making it one of the largest squatter movements in the world. He notes that they pirate electricity, internet and water allowing them to live on less than one euro a day. He argues that these squats embrace an

anarcho-communist Anarchist communism is a far-left political ideology and anarchist school of thought that advocates communism. It calls for the abolition of private real property but retention of personal property and collectively-owned items, goods, and ser ...

and

anti-work Critique of work or critique of labour is the critique of, or wish to abolish, Work (human activity), work ''as such'', and to critique what the critics of works deem wage slavery. Critique of work can be Existentialism, existential, and focus ...

philosophy, often freely fixing up new houses, cleaning, patching roofs, installing windows, toilets, showers, lights and kitchens. In the wake of austerity, the squats have provided a number of

social services Social services are a range of public services intended to provide support and assistance towards particular groups, which commonly include the disadvantaged. Also available amachine-converted HTML They may be provided by individuals, private and i ...

to the surrounding residents, including bicycle repair workshops, carpentry workshops,

self-defense Self-defense (self-defence primarily in Commonwealth English) is a countermeasure that involves defending the health and well-being of oneself from harm. The use of the right of self-defense as a legal justification for the use of Force (law), ...

classes, free libraries,

community gardens A community is a social unit (a group of people) with a shared socially-significant characteristic, such as place, set of norms, culture, religion, values, customs, or identity. Communities may share a sense of place situated in a given ge ...

, free meals, computer labs, language classes, theatre groups, free medical care and legal support services. The squats help elderly residents avoid eviction and organize various protests throughout Barcelona. Notable squats include

Can Vies Can Vies (also known as ''Centre Social Autogestionat Can Vies'') is a building located in the Sants neighborhood of Barcelona, built in 1879. It has been squatted since 1997, when a group of youths occupied it and began using it as a self-manage ...

and Can Masdeu.

Transport

Airports

Barcelona is served by Barcelona-El Prat Airport, about south-west of the centre of Barcelona. It is the second-largest airport in Spain, and the largest on the

Mediterranean The Mediterranean Sea ( ) is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the east by the Levant in West Asia, on the north by Anatolia in West Asia and Southern ...

coast, which handled more than 50.17 million passengers in 2018, showing an annual upward trend. It is a main hub for Vueling Airlines and

Ryanair Ryanair is an Irish Low-cost carrier#Ultra low-cost carrier, ultra low-cost airline group headquartered in Swords, County Dublin, Ireland. The parent company, Ryanair Holdings plc, includes subsidiaries Ryanair , Malta Air, Buzz (Ryanair), Buzz ...

, and also a focus for

Iberia The Iberian Peninsula ( ), also known as Iberia, is a peninsula in south-western Europe. Mostly separated from the rest of the European landmass by the Pyrenees, it includes the territories of peninsular Spain and Continental Portugal, compri ...

and

Air Europa Air Europa Líneas Aéreas, S.A.U., branded as Air Europa, is the third-largest Spain, Spanish airline after Iberia (airline), Iberia and Vueling. The airline is headquartered in Llucmajor, Mallorca, Spain; it has its main hub at Adolfo Suárez M ...

. The airport mainly serves domestic and European destinations, although some airlines offer destinations in Latin America, Asia and the United States. The airport is connected to the city by highway, metro ( Airport T1 and Airport T2 stations), commuter train ( Barcelona Airport railway station) and scheduled bus service. A new terminal (T1) has been built, and entered service on 17 June 2009. Some low-cost airlines, also use Girona-Costa Brava Airport, about to the north,

Reus Airport Reus Airport (commonly known as Barcelona Reus or Barcelona South) is located by the beaches of Costa Daurada, equidistant in relation to the town of Constantí and the city of Reus and approximately from the city centre of Tarragona, in Catal ...

, to the south, or Lleida-Alguaire Airport, about to the west, of the city. Sabadell Airport is a smaller airport in the nearby town of

Sabadell Sabadell () is a city and municipality in Catalonia, Spain. It is in the south of the ''comarca'' of Vallès Occidental, where it is one of the two capitals, the other being Terrassa. It is located on the River Ripoll, north of Barcelona, a ...

, devoted to

pilot training Flight training is a course of study used when learning to pilot an aircraft. The overall purpose of primary and intermediate flight training is the acquisition and honing of basic airmanship skills. Flight training can be conducted under a str ...

, aerotaxi and private flights.

Seaport

The

Port of Barcelona The Port of Barcelona (, ; ) is a major port in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. Its are divided into three zones: Port Vell (the Old Port), the commercial/industrial port, and the logistics port (Barcelona Free Port). The port is managed by the Port ...

has a 2000-year-old history and a great contemporary commercial importance. It is Europe's ninth largest

container A container is any receptacle or enclosure for holding a product used in storage, packaging, and transportation, including shipping. Things kept inside of a container are protected on several sides by being inside of its structure. The term ...

port, with a trade volume of 1.72 million TEU's in 2013.Port of Barcelona traffic statistics 2013
– Port de Barcelona, 2014 The port is managed by the Port Authority of Barcelona. Its are divided into three zones: Port Vell (the old port), the commercial port and the logistics port ( Barcelona Free Port). The port is undergoing an enlargement that will double its size thanks to diverting the mouth of the

Llobregat The Llobregat () is the second longest river in Catalonia, Spain, after the Ter. It flows into the Mediterranean south of the city of Barcelona. Its name could have originated in an ancient Latin word meaning 'dark', 'muddy' or 'slippery', or ...

river to the south. The Barcelona harbour is the leading European cruiser port and a very important Mediterranean turnaround base. In 2013, 3.6 million pleasure cruise passengers used the Port of Barcelona. The Port Vell area also houses the Maremagnum (a commercial mall), a multiplex cinema, the

IMAX IMAX is a proprietary system of High-definition video, high-resolution cameras, film formats, film projectors, and movie theater, theaters known for having very large screens with a tall aspect ratio (image), aspect ratio (approximately ei ...

Port Vell and one of Europe's largest

aquarium An aquarium (: aquariums or aquaria) is a vivarium of any size having at least one transparent side in which aquatic plants or animals are kept and displayed. fishkeeping, Fishkeepers use aquaria to keep fish, invertebrates, amphibians, aquati ...

s – Aquarium Barcelona, containing 8,000 fish and 11 sharks contained in 22 basins filled with 4 million litres of sea water. The Maremagnum, being situated within the confines of the port, is the only commercial mall in the city that can open on Sundays and public holidays.

National and international rail

Barcelona is a major hub for the Spanish rail network. The city's main

Inter-city rail Inter-city rail services are Express train, express trains that run services that connect cities over longer distances than Commuter rail, commuter or Regional rail, regional trains. They include rail services that are neither short-distance co ...

station is

Barcelona Sants railway station Barcelona Sants is the main railway station in Barcelona, owned by Adif, the railway infrastructure agency of Spain. It has become the most important transport hub of the city - being the centre of Rodalies de Catalunya including Barcelona su ...

, whilst Estació de França terminus serves a secondary role handling suburban, regional and medium distance services. Freight services operate to local industries and to the Port of Barcelona. RENFE's

AVE is a Latin word, used by the Roman Empire, Romans as a salutation (greeting), salutation and greeting, meaning 'wikt:hail, hail'. It is the singular imperative mood, imperative form of the verb , which meant 'Well-being, to be well'; thus on ...

high-speed rail High-speed rail (HSR) is a type of rail transport network utilising trains that run significantly faster than those of traditional rail, using an integrated system of specialised rolling stock and dedicated railway track, tracks. While there is ...

system, which is designed for speeds of , was extended from

Madrid Madrid ( ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in Spain, most populous municipality of Spain. It has almost 3.5 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 7 million. It i ...

to Barcelona in 2008 in the form of the

Madrid–Barcelona high-speed rail line The Madrid–Barcelona high-speed rail line is a standard-gauge railway line inaugurated on 20 February 2008. Designed for speeds of and compatibility with neighbouring countries' rail systems, it connects the cities of Madrid and Barcelona in ...

. A shared RENFE-SNCF high-speed rail connecting Barcelona and France (Paris,

Marseille Marseille (; ; see #Name, below) is a city in southern France, the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Departments of France, department of Bouches-du-Rhône and of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur Regions of France, region. Situated in the ...

and

Toulouse Toulouse (, ; ; ) is a city in southern France, the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Haute-Garonne department and of the Occitania (administrative region), Occitania region. The city is on the banks of the Garonne, River Garonne, from ...

, through

Perpignan–Barcelona high-speed rail line The Perpignan–Barcelona high-speed line is an international high-speed rail line between Perpignan in Roussillon, France and Barcelona, Spain. The line consists of a railway, of which are in France and are in Spain. The line is sometimes re ...

) was launched in 2013. Both these lines serve Barcelona Sants terminal station.

Metro and regional rail

Barcelona is served by an extensive local public transport network that includes a

metro Metro may refer to: Geography * Metro City (Indonesia), 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 urban area with high ...

system, a bus network, a regional railway system, trams,

funicular A funicular ( ) is a type of cable railway system that connects points along a railway track laid on a steep grade (slope), slope. The system is characterized by two counterbalanced carriages (also called cars or trains) permanently attached to ...

s,

rack railway A rack railway (also rack-and-pinion railway, cog railway, or cogwheel railway) is a steep grade railway with a toothed rack rail, usually between the running rails. The trains are fitted with one or more cog wheels or pinions that mesh with ...

s, a

Gondola lift A gondola lift is a means of cable transport and type of aerial lift which is supported and propelled by cables from above. It consists of a loop of steel wire rope that is strung between two stations, sometimes over intermediate suppo ...

and aerial cable cars. These networks and lines are run by a number of different operators but they are integrated into a coordinated fare system, administered by the

Autoritat del Transport Metropolità The Metropolitan Transport Authority (, ATM) is a public consortium intended to coordinate the operation and project the expansion of the public transport system in the Barcelona metropolitan area. It is made up of the Government of Catalonia a ...

(ATM). The system is divided into fare zones (1 to 6) and various Integrated Travel Cards are available. The

Barcelona Metro The Barcelona Metro (Catalan language, Catalan and Spanish language, Spanish: ) is a rapid transit network that runs mostly underground in central Barcelona and into the city's suburbs. It is part of the larger public transport system ...

network comprises twelve lines, identified by an "L" followed by the line number as well as by individual colours. The Metro largely runs underground; eight Metro lines are operated on dedicated track by the

Transports Metropolitans de Barcelona The Barcelona Metropolitan Transport, or ''Transports Metropolitans de Barcelona'' (TMB) in Catalan, is the main public transit operator in Barcelona. A combination of two formerly-separate companies, ''Ferrocarril Metropolità de Barcelona, SA.' ...

(TMB), whilst four lines are operated by the (FGC) and some of them share tracks with RENFE commuter lines. In addition to the city Metro, several regional rail lines operated by RENFE's

Rodalies de Catalunya Rodalies de Catalunya (; "Commuter Railways of Catalonia") is the main Commuter rail, commuter and regional rail system in the Spain, Spanish autonomous community of Catalonia. It is administered by the Generalitat de Catalunya, Government of C ...

run across the city, providing connections to outlying towns in the surrounding region.

Tram

The city's two modern tram systems,

Trambaix The Trambaix () is one of Barcelona's three tram systems. It is operated by TRAMMET connecting the Baix Llobregat area with the city of Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. It opened to the public on 5 April 2004 after a weekend when the tram could be us ...

and Trambesòs, are operated by

TRAMMET Tramvia Metropolità, SA (TramMet) is a company based in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. It's a joint venture of the companies FCC-Vivendi, COMSA, Acciona-Necso, Alstom, Sarbus, Soler&Sauret, Banc Sabadell and Société Générale. It was crea ...

. A heritage tram line, the

Tramvia Blau The Tramvia Blau () is one of Barcelona's three tram systems. It is a long heritage streetcar line serving a hilly area of the Sarrià-Sant Gervasi district between the terminus of FGC Barcelona Metro L7 and the Funicular del Tibidabo. Th ...

, also operates between the metro Line 7 and the

Funicular del Tibidabo The Tibidabo Funicular (; ) is a funicular railway in the city of Barcelona, in Catalonia, Spain. The line connects ''Plaça del Doctor Andreu'', the upper terminus of the '' Tramvia Blau'', with the summit of Tibidabo, where there is an amusemen ...

.

Funicular and cable car

Barcelona's metro and rail system is supplemented by several aerial cable cars, funiculars and rack railways that provide connections to mountain-top stations. FGC operates the

Funicular de Tibidabo The Tibidabo Funicular (; ) is a funicular railway in the city of Barcelona, in Catalonia, Spain. The line connects ''Plaça del Doctor Andreu'', the upper terminus of the ''Tramvia Blau'', with the summit of Tibidabo, where there is an amusement ...

up the hill of

Tibidabo Tibidabo () is a hill overlooking Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. At , it is the tallest hill in the Serra de Collserola. Rising sharply to the north-west, it has views over the city and the surrounding coastline. The summit of the hill is occupi ...

and the

Funicular de Vallvidrera The Vallvidrera Funicular ( Catalan and Spanish: ''Funicular de Vallvidrera'') is a funicular railway in the Barcelona district of Sarrià-Sant Gervasi, in Catalonia, Spain. It connects Peu del Funicular station on the Barcelona–Vallès Lin ...

(FGC), while TMB runs the Funicular de Montjuïc up

Montjuïc Montjuïc () is a hill in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. Montjuïc or Montjuich, meaning "Jewish Mountain" in medieval Latin and Catalan, is a broad, shallow hill in Barcelona with a rich history. It was the birthplace of the city, and its st ...

. The city has two aerial cable cars: the

Montjuïc Cable Car The Montjuïc Cable Car (officially ''Telefèric de Montjuïc'', in Catalan) is a gondola lift in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. The cable car runs from a lower terminus adjacent to the Montjuïc Park upper station of the Montjuïc funicular, ...

, which serves Montjuïc castle, and the Port Vell Aerial Tramway that runs via Torre Jaume I and

Torre Sant Sebastià Torre Sant Sebastià is a 78 metre tall free standing lattice tower in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain which is used as a suspension cable station. It is the terminal of the Port Vell Aerial Tramway of Barcelona, which runs over Torre Jaume I to Montju ...

over the port.

Bus

Buses in Barcelona are a major form of public transport, with extensive local, interurban and night bus networks. Most local services are operated by the TMB, although some other services are operated by a number of private companies, albeit still within the ATM fare structure. There are 21 night lines, 19 of them go through Plaça de Catalunya, where you can change to other lines. The frequency is 15/20 minutes between 22:20 and 06:00. A separate private bus line, known as Aerobús, links the airport with the city centre, with its own fare structure. The Estació del Nord (Northern Station), a former railway station which was renovated for the 1992 Olympic Games, now serves as the terminus for long-distance and regional bus services.

Taxi

Barcelona has a metered taxi fleet governed by the Institut Metropolità del Taxi (Metropolitan Taxi Institute), composed of more than 10,000 cars. Most of the licences are in the hands of

self-employed Self-employment is the state of working for oneself rather than an employer. Tax authorities will generally view a person as self-employed if the person chooses to be recognised as such or if the person is generating income for which a tax return ...

drivers. With their black and yellow livery, Barcelona's taxis are easily spotted, and can be caught from one of many

taxi rank A taxicab stand (also called taxi rank, cab stand, taxi stand, cab rank, or hack stand) is a queue area on a street or on private property where taxicabs line up to wait for passengers. Operation Stands are normally located at high-traffic l ...

s, hailed on street, called by telephone or via app. On 22 March 2007, Barcelona's City Council started the

Bicing Bicing is a bicycle-sharing system in the city of Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain, which was implemented in March 2007, promoted by the City Council. The municipal company Barcelona de Serveis Municipals (B:SM) is the manager of the service, while th ...

service, a bicycle service understood as a public transport. Once the user has their user card, they can take a bicycle from any of the more than 400 stations spread around the city and use it anywhere the urban area of the city, and then leave it at another station. The service has been a success, with 50,000 subscribed users in three months.

Roads and highways

Barcelona lies on three international routes, including

European route E15 The European route E15 is part of the United Nations international E-road network. It is a north–south "reference road", running from Inverness, Scotland south through England and France to Algeciras, Spain.European route E90 European route E 90 is an A-Class West–East European route, extending from Lisbon in Portugal in the west to the Turkish–Iraqi border in the east. It is connected to the M5 of the Arab Mashreq International Road Network. Itinerary ...

to Madrid and Lisbon, and

European route E09 The European route E9 is part of the United Nations international E-road network. It runs between Orléans, France, and Barcelona, Spain. France In France, the E9 follows these roads: *: Orléans - Vierzon *: Vierzon - Châteauroux - Limoges ...

to Paris. It is also served by a comprehensive network of motorways and highways throughout the metropolitan area, including

A-2 A2, A02, A002, A², A.II or A-2 may refer to: Biology and medicine * British NVC community A2 (Lemna minor community), a plant community * A2, the second anal vein in the Comstock-Needham system of insect wing segment naming Genes and proteins * ...

, A-7/ AP-7, C-16,

C-17 The McDonnell Douglas/Boeing C-17 Globemaster III is a large military transport aircraft developed for the United States Air Force (USAF) between the 1980s to the early 1990s by McDonnell Douglas. The C-17 carries forward the name of two previ ...

, C-31, C-32, C-33, C-60. The city is circled by three half

ring roads A ring road (also known as circular road, beltline, beltway, circumferential (high)way, loop or orbital) is a road or a series of connected roads encircling a town, city or country. The most common purpose of a ring road is to assist in reducin ...

or bypasses, Ronda de Dalt (B-20) (on the mountain side), Ronda del Litoral (B-10) (along the coast) and Ronda del Mig (separated into two parts: Travessera de Dalt in the north and the

Gran Via de Carles III Gran may refer to: People *Grandmother, affectionately known as "gran" * Gran (name) Places * Gran, the historical German name for Esztergom, a city and the primatial metropolitan see of Hungary * Gran, Norway, a municipality in Innlandet coun ...

), two partially covered fast highways with several exits that bypass the city. The city's main arteries include Diagonal Avenue, which crosses it diagonally, Meridiana Avenue which leads to Glòries and connects with Diagonal Avenue and Gran Via de les Corts Catalanes, which crosses the city from east to west, passing through its centre. The famous boulevard of La Rambla, whilst no longer an important vehicular route, remains an important pedestrian route.

Main sights

The ''

Barri Gòtic The Gothic Quarter ( or ; ) 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 a part of Ciutat Vella district. The quarter enc ...

'' (Catalan for "Gothic Quarter") is the centre of the old city of Barcelona. Many of the buildings date from medieval times, some from as far back as the Roman settlement of Barcelona. Catalan '' modernista'' architecture (related to the movement known as

Art Nouveau Art Nouveau ( ; ; ), Jugendstil and Sezessionstil in German, is an international style of art, architecture, and applied art, especially the decorative arts. It was often inspired by natural forms such as the sinuous curves of plants and ...

in the rest of Europe) developed between 1885 and 1950 and left an important legacy in Barcelona. Several of these buildings are

World Heritage Site World Heritage Sites are landmarks and areas with legal protection under an treaty, international treaty administered by UNESCO for having cultural, historical, or scientific significance. The sites are judged to contain "cultural and natural ...

s. Especially remarkable is the work of architect

Antoni Gaudí Antoni Gaudí i Cornet ( , ; ; 25 June 1852 – 10 June 1926) was a Catalans, Catalan architect and designer from Spain, widely known as the greatest exponent of Catalan ''Modernisme''. Gaudí's works have a style, with most located in Barc ...

, which can be seen throughout the city. His best-known work is the immense but still unfinished church of the

Sagrada Família The Basílica i Temple Expiatori de la Sagrada Família, otherwise known as Sagrada Família, is a church under construction in the Eixample district of Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. It is the largest unfinished Catholic church in the world. Desi ...

, which has been under construction since 1882 and is still financed by private donations. , completion is planned for 2026. Barcelona was also home to

Mies van der Rohe Ludwig Mies van der Rohe ( ; ; born Maria Ludwig Michael Mies; March 27, 1886August 17, 1969) was a German-American architect, academic, and interior designer. He was commonly referred to as Mies, his surname. He is regarded as one of the pionee ...

's

Barcelona Pavilion The Barcelona Pavilion (; ; "German Pavilion"), designed by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe and Lilly Reich, was the German Pavilion for the 1929 International Exposition in Barcelona, Spain. This building was used for the official opening of the G ...

. Designed in 1929 for the

International Exposition A world's fair, also known as a universal exhibition, is a large global exhibition designed to showcase the achievements of nations. These exhibitions vary in character and are held in different parts of the world at a specific site for a perio ...

for Germany, it was an iconic building that came to symbolize modern architecture as the embodiment of van der Rohe's aphorisms "less is more" and "God is in the details". The Barcelona pavilion was intended as a temporary structure and was torn down in 1930 less than a year after it was constructed. A modern re-creation by Spanish architects now stands in Barcelona, however, constructed in 1986. Barcelona won the 1999

RIBA ''Riba'' (, or , ) is an Arabic word used in Islamic law and roughly translated as " usury": unjust, exploitative gains made in trade or business. ''Riba'' is mentioned and condemned in several different verses in the Qur'an3:130

Royal Gold Medal The Royal Gold Medal for architecture is awarded annually by the Royal Institute of British Architects on behalf of the British monarch, in recognition of an individual's or group's substantial contribution to international architecture. It is gi ...

for its architecture, the first (and , only) time that the winner has been a city rather than an individual architect. Barcelona is the home of many points of interest declared

World Heritage Site World Heritage Sites are landmarks and areas with legal protection under an treaty, international treaty administered by UNESCO for having cultural, historical, or scientific significance. The sites are judged to contain "cultural and natural ...

s by

UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO ) is a List of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) with the aim of promoting world peace and International secur ...

:

Historic buildings and monuments

*

Minor basilica Basilicas are Catholic church buildings that have a designation, conferring special privileges, given by the Pope. Basilicas are distinguished for ceremonial purposes from other churches. The building need not be a basilica in the architectura ...

of

Sagrada Família The Basílica i Temple Expiatori de la Sagrada Família, otherwise known as Sagrada Família, is a church under construction in the Eixample district of Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. It is the largest unfinished Catholic church in the world. Desi ...

, the symbol of Barcelona. *

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

and

Hospital de Sant Pau The former Hospital de la Santa Creu i Sant Pau (, ) in the neighborhood of El Guinardó, Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain, is a complex built between 1901 and 1930. It is one of the most prominent works of the Catalan modernisme architect Lluís ...

, designed by

Lluís Domènech i Montaner Lluís Domènech i Montaner (; 21 December 1850 – 27 December 1923) was a Catalan architect who was very much involved in and influential for the Catalan '' Modernisme català'', the Art Nouveau/ Jugendstil movement. He was also a Catalan pol ...

, included in the UNESCO Heritage List in 1997. *Works by

Antoni Gaudí Antoni Gaudí i Cornet ( , ; ; 25 June 1852 – 10 June 1926) was a Catalans, Catalan architect and designer from Spain, widely known as the greatest exponent of Catalan ''Modernisme''. Gaudí's works have a style, with most located in Barc ...

, including

Park Güell Park Güell ( ; ) is a complex of parks and gardens in Barcelona with architectural elements, located in the La Salut neighborhood of the Gràcia district in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. It is situated on the southern slope of the Turó del Car ...

,

Palau Güell The Palau Güell (, ) is a mansion designed by the architect Antoni Gaudí for the industrial tycoon Eusebi Güell, and was built between 1886 and 1888. It is situated on the Carrer Nou de la Rambla, in the El Raval neighborhood of Barcelona ...

,

Casa Milà Casa Milà (, ), popularly known as ''La Pedrera'' (, ; "the stone quarry") in reference to its unconventional rough-hewn appearance, is a ''Modernisme, Modernista'' building in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. It was the last private residence desi ...

(La Pedrera),

Casa Vicens Casa Vicens () is a modernist building situated in the Gràcia neighbourhood of Barcelona. It is the work of architect Antoni Gaudí and is considered to be his first major project. It was built between 1883 and 1885, although Gaudí drew up the ...

, Sagrada Família (Nativity façade and crypt),

Casa Batlló () is a building in the center of Barcelona, Spain. It was designed by Antoni Gaudí, and is considered one of his masterpieces. A remodel of a previously built house, it was redesigned in 1904 by Gaudí (but the actual construction works hadn't ...

, crypt in

Church of Colònia Güell The Church of Colònia Güell (, ) is an unfinished work by Antoni Gaudí Antoni Gaudí i Cornet ( , ; ; 25 June 1852 – 10 June 1926) was a Catalans, Catalan architect and designer from Spain, widely known as the greatest exponent of C ...

. The first three works were inscribed as a World Heritage Site in 1984. The other four were added as extensions to the site in 2005. * The Cathedral of the Holy Cross and St. Eulalia (Gothic) *Gothic basilica of Santa Maria del Mar *Gothic basilica of Santa Maria del Pi *Romanesque church of Sant Pau del Camp *

Palau Reial Major The Palau Reial Major (; "Grand Royal Palace") is a complex of historic buildings located in Plaça del Rei, Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. It was a residence of the counts of Barcelona and kings of Aragon. It is composed of three distinct edifice ...

, medieval residence of the sovereign

Counts of Barcelona The count of Barcelona (, , , ) was the ruler of the County of Barcelona and also, by extension and according with the Usages of Barcelona, Usages and Catalan constitutions, of the Principality of Catalonia as Prince#Prince as generic for ruler, p ...

, later

Kings of Aragon This is a list of the kings and queens of Aragon. The Kingdom of Aragon was created sometime between 950 and 1035 when the County of Aragon, which had been acquired by the Kingdom of Navarre in the tenth century, was separated from Navarre in ...

*The Royal Shipyard (gothic) * Monastery of Pedralbes (gothic) *The Columbus Monument *The

Arc de Triomf The Arc de Triomf (), translated: Arch of Victory, is a memorial arch in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. It was built by architect Josep Vilaseca i Casanovas as the main access gate for the 1888 Barcelona World Fair. The arch crosses over the wi ...

, a

triumphal arch A triumphal arch is a free-standing monumental structure in the shape of an archway with one or more arched passageways, often designed to span a road, and usually standing alone, unconnected to other buildings. In its simplest form, a triumphal ...

built for entrance to

1888 Barcelona Universal Exposition The 1888 Barcelona Universal Exposition (in Catalan language, Catalan: ''Exposició Universal de Barcelona'' and ''Exposición Universal de Barcelona'' in Spanish language, Spanish) was Spain's first International World's Fair and ran from 8 Apri ...

. * Expiatory church of the Sacred Heart of Jesus on the summit of

Tibidabo Tibidabo () is a hill overlooking Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. At , it is the tallest hill in the Serra de Collserola. Rising sharply to the north-west, it has views over the city and the surrounding coastline. The summit of the hill is occupi ...

. *The Historic Building of the

University of Barcelona The University of Barcelona (official name in ; UB), formerly also known as Central University of Barcelona (), is a public research university located in the city of Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. It was established in 1450. With 76,000 students, ...

Museums

Barcelona has many museums, which cover different areas and eras. The

National Museum of Art of Catalonia The (; ), abbreviated as MNAC (), is a museum of Catalonia, Catalan visual art located in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. Situated on Montjuïc hill at the end of Avinguda de la Reina Maria Cristina, near Plaça d'Espanya, Barcelona, Pl Espanya, th ...

possesses a well-known collection of

Romanesque art Romanesque art is the art of Europe from approximately 1000 AD to the rise of the Gothic Art, Gothic style in the 12th century, or later depending on region. The preceding period is known as the Pre-Romanesque period. The term was invented by 1 ...

, while the

Barcelona Museum of Contemporary Art The Barcelona Museum of Contemporary Art (, , MACBA, ) is a contemporary art museum situated in the Plaça dels Àngels, in El Raval neighborhood, Ciutat Vella district, in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. The museum opened to the public on 28 Novem ...

focuses on post-1945 Catalan and

Spanish art Spanish art has been an important contributor to Western art history, Western art and Spain has produced many famous and influential artists including Diego Velázquez, Velázquez, Francisco Goya, Goya and Pablo Picasso, Picasso. Spanish art w ...

. The

Fundació Joan Miró The Fundació Joan Miró ( ; English: Joan Miró Foundation, Centre of Studies of Contemporary Art) is a modern art museum honoring the life and work of the Spanish artist Joan Miró, located on the hill called Montjuïc in Barcelona, Catalonia ( ...

, Picasso Museum, and Fundació Antoni Tàpies hold important collections of these world-renowned artists, as well as the

Can Framis Museum Can Framis is the latest Fundació Vila Casas museum, an art center in Barcelona devoted to the promotion of contemporary Catalan painting. Located in the old Can Framis factory complex, the museum displays more than 250 paintings from the sixtie ...

, focused on post-1960 Catalan Art owned by Fundació Vila Casas. Several museums cover the fields of history and archaeology, like the

Barcelona City History Museum The Museum of the History of Barcelona (, MUHBA) is a history museum that conserves, researches, communicates and exhibits the historical heritage of the city of Barcelona, from its origins in Roman times until the present day. The museum's headq ...

(MUHBA), the

Museum of the History of Catalonia The Museum of the History of Catalonia (, MHC) is a history museum in Barcelona that promotes the awareness and knowledge of the history of Catalonia and its culture. The museum is located in Barcelona's Palau de Mar, the former General Stores (' ...

, the Archeology Museum of Catalonia, the

Maritime Museum of Barcelona The Maritime Museum of Barcelona (, MMB) is located in the building of '' Drassanes Reials de Barcelona'', the royal arsenal of Barcelona, dedicated to shipbuilding between the thirteenth century and eighteenth century. The first mention of thes ...

, the Music Museum of Barcelona and the privately owned Egyptian Museum of Barcelona. The Erotic museum of Barcelona is among the most peculiar ones, while CosmoCaixa is a

science museum A science museum is a museum devoted primarily to science. Older science museums tended to concentrate on static displays of objects related to natural history, paleontology, geology, Industry (manufacturing), industry and Outline of industrial ...

that received the

European Museum of the Year Award The European Museum of the Year Award (EMYA) is presented each year by the European Museum Forum (European Museum Forum, EMF) under the auspices of the Council of Europe. The EMYA is considered the most important annual award in the European mus ...

in 2006. The Museum of Mathematics of Catalonia is a place where mathematics is approached from a practical and playful point of view. The

Museum of Natural Sciences of Barcelona The Museum of Natural Sciences of Barcelona (in Catalan language, Catalan, ''Museu de Ciències Naturals de Barcelona''; in Spanish language, Spanish, ''Museo de Ciencias Naturales de Barcelona'') is a natural history museum in Barcelona, Spain. ...

was founded in 1882 under the name of "Museo Martorell de Arqueología y Ciencias Naturales"
Què passa al Museu?, Actualitat del Museu, Notícies del Museu, 134 anys d'història
'', Museum of Natural Sciences of Barcelona, press release 25 September 2016 ''Miradas: Páginas de la historia, una obra inédita'', exhibition at "Museo Cerralbo", Madrid, from 24 April to 24 May 2012 ( (Spanish for "Martorell Museum of Archaeology and Natural Sciences"). In 2011 the Museum of Natural Sciences ended up with a merge of five institutions: the Museum of Natural Sciences of Barcelona (the main site, at the

Forum Building The Forum Building (, ; ), is an architectural landmark in Barcelona designed by the Swiss architects Jacques Herzog and Pierre de Meuron (Herzog & de Meuron). The building is triangular in shape, measuring 180 metres on each side and 25 metres i ...

), the Martorell Museum (the historical seat of the Museum, opened to the public from 1924 to 2010 as a geology museum), the '' Laboratori de Natura'', at the

Castle of the Three Dragons The Castle of the Three Dragons (, ), is the popular name given to the modernisme building built between 1887 and 1888 as a Café-Restaurant for the 1888 Universal Exposition of Barcelona by Lluís Domènech i Montaner. This name was probably ad ...

(from 1920 to 2010: the Zoology Museum), the Historical Botanical Garden of Barcelona, founded 1930, and the Botanical garden of Barcelona, founded 1999. Those two gardens are a part of the Botanical Institute of Barcelona too. The

FC Barcelona Museum The FC Barcelona museum () was inaugurated on 24 September 1984 under the presidency of Josep Lluís Nuñez. In 2000, the museum was renamed President Nuñez museum under the presidency of his successor, Joan Gaspart. On 15 June 2010, the museum ...

is the third most popular tourist attraction in Catalonia, with 1,51 million visitors in 2013.

Parks

Parc de la Ciutadella Barcelona Mai 2013

Barcelona contains sixty municipal parks, twelve of which are historic, five of which are thematic (botanical), forty-five of which are

urban Urban means "related to a city". In that sense, the term may refer to: * Urban area, geographical area distinct from rural areas * Urban culture, the culture of towns and cities Urban may also refer to: General * Urban (name), a list of people ...

, and six of which are forest. They range from vest-pocket parks to large recreation areas. The urban parks alone cover 10% of the city (). The total park surface grows about per year, with a proportion of of park area per inhabitant. Of Barcelona's parks,

Montjuïc Montjuïc () is a hill in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. Montjuïc or Montjuich, meaning "Jewish Mountain" in medieval Latin and Catalan, is a broad, shallow hill in Barcelona with a rich history. It was the birthplace of the city, and its st ...

is the largest, with 203 ha located on the mountain of the same name, and includes the Botanical Garden of Barcelona, the

Mossèn Costa i Llobera Gardens Mossèn Costa i Llobera Gardens is a botanical garden in the center of Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. It is situated at the foot of Montjuïc facing the sea. The park owes its name to the renowned Mallorcan poet Miquel Costa i Llobera. Despite t ...

, and more. It is followed by

Parc de la Ciutadella The (; "Citadel Park") is a park on the northeastern edge of Ciutat Vella, Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. For decades following its creation in the mid-19th century, this park was the city's only green space. The 31-hectare (77 acres) grounds inc ...

(which occupies the site of the old

citadel A citadel is the most fortified area of a town or city. It may be a castle, fortress, or fortified center. The term is a diminutive of ''city'', meaning "little city", because it is a smaller part of the city of which it is the defensive core. ...

and which houses the

Parliament In modern politics and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...

building, the

Barcelona Zoo Barcelona Zoo (''Parc Zoològic de Barcelona'' in Catalan, ''Parque Zoológico de Barcelona'' in Spanish) is a zoo in the Parc de la Ciutadella in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. The zoo used to be internationally known as the home of Snowflake, ...

, and several museums); including the zoo), the Guinardó Park (),

Park Güell Park Güell ( ; ) is a complex of parks and gardens in Barcelona with architectural elements, located in the La Salut neighborhood of the Gràcia district in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. It is situated on the southern slope of the Turó del Car ...

(designed by

Antoni Gaudí Antoni Gaudí i Cornet ( , ; ; 25 June 1852 – 10 June 1926) was a Catalans, Catalan architect and designer from Spain, widely known as the greatest exponent of Catalan ''Modernisme''. Gaudí's works have a style, with most located in Barc ...

; ), Oreneta Castle Park (also ), Diagonal Mar Park (, inaugurated in 2002), Nou Barris Central Park (), Can Dragó Sports Park and Poblenou Park (both ), the Labyrinth Park (), named after the garden maze it contains. There are also several smaller parks, for example, the Parc de Les Aigües (). A part of the Collserola Park is also within the city limits.

PortAventura World PortAventura World is an entertainment resort in Salou and Vila-seca, Tarragona, on the Costa Daurada in Catalonia, Spain. It was built around the PortAventura Park theme park, which attracts around 5.3 million visitors per year, making it ...

, one of the largest resort in Europe, with 5,837,509 visitors per year, is located one hour's drive from Barcelona. Also, within the city lies

Tibidabo Amusement Park Tibidabo Amusement Park ( Catalan: Parc d'Atraccions Tibidabo) is an amusement park located on Tibidabo in the Collserola Ridge in Barcelona. The park was built in 1899 by the entrepreneur Salvador Andreu and opened in 1905. The park is among the ...

, a smaller amusement park in Plaza del Tibidabo, with the Muntanya Russa amusement ride.

Beaches

Barcelona beach was listed as number one in a list of the top ten city beaches in the world according to ''

National Geographic ''National Geographic'' (formerly ''The National Geographic Magazine'', sometimes branded as ''Nat Geo'') is an American monthly magazine published by National Geographic Partners. The magazine was founded in 1888 as a scholarly journal, nine ...

'' and ''

Discovery Channel Discovery Channel, known as The Discovery Channel from 1985 to 1995, and often referred to as simply Discovery, is an American cable channel that is best known for its ongoing reality television shows and promotion of pseudoscience. It init ...

''.Movie "Worlds Best Beaches", Discovery Channel 2005 Barcelona contains seven beaches, totalling of coastline.

Sant Sebastià Sant Sebastià beach is located in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. At 1,100 meters, it is the longest in Barcelona. It is located in the Barceloneta neighborhood of Ciutat Vella district. History *This beach was used by the city's elite in the 19t ...

, Barceloneta and

Somorrostro Somorrostro Beach is a beach in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. It is located between the Hospital del Mar and Marina Street, in the far east area of the Barceloneta neighborhood, in the Ciutat Vella district. It is long and wide. The Somorrostro ...

beaches, both in length, are the largest, oldest and the most-frequented beaches in Barcelona. The Olympic Harbour separates them from the other city beaches: Nova Icària, Bogatell, Mar Bella, Nova Mar Bella and Llevant. These beaches (ranging from were opened as a result of the city restructuring to host the

1992 Summer Olympics The 1992 Summer Olympics (, ), officially the Games of the XXV Olympiad (, ) and officially branded as Barcelona '92, were an international multi-sport event held from 25 July to 9 August 1992 in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. Beginning in 1994 ...

, when a great number of industrial buildings were demolished. At present, the beach sand is artificially replenished given that storms regularly remove large quantities of material. The

2004 Universal Forum of Cultures The 2004 Universal Forum of Cultures (, ) was a 141-day international event that took place in the ''Centre de Convencions Internacional de Barcelona (CCIB)'' and its surrounding venues, Barcelona, Spain from May 9 to September 26, 2004, and was t ...

left the city a large concrete bathing zone on the eastmost part of the city's coastline. Most recently, Llevant is the first beach to allow dogs access during summer season.

International relations

Twin towns – sister cities

Barcelona is twinned with: *

Antwerp Antwerp (; ; ) is a City status in Belgium, city and a Municipalities of Belgium, municipality in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is the capital and largest city of Antwerp Province, and the third-largest city in Belgium by area at , after ...

, Belgium (1997) *

Athens Athens ( ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Greece, largest city of Greece. A significant coastal urban area in the Mediterranean, Athens is also the capital of the Attica (region), Attica region and is the southe ...

, Greece (1999) *

Boston Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...

, United States (1983) *

Busan Busan (), officially Busan Metropolitan City, is South Korea's second list of cities in South Korea by population, most populous city after Seoul, with a population of over 3.3 million as of 2024. Formerly romanized as Pusan, it is the economi ...

, South Korea (1983) *

Cologne Cologne ( ; ; ) is the largest city of the States of Germany, German state of North Rhine-Westphalia and the List of cities in Germany by population, fourth-most populous city of Germany with nearly 1.1 million inhabitants in the city pr ...

, Germany (1984) *

Dublin Dublin is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Situated on Dublin Bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, and is bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, pa ...

, Ireland (1998) *

Gaza City Gaza City, also called Gaza, is a city in the Gaza Strip, Palestine, and the capital of the Gaza Governorate. Located on the Mediterranean coast, southwest of Jerusalem, it was home to Port of Gaza, Palestine's only port. With a population of ...

, Palestine (1998) *

Havana Havana (; ) is the capital and largest city of Cuba. The heart of La Habana Province, Havana is the country's main port and commercial center.Istanbul Istanbul is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, largest city in Turkey, constituting the country's economic, cultural, and historical heart. With Demographics of Istanbul, a population over , it is home to 18% of the Demographics ...

, Turkey (1997) *

Kobe Kobe ( ; , ), officially , is the capital city of Hyōgo Prefecture, Japan. With a population of around 1.5 million, Kobe is Japan's List of Japanese cities by population, seventh-largest city and the third-largest port city after Port of Toky ...

, Japan (1993) *

Monterrey Monterrey (, , abbreviated as MtY) is the capital and largest city of the northeastern Mexican state of Nuevo León. It is the ninth-largest city and the second largest metropolitan area, after Greater Mexico City. Located at the foothills of th ...

, Mexico (1977) *

Montevideo Montevideo (, ; ) is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Uruguay, largest city of Uruguay. According to the 2023 census, the city proper has a population of 1,302,954 (about 37.2% of the country's total population) in an area of . M ...

, Uruguay (1985) *

Montpellier Montpellier (; ) is a city in southern France near the Mediterranean Sea. One of the largest urban centres in the region of Occitania (administrative region), Occitania, Montpellier is the prefecture of the Departments of France, department of ...

, France (1963) *

Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro, or simply Rio, is the capital of the Rio de Janeiro (state), state of Rio de Janeiro. It is the List of cities in Brazil by population, second-most-populous city in Brazil (after São Paulo) and the Largest cities in the America ...

, Brazil (1972) * San Francisco, United States (2010) * São Paulo, Brazil (1985) * Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina (2000) * Shanghai, China (2001) * Tunis, Tunisia (1969) * Valparaíso, Chile (2001) ;Suspended twin towns / sister cities agreements * Saint Petersburg, Russia (1985, suspended in 2022) * Tel Aviv, Israel (1998, suspended in 2023 until Israel agrees to a ceasefire in Gaza)

Partnership and friendship

Barcelona also cooperates with: * Amman, Jordan * Guangzhou, China * Isfahan, Iran * Kyoto, Japan * Lampedusa, Italy * Lesbos, Greece * Maputo, Mozambique * New York City, United States * Ningbo, China *

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

, France * Rosario, Argentina * Saïda, Algeria, Saïda, Algeria * Seoul, South Korea * Tétouan, Morocco * Turin, Italy

Notable people

References

Citations

Sources

* * *Busquets, Joan. ''Barcelona: The Urban Evolution of a Compact City'' (Harvard UP, 2006) 468 pp. *Marshall, Tim, ed. ''Transforming Barcelona'' (Routledge, 2004), 267 pp. *Ramon Resina, Joan. ''Barcelona's Vocation of Modernity: Rise and Decline of an Urban Image'' (Stanford UP, 2008). 272 pp.

External links

Official website of Barcelona
{{Authority control Barcelona, 1st-century BC establishments in Spain Coloniae (Roman) Establishments in Spain in the Roman era Mediterranean port cities and towns in Spain Populated places in Barcelonès Recipients of the Royal Gold Medal Roman sites in Spain Roman towns and cities in Spain Populated places established in the 1st century BC