Passeig de Gràcia () is one of the major avenues in

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 as the second-most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within c ...

(

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 ...

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 ...

) and one of its most important shopping and business areas, containing several of the city's most celebrated pieces of

architecture Architecture is the art and technique of designing and building, as distinguished from the skills associated with construction. It is both the process and the product of sketching, conceiving, planning, designing, and construction, constructi ...

. It is located in the central part of

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 ...

, stretching from Plaça Catalunya to

Carrer Gran de Gràcia Carrer is a surname. Notable people with the name include: *Gabriel Carrer (born 1981), Canadian director and screenwriter *Gustavo Carrer (1885–1968), Italian footballer *Pavlos Carrer (1829–1896) Greek composer See also *Career (disambigua ...

. Passeig de Gràcia is regarded as the most expensive street in Barcelona and in Spain.

History

Formerly known as Camí de Jesús ("Jesus Road"), the Passeig de Gràcia was originally little more than a quasi-rural lane surrounded by gardens joining Barcelona and

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 ...

, which was then still a separate town. This was still the case at the time of the first

urbanisation Urbanization (or urbanisation in British English) is the population shift from 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. It can also ...

project in 1821, which was devised by the liberal city council, and led by Ramon Plana. This project had to be cancelled due to the epidemics that were raging in Barcelona at the time. After the demise of the liberal government with the return of Absolutism in 1824, the project was taken up again by general José Bernaldo de Quirós, marquis of Campo Sagrado. The new avenue was wide in 1827 and became a favourite place for aristocrats to display their horse riding skills and expensive horse-drawn carriages all through the 19th century. In 1906 the architect Pere Falqués i Urpí designed the avenue's now famous ornate benches and street-lights. By that time it had become Barcelona's most fashionable street, with buildings designed by modernista/

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 ...

architects of fame such as

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 ...

Pere Falqués Pere may refer to: *Pere, Hungary, a village in Borsod-Abaúj-Zemplén county *Pärtel-Peeter Pere (born 1985), Estonian entrepreneur, urban strategist, and politician * Rangimārie Te Turuki Arikirangi Rose Pere (1937–2020), Māori New Zealand e ...

Josep Puig i Cadafalch Josep Puig i Cadafalch (; 17 October 1867 in Mataró – 21 December 1956 in Barcelona) was a Spanish architect who designed many significant buildings in Barcelona, and a politician who had a significant role in the development of Catalan regio ...

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 ...

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

and Josep Vilaseca. The government of the Basque Country (Eusko Jaurlaritza) was based in Passeig de Gràcia, 60 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 Catalan poet

Salvador Espriu Salvador Espriu i Castelló (; 10 July 1913 – 22 February 1985) was a Catalan poet from Spain. Biography Espriu was born in Santa Coloma de Farners, Catalonia, Spain. He was the son of an attorney. He spent his childhood between his home t ...

resided in Casa Fuster (Passeig de Gràcia, 132).

Notable buildings

* Illa de la Discòrdia **

Casa Amatller Casa Amatller () is a building in the Modernisme style in Barcelona, Catalunya, Spain, designed by renowned Catalan architect Josep Puig i Cadafalch. Along with Casa Batlló and Casa Lleó-Morera, it makes up the three most important buildings ...

(1890-1900) **

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 ...

(1904-1906) **

Casa Lleó Morera The Casa Lleó Morera () is a building designed by noted modernisme architect Lluís Domènech i Montaner, located at Passeig de Gràcia 35 in the Eixample district of Barcelona. In 1902 Francesca Morera assigned Lluís Domènech i Montaner to ...

(1902-1906) ** Museu del Perfum * Cases Antoni Rocamora by Josep Bassegoda i Amigó (1914-1917) * Casa Bonaventura Ferrer by Pere Falqués i Urpí (1906) * Casa Fuster by

(1908-1911) *

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" by

(1905-1910) * Casa Pons i Pascual by

(1891) * Casa Ramon Casas by Antoni Rovira i Rabassa (1898) *

Hotel Majestic (Barcelona) The Majestic Hotel & Spa Barcelona is a historic luxury hotel located on Passeig de Gràcia in the Eixample district of Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. It is located not far from Gaudí's La Pedrera and about one kilometre from La Rambla. Histo ...

(1918) *

Palau Robert Palau Robert () is a building on Barcelona's Passeig de Gràcia 107, the former private residence of Robert Robert i Surís, an influential aristocrat, politician and businessman at the turn of the 20th century. It's now a government-run insti ...

(1903) * Teatre Tívoli * Jardins de Salvador Espriu

Transportation

* Passeig de Gràcia (Barcelona Metro) *

Diagonal (Barcelona Metro) In geometry, a diagonal is a line segment joining two vertex (geometry), vertices of a polygon or polyhedron, when those vertices are not on the same edge (geometry), edge. Informally, any sloping line is called diagonal. The word ''diagonal'' ...

* Passeig de Gràcia train station *Bus

Hotels

* Hotel Majestic. Opened as a hotel in 1918 and owned by the Soldevila family. *

Mandarin Oriental Mandarin Oriental Hotel Group International Limited is a multinational hospitality and management group focusing on luxury hotels, resorts, and residences, with a total of 43 properties worldwide, 20 of which it either wholly or partially owns ...

References

Bibliography

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

External links

Photo album from Pobles de Catalunya

What to visit in the Eixample

Photo album from Barcelona Tourist Guide
{{DEFAULTSORT:Passeig de Gracia, Barcelona Passeig de Gràcia Streets in Barcelona Modernisme architecture in Barcelona Eixample Shopping districts and streets in Catalonia