Tibidabo () is a hill overlooking Barcelona,

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. At , it is the tallest hill in 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 ...

. Rising sharply to the north-west, it has views over the city and the surrounding coastline. The summit of the hill is occupied by the Sagrat Cor church and adjacent

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 ...

. The Torre de Collserola telecommunications tower is a short walk away. All three are prominently visible from most of the city of Barcelona. Designed by

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 ...

, the church was started in 1902 and took 60 years to complete. It is topped by a sculpture of the

Sacred Heart of Jesus The Most Sacred Heart of Jesus () is one of the most widely practised and well-known Catholic devotions, wherein the heart of Jesus Christ is viewed as a symbol of "God's boundless and passionate love for mankind". This devotion to Christ is p ...

by Josep Miret Llopart. Tibidabo can be reached by road or via the

Tibidabo Funicular 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 ...

, which was the first of its kind in Spain, and by 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 ...

. Funicular operations recommenced in June 2021 after modernisation, however the tramway remains out of service. Replacement bus TC2 connects Tibidabo with Avinguda de Tibidabo Metro station. 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.' ...

minibus service 111 connects it to Vallvidrera village and the upper station of the Vallvidrera funicular.

Origin of the name

The name derives from the

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 ...

Vulgate The Vulgate () is a late-4th-century Bible translations into Latin, Latin translation of the Bible. It is largely the work of Saint Jerome who, in 382, had been commissioned by Pope Damasus I to revise the Gospels used by the Diocese of ...

Bible verses: * ''"…et dixit illi haec tibi omnia dabo si cadens adoraveris me"'' – "And saith unto him, All these things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me" ( Matthew 4:9); * ''"…et ait ei tibi dabo potestatem hanc universam et gloriam illorum quia mihi tradita sunt et cui volo do illa"''Latin Vulgate Bible, Gospel According to Saint Luke Chapter 4
/ref> – "All this power will I give thee, and the glory of them: for that is delivered unto me; and to whomsoever I will I give it" ( Luke 4:6). This phrase, meaning ''I will give to you'', was said to Jesus by the

devil A devil is the mythical personification of evil as it is conceived in various cultures and religious traditions. It is seen as the objectification of a hostile and destructive force. Jeffrey Burton Russell states that the different conce ...

as they looked down from an ''exceedingly high mountain'' upon ''all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them''. The name of Barcelona's hill thus refers to the popular tradition that it was in fact the ''exceedingly high mountain'' itself. The phrase ''Tibi dabo'' forms part of the inscription in the central dome of

St. Peter's Basilica The Papal Basilica of Saint Peter in the Vatican (), or simply St. Peter's Basilica (; ), is a church of the Italian High Renaissance located in Vatican City, an independent microstate enclaved within the city of Rome, Italy. It was initiall ...

in Vatican City, although in that case it was drawn from Jesus' words to St. Peter in Matthew 16:19.

Panorama

References

{{Barcelona Neighbourhoods of Barcelona Mountains of Catalonia Tourist attractions in Barcelona

Origin of the name

Panorama

See also

References