Palau Sant Jordi (Cultural Site)

            Personally, one my favorite cultural places in Barcelona is Palau Sant Jordi.  Palau Sant Jordi is a multi-purpose indoor sports arena.  It was built in 1990 in preparation for the 1992 Olympics.  Located on Montjuic, Palau Sant Jordi can hold 17,000 people for sporting events and 24,000 for musical events.  At the 1992 Olympic games, the arena hosted the gymnastic, handball and volleyball.1  To be honest, the arena would be cooler in my opinion if it had hosted the basketball games, due to the USA Dream Team’s domination.  Nonetheless, it is a good venue to see a concert at.  The first time I went to Palau Sant Jordi, my brother was in town from New York.  We went with the rest of my friends and the majority of CEA students to Sensation White, a house music conert.

            In the past, Palau Sant Jordi has hosted way better musical talents than some semi-popular DJs.  I looked up who has played there in the past – here are a few names I really like: Frank Sinatra, U2, Metallica, Elton John, Paul McCartney, AC/DC, Bruce Springsteen, Queen and KISS.[1]  Four of those bands, I have seen at different venues in New York.  And now, it is time to add another EPIC show to my history: the Red Hot Chilli Peppers.  They have played at Palau Sant Jordi before in 2006, but this is my first time seeing them live.  Arguably my favorite rock band of all time, I bought my ticket when they went on sale in July.  My three other roommates, who are some of my best mates from home, also have tickets.  We have been looking forward to this day for about five month, and it is finally here.  Thursday night will be bittersweet because I will finally see one my favorite bands, but it will also be my last night in Barcelona.  I am stoked they are playing at Palau Sant Jordi so my last night in Barcelona will be spent at a cool venue with a lot of Catalonian culture.

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[1] Palau Sant Jordi. Wikipedia, 2011. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palau_Sant_Jordi

Montserrat (Cultural Site)

            One of my favorite places I have been this semester is Montserrat.  Montserrat is a multi-peaked mountain north of Barcelona.  My roommates and I made the trip with one of my roommate’s families while they were visiting.  When I heard they were interested in going, I was thrilled because one of my friends had told me about the time he went with our high school a few years ago.  St. Ignatius was a staple in my religious education at Xavier High School.  After losing his arm in battle, determined to live the life of a hermit St. Ignatius of Loyola climbed Montserrat.  There he would stay for almost a year and live a quite life full of prayer.  Finally, I had the chance to see this mountain for myself. 

            To get there, we took a train for one hour.  Then we had to take a funicular, and to get to the very top of the mountain another funicular.  First we explored the Benedictine abbey, Santa Maria de Montserrat.  This is monastery built into the side of the mountain.  The monastery is home to the Virgin of Montserrat, one of the black Madonnas of Europe.  The black Madonnas are a series of medieval statues and paintings in which the Virgin Mary is black.  They are said to be very holy, and if you touch one, which we all did, it is good luck.

            After exploring the monastery and seeing the cave where St. Ignatius prayed, my roommates and I took the funicular to the top of the mountain.  My buddy’s family was intimidated by the steep incline of the funicular so they stayed behind.  It was nice being on the very top of mountain with just my three roommates because after sharing this whole semester abroad experience together, we knew this was the best view we’ve had of anywhere so far.  We agreed that the view was better than from the top of Tibidabo, which says a lot.  The air was the freshest I came across all semester.  Completely surrounded by nature on the top of a mountain, I felt closer to heavens than ever before.

Barca comes back to win Clasico (News Story)

            Living in Barcelona, one is overwhelmed with Catalan nationalism.  A huge part of this nationalism is Catalonia’s love for their football club, FC Barcelona.  Walking down my street I see FC Barcelona backpacks on little kids and in the window for sale of a school supplies store.  It is almost impossible to walk anywhere without spotting somewhere wearing a piece of FC Barcelona apparel.  Barca’s main rival is Real Madrid.  This rivalry has its roots in something way deeper than football.  The rivalry stems from a historical rivalry between the two cities.  Madrid, the capital of Spain, has suppressed Barcelona, the capital of Catalonia that continues to fight for its own nationhood, throughout history.  Wars, such as the Spanish War of Succession and the Spanish Civil War, have left Barcelona crippled and destroyed by the hands of their enemy.  Football is something Catalonians pride themselves in and use as a motor to beat their sworn rival, Madrid.

            Barcelona was behind Madrid in the rankings prior to this last Saturday’s game.  The rival matches between Barca and Madrid are given the name “El Clasico.”  Never disappointing, this Saturday was no different.  To start things off with a spark, Madrid scored first only 22 seconds into the game.  From this moment on, Barcelona strangled their host in a display of dominance. At 30’ Sanchez scored of a pass from Messi.  To kick off the second half, Xavi scored.  And to seal the deal, Fabregas scored at 66’.[1]  The result was a huge blow for Madrid, who had serious confidence going into the game on a hot streak.  The win for FC Barcelona was crucial, as they will try to continue this momentum into the post season.

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[1] Barca comes back to win Clasico. ESPN, 2011.

El Raval (Field Trip)

            El Raval is a neighborhood located right off of La Rambla.  El Raval used to be one of the worst slums in Europe.  It was home to drugs, poverty, prostitution and homeless people.  Very narrow streets create dark alleys and give some parts of the neighborhood a slum-like feel.  In the past, the quality of life in el Raval was very low.  Until the Barcelona Model was introduced as a means to rid the city of its slums and increase quality of life for all of it’s citizens. 

            The Barcelona Model aimed to create social infrastructure.  To do this, they created open public spaces, new appealing architecture, and trendy public sculptures.  Examples of this can be seen taking a stroll through the neighborhood.  Palau Guell, a work done by Guadi has been reserved and is cleaned regularly to give it a fresh look.  El Gat del Raval is a sculpture of a cat that is located in the center of a wide walking street in the center of the neighborhood.  MACBA and CCBA are examples of buildings constructed to give the area more culture.  A modern looking aluminum building serves as appealing architecture.  A hospital was built to take care of the sick, and la Biblioteca Nacional de Catalunya serves as an opportunity for learning. 

            The Barcelona Model did have some cons to its many pros.  The biggest effect was gentrification.  This happens when wealthier people move into a formerly poor area that has gone under reformation, and as a result, the poor people that formerly lived there are displaced.  Poverty can still be seen in el Raval.  This obvious when locals of the neighborhood spray paint buildings with messages explaining not everything is good prosperous.  Poverty and perhaps drug use also displayed themselves when a fight broke out on our field trip.  Both men looked like drug abusers and one had some sort of cast on probably a broken hand.  Entertaining at first, but a sad display of poverty in El Raval.

19th Century Eixample (Field Trip)

            The Eixample represents a large geographic portion of the city of Barcelona.  In Catalan, “l’eixample” literally means  “the extension.”  And that is exactly what it is, an extension onto the old city.  In the 19^th century, Barcelona was a booming city due to the Industrial Revolution and the city’s location right on the water.  To respond to the growing city’s population demands the government had to act quickly and formulate a plan to satisfy their city’s needs. With the old city walls demolished, the door for expansion was wide open.  After a contest to see who could come up with the best plan for the city, the government chose Ildefonso Cerda to be the chief engineer that would expand Barcelona.  His vision involved a grid pattern with square blocks that would have cut off corners, thus allowing more natural sunlight onto the street.  He envisioned wide and long streets to increase ventilation and a lot of gardens to serve as public space.  Overall, Cerda wanted to improve the quality of life for residents of Barcelona.

            L’Eixample became a blank canvas for Catalan modernism architects.  Catalan modernism antecedents and key characteristics include romanticism, nationalism and eclecticism.  Romanticism, which spanned from 1750 to 1850, was an international movement based on individualism, nationalism, and the admiration of wild nature, which turned into interest torwards eclecticism.[1]  The nationalism and eclecticism aspects of Catalan modernism coincide.  Eclecticism can be seen as tool to reinforce nationalism.  Through new architecture, Catalan modernism attempted to give Catalonia its own individual unique style.  Catalan modernism wanted to leave the Victorian architecture of the bourgeois world associated with classicism.  This type of architecture was visible in many of the works at Barcelona’s 1888 Great Exhibition.[2]  Not coincidently, Catalan modernism is considered to start in 1888.  Spearheaded by Antoni Gaudí, Catalan modernism architecture developed into its own nature inspired style.  L’Eixample includes two of Gaudi’s most famous modernisme works, Casa Mila and Casa Batllo.

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[1] Enrich, Llorach. Gaudi summary notes. Barcelona: Architecture & Painting in Barcelona, 2011.

[2] Catalan modernism. Parc Guell. Barcelona, 2011. http://www.parkguell.es/en/hist_3.php

El Born (Field Trip)

 The Barcelona El Born district is known as the medieval quarter.  It district is sandwiched between Via Laietana and Barceloneta.  El Born used to house some of Barcelona’s wealthiest.  Especially on Carrer Montcada, which is now home to the Picasso Museum.  Back in the day, el Born was home to the textile guilds of Barcelona.  Specific guilds used to characterize neighborhoods and even sometimes name streets.  El Born was known for its textiles and is now also home to the Textile Museum. 

Also located in el Born is la Basilica de Santa Maria del Mar.  This gothic church has a robust appearance, with tall windows, a large circular window at the center top, and a detailed façade around the entrance way that comes to a point.  Inside you see tall columns that lead into a typical gothic style ceiling of arches.  Next to the Basilica is a mass grave of Catalan soldiers that lost their lives in the War of Spanish Succession.  A flame burns through the day and night atop of a tall monument in the fallen soldiers memory.  The War of Spanish Succession is an important period of Spanish and Catalan history.  The war was fought between the Bourbons and the Hapsburgs to see who would take control of the country.  The Bourbon monarch Phillip V eventually won, which had unfortunate results for Barcelona.  After one third of the city was destroyed, the new monarch implemented new harsh laws that restricted Catalans political and personal freedoms.  To house the people that were left homeless by the city’s destruction, Phillip V built the nearby Barceloneta.  Walking through the el Born district, you can feel the weight of history and get a sense of Catalan nationalism.  

Roman Barcino (Field Trip)

The first field trip we went on as a class was to the old Roman city, originally named Barcino by the Romans.  The old city is located just down the block from our CEA Global Campus if you take Via Laietana.  Today, the area is packed with shops, restaurants, tapas bars and tourists, in addition to business men that work in some of the office buildings.  But nearly two thousand years ago, the city was quite different.  At first, the city was built as a colony for soldiers.  But as construction continued, the city grew commercially and economically as well.  The Roman city was set up like a military camp with the forum, or “la caixa,” serving as the central meeting place of the city.  The forum was located at the intersection of the two main roads: the north-south Cardus Maaximus, and the east-west Decumanus Maximus.  At the forum would be the Roman city’s church, government, schools, bathhouse and other important things.

Two of the sites on this field trip I particularly enjoyed the most were the Cathedral of the Holy Cross and Saint Eulalia and the Temple of Augustus.   The Cathedral is a post-Roman construction, being built from the 13^th to 15^th centuries.  The neo-Gothic façade blew my mind the first time I saw it.  Churches with this amount of detail are absent in the United States, and the Barcelona Cathedral was nothing compared to churches I would see throughout the rest of my semester on my travels.  The Temple of Augustus, on the other hand, was around when the Romans were.  The temple was a worshipping place for the Emperor Augustus, and today, three pillars remain.  It blew my mind how these pillars are still able to stand after thousands of years.  They were able to construct huge columns without any of the tools present today.  It says a lot about the Roman’s (and humans in general) ingenuity.