A stroll through Barcelona... of 1888
A route around the Parc de la Ciutadella and illustrates the visitors about the most outstanding buildings of the 1888 Exhibition.
In 1888, as you may already know, a Universal Exhibition was held in Barcelona that put the Catalan capital on the European map, attracted a large number of visitors to the city... and transformed the city's appearance, starting with the Parc de la Ciutadella. Do you want to relive those moments? Then come to the route organised on Sunday 21 April, starting at the Arc de Triomf.
Organised by the Explica'm Barcelona route, a group of historians and official tourist guides who have been running routes around the city since 2011 and who reveal the secrets of Barcelona's different neighbourhoods to the public. If you want them to tell you a story you didn't know about a specific part of Barcelona... they're waiting for you here.
This time, Explica'm Barcelona focuses on the Parc de la Ciutadella, an area that serves to explain the lights and shadows of the Universal Exhibition of 1888. That great event, which represented an alliance between the Spanish monarchy and the Catalan bourgeoisie, involved the urban development of Barcelona's seafront, the creation of the Columbus monument as a link between the new Passeig de Colom and the Rambla and the arrival of electric lighting in the first streets of Barcelona, among other improvements.
The site that was to host the Universal Exhibition was the Parc de la Ciutadella, which after that great fair would become the largest park in the city. Buildings such as the Castell dels Tres Dragons (Castle of the Three Dragons) were constructed there, the old arsenal of the military enclosure was renovated to become a new building that is now the Parliament of Catalonia, and imposing architectural features such as the Hivernacle were built there.
The walk through the park will illustrate how the Universal Exhibition developed and the consequences it had. Some of the consequences were positive for the city's urban planning, although the large influx of visitors pushed up the prices of the city's products and services, which led to complaints from the people of Barcelona.
The works involved in the Exhibition attracted a large number of migrant workers to the city, who, once the great event was over, moved back to the city, giving rise to a mass of workers that anticipated the trade union agitation of later years.
If you want to know all about it, sign up for the route El parc de la Ciutadella i l'Exposició Universal de 1888, which lasts about two hours, but first check the Explica'm Barcelona website for all the information on the activity.