The Best and Worst of Barcelona

After a nice siesta in Barcelona, Lauren, Rachel and I decided to do some sightseeing. One of our stops was the Palau Nacional, or National Palace. This building is a great representation of Spain’s culture and history, but we ended up experiencing more “culture” than we bargained for. With Barcelona being the second largest city in Spain and a major tourist attraction, pit pocketer’s unfortunately make up one of the more unpleasant aspects of the city. We were getting on a crowded metro and a woman squeezed in behind us just as the doors were closing. Seconds later, I just happen to glance down to see her hand in the outer compartment of my purse. I quickly turned and the women backed off. She was completely ordinary looking, so I was stunned to say the least. I whispered to Lauren, “pit pocketers!” and she got a better grasp on her purse. At the next stop after there was a mass exodus from the metro, including the woman who was in my purse, I learned that someone’s hand had been in Lauren’s purse and he had just gotten off as well. Luckily, neither of us had anything taken. My legs were literally shaking as we walked up to the National Palace. As we got closer, I was so awestruck by the beauty of the palace I was able to stop stressing about what had just happened.



The National Palace of Barcelona is located in Montjuic. As I mentioned earlier, this building is representative of Spain’s culture and history, but more specifically, the Catalan culture. It was built in 1929 in the heart of Catalonia for the International Exhibition.



The architectural features include one large dome surrounded by various towers. It is classified as neo-baroque. This style can be explained by the fact that it was “originally designed by the Catalan architect Josep Puigi Cadalfach, but dictator Primo de Rivera intervened and took the modernist architect off the project. A new design was created by architects Enric and Pedro Cendoya in a more ‘nationalist’ style” (http://www.aviewoncities.com/barcelona/palaunacional.htm).

This grandiose building shows the power and wealth of Spain. It is also symbolic of the struggle between the nationalists and loyalists. Even well after the Spanish Civil War, there is still obvious friction between the two territories and cultures. In class, we talked about how the dictator Franco repressed the Catalan culture, but clearly there were other dictators who did the same. Franco can not be held solely responsible for the suffering of the Catalans. It is kind of ironic, yet understandable since there is deep-rooted tension between Catalans and Spaniards, that there would be conflict while constructing a National Palace, an assumingly unifying monument. However, the National Palace is confusingly not Spain’s National Palace, rather Barcelona’s National Palace. Historically, Barcelona has stronger ties to the Catalan culture as it is the capital of the Autonomous Community of Catalonia. This Catalan influence is still present today as it houses The National Museum of Catalonia Art.

Here is the website for the museum and Palace:
http://www.mnac.cat/sobremnac/sob_ent_historia.jsp?lan=003