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Barcelona and the identity

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Discover some of our hallmarks

  • The Festival of Sant Jordi

    There is a spring day in Barcelona when the streets are crowded with stalls selling books and roses and people buying them as gifts for their other half and loved ones. "Sant Jordi" or St George, as he is known in English, is the patron saint of Catalonia and his saint's day on 23 April is devoted to the celebration of love and literature. It is a magical day you need to experience at least once in your life.

  • BCN Design

    Barcelona is an international benchmark for design in a variety of fields, as can be seen from the Barcelona Design Festival, the Barcelona Design Centre, a cluster of design-sector companies and, above all, the avant-garde Barcelona Design Hub building, which houses the Design Museum.

  • Catalan cuisine

    Being good Catalans, Barcelonians love to eat well, as reflected in their city's markets - packed as they are with fresh, local produce - and in its numerous Catalan-cuisine restaurants, which range from the traditional to the avant-garde. And institutions such as the Catalan Cookery Institute maintain the country's cultural culinary identity.

  • Modernisme

    If there is one architectural style that bears the Barcelona stamp it has to be Modernisme - the Catalan Art Nouveau - whose dreamily shaped buildings have left their mark on a good many of the city's neighbourhoods. The Modernisme Route invites you to discover them!

  • Reaching for the sky with the human towers

    Castells are human towers and one of the most exciting forms of street entertainment to be seen. They can go up to as many as ten levels and are a marvel of balance and beauty as well as an example of teamwork. The Castellers de Barcelona put them up on the city's main festival days.

  • Fire runs, a fascination for fire and gunpowder

    Being a Mediterranean city, Barcelona has been captivated by fire since time immemorial. So one of the most popular festival events is the correfoc, literally a "fire run", where groups of devils light bangers and shower sparks over the people surrounding them. It is a very intense experience, but a safe one at that, so long as you follow some basic advice.

  • Acrobatic human towers, the art of human figures

    Performing something halfway between gymnastics and art, the Falcons - an acrobatic-sports human towers group - amaze their spectators with the figures they are capable of creating as they combine their bodies. Their origins can be found in the nineteenth-century Czech Sokol movement, which combined physical exercise with national cultural values. The Falcons de Barcelona offer a 21st-century Catalan version.

  • The traditional festival centre

    The Casa dels Entremesos offers a chance to discover some of the main figures - giants, "big-heads" and traditional fantastic beasts - that feature in the festivals held not just in Barcelona but in the whole of Catalonia. They are usually taken out to dance for traditional festivals such as the saint's days of Barcelona's co-patron saints: La Mercè (24 September) and Santa Eulàlia (12 February).

  • Dancing eggs

    During the Feast of Corpus Christi, a few Gothic building courtyards open up to the public to show a curious tradition that is unique in the world: l'ou com balla, getting an egg to “dances” on a jet of water - from a fountain decorated with flowers and fruit - without its falling to the ground. The tradition goes back to the 15th century and offers a lovely occasion for going round the city's historical buildings.

Don’t miss out on our cultural and architectural heritage

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  • L’Anella Olímpica

    Crowning Montjuïc as if it were a temple, the Olympic Ring concentrates the spirit of the 1992 Barcelona Olympic Games.

  • Zona Universitària

    The Zona Universitàra is in the Les Corts district, either side of Avda Diagonal. This university area has some large, green spaces and several of Barcelona's most iconic gardens.

  • Sarrià

    Formerly a village separate from the city, Sarrià is a charming, sweet and very literary neighbourhood, with a network of squares and small streets that seem to have stopped in time.

  • Fundació Joan Miró

    Set among Montjuïc's gardens and in a magnificent rationalist building, the Fundació Joan Miró has an impressive collection of works by the Catalan painter on display.

  • Museu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya

    The Palau Nacional that dominates Montjuïc is the seat of the Museu Nacional d’Art de Catalunya (MNAC) which, among other things, keeps an impressive collection of Romanesque paintings.

  • Palau de la Música Catalana

    With a voluptuous Modernista architecture that erupts in the middle of two small streets, the spectacular Palau de la Música is a privileged setting and a true symbol of the city.

  • El Port Vell

    Barcelona's first wharf, Port Vell, is now a magnificent promenade open to a sea dotted with vessels, from where you can still set sail to discover the world.

  • El Clot

    The working-class neighbourhood of El Clot hides some quiet little streets and spots that are the legacy of its past but it also looks forward to the future with several of the city's most modern buildings.

  • Barcelona Cathedral

    Surrounded by watchful gargoyles and boasting an idyllic cloister with resident geese, Barcelona Cathedral is one of the best examples of Gothic art in the city.

  • El Park Güell

    Park Güell, the hill that Gaudí turned into a truly fantastic and original garden, is one of Barcelona's best-known and most spectacular icons.

  • Santa Maria del Mar

    Rising gently towards the heavens among the 19th century buildings of the El Born i la Ribera neighbourhood, Santa Maria del Mar is pure Gothic architecture.

  • La plaça de les Glòries Catalanes

    Plaça de les Glòries Catalanes is one of metropolitan Barcelona's most important hubs, the point where three of the city's main roads meet.