Open day at MUHBA (Barcelona History Museum) Turó de la Rovira

The hill known as the Turó de la Rovira offers a stunning 360 degree panoramic view of the city, and has been witness to the events that have taken place on the plain below from the time of the Iberian settlement until the present day. The drive to create modern Barcelona gradually transformed the landscape of the hill.

During the Spanish Civil War of 1936-1939, the hill played a key role as the emplacement of an anti-aircraft battery, and some of the constructions have survived. Three of these buildings have been turned into museums, and house the permanent exhibition “Barcelona al límit. De la guerra de l’aire a habitar en barraques” [Barcelona on the Edge. From the War in the Air to Life in a Shanty Town.]. In the post-war period, this military structure became part of the Els Canons shanty town, which continued to exist until 1990. The Turó de la Rovira bears the imprint of these decisive historical processes on the history and memory of both the city and the country. The 1953 and 1976 urban planning initiatives incorporated it into a park straddling three of the hills of Barcelona's first corniche.