Sant Pau, part of our history and part of our soul

“If the hospital were taken away, it’d change Barcelona’s soul.” The first time I read those words, written by Doctor Josep Cornudella about the Hospital de la Santa Creu i Sant Pau, I...

Il·lustració © Mireia Zantop
Barcelona Lolita Casa

The clinic where I was born was turned into an old people’s home, then it became an empty space and finally it was squatted in and then cleared. But it hasn’t been knocked down.

Il·lustració © Oriol Malet
The underground district

Under the Eixample there are the same streets as on the surface, though much narrower, and they reflect the life outside and that of the houses above.

Llibre: Els Barcelonins, Adrià Pujol Cruells
All-year-round Carnival

The book by Pujol Cruells is neither pleasing nor insulting. By means of the passing of the year, he draws an image of the people of Barcelona based on a meticulous observation of their...

Il·lustració © Lapin
El Poblenou, from grey to blue

These days, not even the neighbourhood’s own mother would recognize it. Still, it’s worth saying that the change has been for the better.

Retrat d'Itziar González © Pere Virgili
‘Rescuing the Rambla is a must’

Itziar González

The city seemed to have lost its most genuine promenade for ever, or at least that’s what a lot of people thought. The Km_Zero team won the ideas competition to improve the Rambla with a...

Retrat de Joan Fontcuberta © Pere Virgili
Welcome to the post-photographic era

Joan Fontcuberta

In this day and age, images have become dangerous, even furious, and require an attitude of resistance on the part of intellectuals and artists. For Joan Fontcuberta, responsible...

Il·lustració © Lluïsot
The old hospital garden

During those years I was undocumented. “Not having papers” used to mean (means) lacking facts. But there was nothing to fear in the library.

The newsletter

Subscribe to our newsletter to keep up to date with Barcelona Metròpolis' new developments