The Historic Building of the University of Barcelona was built in Plaça de la Universitat between 1863 and 1872 under the direction of the architect Elies Rogent. This building was the first major construction in Cerdà's Eixample, built on the land that was part of Barcelona's old city wall and counterscarp. The classes in this building started in 1871, and it was home to four faculties: Science, Philosophy and Letters, Pharmacy Studies, and Law, which were taught there until the mid-1950s, when the construction of Zona Universitària gradually started. Currently, the Faculty of Philology and Communication and the Faculty of Mathematics and Computer Science remain there, in addition to the university's governing bodies, the library and a large number of administrative units. The grand staircase, the cloisters and the formidable paranymph, the heart of university life, all stand out.