Barcelona
Mediterranean Imagination
high-season pressure
QuartersEixample
StreetsPasseig de Gràcia
Portrait
Ildefons Cerdà planned the Eixample in 1859 as an open grid with chamfered corners and gardens in every block, and the Catalan bourgeoisie then hired Gaudí, Domènech i Montaner and Puig i Cadafalch to build inside it — modernisme as civic competition. The Sagrada Família has been under construction since 1882 and is scheduled, cautiously, for completion within the decade.
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