Barcelona is the capital of Catalonia, an autonomous community in northeastern Spain. It is also the second largest city in Spain, after Madrid. Barcelona is located on the Mediterranean coast, approximately 160 km south of the Pyrenees mountain range, which act as the guardians of the France border.
The city has roughly 1.6 million inhabitants and its metropolitan area adds around 3 more millions citizens.
The name Barcelona comes from the ancient Barkeno, an ancient inscription found on the Iberian Drachma, dating from 3rd century BC.
“Barcelona, archives of courtesy, shelter of the foreigners, hospital of the poor, father-land of the brave , vengeance of the offended and pleasant correspondence of firm friendship, and in site, and in beauty, unique.” – Miguel de Cervantes
About the city
Barcelona has its origins in Neolithic times, but the city was founded by the Romans at the end of the 1st century BC. The colony was fortified with a stone wall whose remains you can still find in the old town (Barri Gòtic). For more than 200 years, Barcelona was under Muslim rule and after the Christian reconquest, the city became a community in the Carolingian Empire. Later, in Medieval times, the city flourished and expanded its teritory to include Catalonia and the Kingdom of Aragon. Barcelona became the economical and political centre of the Western Mediterranean.
The new dynasty between the House of Aragon and the House of Castile marked the beginning of the city’s decline,Barcelona struggling to maintain its independence, economically and politically. After the invasion of the french troops led by the Duke of Bourbon in 1714, an important part of the city was destroyed (La Ribera district). A period of recovery, known as the Renaixença, started in the the 19th century with the development of the textile industry. In 1939, during the Spanish Civil War, Barcelona fell in the hands of the communists, the Catalan institutions being abolished and the Catalan language forbidden in public.
The 20th century was a new beginning for the city with its urban renewal, culminating with the Eixample District, where we can find some of Barcelona's most distinctive buildings. The Catalan Antoni Gaudídesigned some of these buildings such asCasa Milà (known as La Pedrera), Casa Batlló and Sagrada Família - which have become world-famous landmarks and have been included in the UNESCO World Heritage Sites.
The reinstatement of democracy and monarchy in 1978 helped the city regain its economic strength and its political independency. The Catalan language was also restored. To celebrate the newly gained freedom, the city hosted the 1992 Olympic Games. The city was transformed for this event by demolishing the industrial buildings,creating beaches and building various hotels.
Since 1987, the city has been structured into 10 administrative districts, based mostly on historical divisions and several of them being former towns: Ciutat Vella, Eixample, Sants-Montjuïc, Les Corts, Sarrià-Sant Gervasi, Gràcia, Horta-Guinardó, Nou Barris, Sant Andreu and Sant Martí.
Barcelona is an important cultural, economic, and financial centre in southwestern Europe. The Port of Barcelona (one of Europe's main seaports and busiest European passenger port), its international airport (Barcelona–El Prat Airport handles over 50 million passengers per year) and a high-speed rail line are part of a transport hub that connects the city to Europe and the rest of the world.
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