About the Gothic Quarter Walk in Barcelona
Barcelona’s Barri Gótic, or “Gothic Quarter,” contains all the layers of this city’s deep history, from ancient Roman outpost to capital of the Crown Aragon in the Middle Ages to the making of a modern metropolis in the 19th century. In this three-hour comprehensive tour of this historic core we’ll pull back the layers of Barcelona with a trained scholar and learn how to read the city in all its complexity.
Although a strictly chronological approach is impossible in a such a palimpsest as Barcelona, we’ll start our exploration in the Plaza Nova where one can still see some of the remains—a gate, part of the walls—of the Roman outpost that presaged the city. We discuss the basics of Roman city planning and architecture as well see several other remnants of Rome throughout the walk and discern elements of the Roman plan within the layout of the city today.
From here our course will take us through the heart of the Gothic Quarter, passing undoubtedly by the main Cathedral. We’ll use thi
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Barcelona’s Barri Gótic, or “Gothic Quarter,” contains all the layers of this city’s deep history, from ancient Roman outpost to capital of the Crown Aragon in the Middle Ages to the making of a modern metropolis in the 19th century. In this three-hour comprehensive tour of this historic core we’ll pull back the layers of Barcelona with a trained scholar and learn how to read the city in all its complexity.
Although a strictly chronological approach is impossible in a such a palimpsest as Barcelona, we’ll start our exploration in the Plaza Nova where one can still see some of the remains—a gate, part of the walls—of the Roman outpost that presaged the city. We discuss the basics of Roman city planning and architecture as well see several other remnants of Rome throughout the walk and discern elements of the Roman plan within the layout of the city today.
From here our course will take us through the heart of the Gothic Quarter, passing undoubtedly by the main Cathedral. We’ll use this late Gothic masterpiece as a backdrop for discussing the medieval evolution of Barcelona when suburbs, or ravals, grew up around the city’s compact Roman footprint housing Barcelona’s specialized guilds, sophisticated professional and merchant classes, and a rich religious life for both Christians and Jews. Our adventure will also take us into the Jewish Call, a neighborhood established by Jews in the middle ages where we’ll discuss the periods of relative religious freedom as well as periods of intolerance and expulsion that have marked Catalan and Spanish history.
Our walk will also take us to the Born, past the Boqueria, Barcelona’s main market, and onto the Ramblas, the main thoroughfare of the city where we’ll look at how modern development re-cast the city in the 18th and 19th centuries. We’ll look for examples of hygenic reform and “surgical” interventions in the heart of the old city that led to massive demolition and reconstruction, and along the way gain tools to help us read Barcelona’s story through the aspect of her built environment. We’ll emerge with a deeper sense of the remains of ancient Barcelona, the city’s medieval splendor, and the modern archaeology and urbanism that uncovered these sites and made them visible.
