Americans for Catalonia

After years of works, Barcelona will inaugurate new La Rambla boulevard on February 13-14, 2027 Batlle affirms that the celebration, which will be directed by Lluís Danés, will take place because the works will be finished

This is the Font Màgica (Magic Fountain) of Montjuïc, one of the most visited spots in Barcelona. But the ground it stands on carries a story most visitors never hear.

Before the fountain, this exact spot held the Four Columns — four stone pillars built in 1919 to represent the four red stripes of the Catalan flag. They were a symbol of Catalan identity, and that made them a target.

In 1928, Spain's military dictator Miguel Primo de Rivera had them torn down. He wanted no trace of Catalan symbolism on display during the upcoming 1929 World's Fair.

To fill the empty space, engineer Carles Buïgas proposed building a monumental illuminated fountain. Many thought the plan was too ambitious. With just under a year until the Fair opened, over 3,000 workers were hired to make it happen. They did.

The fountain debuted on May 19, 1929 — the day before the Exposition opened. It can produce around 7 billion combinations of water, light, and color. Music was added in the 1980s. The Spanish Civil War left it badly damaged and silent until 1955.

The Four Columns were rebuilt in 2010, just a few meters from where they originally stood.

Barcelona Supercomputing Center launches new quantum computer in former chapel EuroQCS-Spain aims to mark a step toward technological sovereignty for Europe

Until 1992, Barcelona had almost no beach. That sounds impossible for a city on the Mediterranean, but it's true.

For most of the 20th century, the Barceloneta waterfront was a working industrial zone: factories, warehouses, cargo docks, and a railway line that physically separated the city from the sea. Ordinary residents had no access to the water. There was simply nowhere to go.

When Barcelona won the right to host the 1992 Summer Olympics, the city used the opportunity to tear all of it down. The most striking result was the creation of roughly two miles of new beachfront, using sand imported from Egypt. The Passeig Marítim promenade was built from scratch. The Olympic Port opened. And Barceloneta, a neighborhood of fishermen that had existed since the 18th century, was reconnected to the sea for the first time in living memory.

The sail-shaped building you see today is the W Hotel, known locally as Hotel Vela. Designed by architect Ricardo Bofill, it stands on 7 hectares of land reclaimed from the sea during the construction of the new harbor entrance, and opened in 2009. Residents of Barceloneta protested that its height "stole the horizon" from the neighborhood.

In 1973, none of this existed. The beach, the promenade, the hotel. All of it was built in a single generation.