Barcelona City Guide - Culture

Barcelona's reputation as a world centre for art, architecture and design is growing yearly, with a plethora of cultural activities on offer. As if it needed confirming, in 1999, the entire city was awarded a Royal Gold Medal for Architecture from the Royal Institute of British Architects. The seminal ghosts of such artistic luminaries as Antonio Gaudí, Pablo Picasso, Joan Miró and Antoni Tàpies permeate Barcelona's cultural scene. Barcelona is also a showcase for homegrown Catalan traditions - dozens of festivals, religious holidays and special occasions are celebrated in the city each year.

The Guía del Ocio booklet (website: www.guiadelocio.com), available from newsagents and news stands, provides information on cultural and other events in the city, as well as contact details for ticket agencies. The free seasonal guide, See Barcelona (website: www.seebarcelona.com), which is available in hostels, is also helpful. Alternatively, there is a cultural information desk at Palau de la Virreina, La Rambla 99 (tel: (93) 316 1000).  

Caixa Catalunya run the central ticket agency Entrada (tel: 902 101 212; website: www.telentrada.com).

Music: Homegrown stars include the cellist Pablo Casals and the international opera singers Josep Carreras and Montserrat Caballé. The latter celebrated her native city in a highly theatrical duet (Barcelona) with the late Freddie Mercury of Queen. The main concert hall is the Palau de la Música Catalana, Carrer Palau de la Música 4-6 (tel: 902 442 882 (box office); website: www.palaumusica.org), a UNESCO World Heritage building and one of the most extravagant music venues in the world. Sunday concerts here are a Barcelona institution. It was designed by modernist architect Domènech i Montaner, as a showcase for the Catalan renaissance and was the main venue for the Orquesta Sinfónica de Barcelona y Nacional de Catalunya (website: www.obc.es), until they relocated to L'Auditori, Carrera Lepant 150 (tel: (93) 247 9300; website: www.auditori.org), in 1999.

There are free musical events in the city hall's Saló de Cent, Plaça Sant Jaume 1 (tel: (93) 402 7000), on Plaça del Rei, on Thursday at 2000, as well as in various beautiful buildings around the city. Barcelona's opera house, the stunning Gran Teatre del Liceu, La Rambla 51-59 (tel: (93) 485 9900; website: www.liceubarcelona.com), was tragically destroyed by fire (for the third time) in 1994. Reconstruction was completed in summer 1999.

Theatre: Barcelona's theatre scene does not enjoy the same international reputation as Madrid's does, but what it lacks in literary authority, it makes up for in the visual and audio spectacle of its performances. The theatre scene in the city is lively and well attended, including work by regional and international playwrights. Popular venues include Teatre Lliure, Plaça Margarida Xirgu 1, Montjuïc (tel: (93) 289 2770 or 902 101 212 for tickets; website: www.teatrelliure.com) and Teatre Poliorama, La Rambla 115 (tel: (93) 317 7599; website: www.teatrepoliorama.com). A varied programme of drama, music and dance is on offer at Teatre Nacional de Catalunya, Plaça de les Arts 1 (tel: (93) 306 5700; website: www.tnc.es), and El Mercat de les Flors, Carrer Lleida 59 (tel: (93) 426 1875; website: www.mercatflors.org).

Dance: The city's main venue for ballet and contemporary dance is L'Espai de Dansa I Música de la Generalitat de Catalunya (referred to simply as L'Espai), Travessera de Gràcia 63 (tel: (93) 414 3133). A more relaxed atmosphere is in evidence on Sunday mornings, in the square in front of Catedral de la Seu, Plaça de la Seu, when locals flock to watch and participate in the local dance - the sardana.

Film: Surprisingly few movies have been made in this photogenic city. Recent releases include Barcelona (1994), an urbane comedy of manners, directed by Whit Stillman; Todo sobre mi madre ('All about my mother', 1999), the story of a mother in search for her dead son's father, directed by Pedro Almodóvar; and En la Ciudad ('In the City', 2003), about a group of friends in their mid 30s leading secret lives in Barcelona, written and directed by Cesc Gay. Horror movie Fragile (2005), directed by Jaume Balagueró, is set in a hospital in Barcelona and stars Calista Flockhart of Ali McBeal fame.

There are a growing number of cinemas that show foreign-language films in the original language, with Spanish subtitles. The 15-screen Icaria Yelmo Cineplex, Carrer Salvador Espriu 61, Port Olímpic (tel: (93) 221 7585; website: www.yelmocineplex.es), and the more convenient one at Maremagnum, Port Vell (tel: 902 333 231; website: www.cinesa.es), are two of several multiscreen cinemas in the city. There are no notable arthouse cinemas in Barcelona.

Literary Notes: La Ciudad de los Prodigios or City of Marvels (1990) by Eduardo Mendoza fictionalises the life of the city, between its two international exhibitions in 1888 and 1929. Year of the Flood (1996), by the same author, is set in Barcelona in the 1950s. La Plaça del Diamant or The Time of the Doves (1962), by Mercè Rodoreda, is the best known Catalan novel and traces the life of Colometa, through the turmoil of the civil war. Manuel Vazquez Montalban's detective character, Pepe Carvalho, is a Barcelona native and the city is the setting for the crime novels in which he stars. Homage to Catalonia (1937) by George Orwell is the author's first-hand observations of the Spanish revolution in the region. More recently, two outstanding novels are worth mentioning: Colm Toibin's The South (1990), which depicts the struggles of an Irish woman looking for a new life in Barcelona, and Shadows of the Wind, by acclaimed author Carlos Ruiz Zafon, which quickly became a bestseller when published in 2005.