PLAÇA REIAL

Description

Essentials about Plaça Reial in brief

Plaça Reial is probably the most beautiful square in Barcelona and a very popular destination for both locals and tourists due to its central location, its many cafés, restaurants and clubs and, above all, its wonderful Mediterranean flair.

The location of Plaça Reial

The square is located immediately east of La Rambla in the Gothic Quarter. The main entrance is to the west on Rambla dels Caputxins, from which you can access Plaça Reial via the short cross street Carrer Colom, which acts as a portal. The three other entrances are covered and much more inconspicuous; one to the north to Carrer de Ferran via Passatge Madoz and two to the southeast towards Carrer de Vidre and Carrer Nou de Zurbano and via Passatge Bacardi respectively.

The history of Plaça Reial

However, the square, often compared to Plaza Mayor in Madrid due to its unity, has a much more recent history. On its territory stood the Capuchin monastery of Santa Madrona until secularization, which later burned down. After its demolition, a new plaça was planned here, which was built in the neoclassical style from 1848 to 1859 according to designs by the architect Francesc Daniel Molina i Casamajó. The surrounding rows of four-story buildings in the neoclassical style are defined by the surrounding row of arcades. The square was intended to be reminiscent of Napoleon’s plazas in the spirit of its creators, but it appears more like an Italian piazza due to its more modest size and tranquil flair.

Until the turn of the 20th century, Plaça Reial, with its slender palm trees, the Three Graces fountain, helmeted lanterns by (then unknown) Antoni Gaudí, and benches, was a strolling corso for the Catalan bourgeoisie. By the 1970s, however, the square had increasingly fallen into disrepair and was known for begging, prostitution, and as a transshipment point for drugs.

In the early 1980s, Plaça Reial was redeveloped and subjected to increased police controls, so that cafés, bars, beer houses and nightclubs began to reestablish themselves. On Sunday mornings, the square hosts a flea market for stamps and coins.