Culture
If you are going to visit Catalonia you should visit its main remarkable sight — Church of the Holy Family. Its author is Antoni Gaudi who started his great work in 1884 and left his creation unfinished due to death in 1926. According to Gaudi it is the Expiatory church and the author had devoted most of his life to build it. The most unique thing in it is the time of construction — construction has been going in full swing for 3 centuries but it is still an unfinished project. Despite that the Church of the Holy family is a compulsory place of visit for thousands of tourists coming to Barcelona from all over the world every year.
Another sight is the square of Catalonia. It is located between the old city and district of Eshample. The square had gathered a number of landmarks. The two famous streets of Barcelona spring from this square — Rambla street (street of the old city) and Passage of Gracia (there you can look at modern architecture).
There is a Singing fountain in the centre of the square. It includes a number of little fountains. Each performance includes two acts with showing time of 20 minutes. In the evening fountain blazes with varicoloured lights. Add surroundings of landmarks to this performance and you will get a «city in city» that you don’t want to leave.
You must visit Guell Palace in Catalonia. It is included in World heritage list of UNESCO in property «Works of Antoni Gaudi». Guell Palace is a city house in Barcelona created by Antoni Gaudi for Catalan captain of industry Eusebi Guell. This building was constructed in period from 1886 to 1890. Although it has an impressive appearance the palace occupies area only of 18 to 22 metres. The interior of palace strikes one’s imagination. It is oriented at the central reception room designed as a draw well topped with a dome and towered above some floors. Facade of building amazes with its elegant oriel and parabolic entry arches. Interior ornaments are made of forged elements.
Montjuik is distinctive environmental sight of Catalonia. This is a wide hill with a flat crest that views sea bay. It is located to the south-east from the centre of city. Montjuik is a cliff at the bottom of which you can get a wonderful view. There were some fortifications on the top of hill at different times. It is remarkable that downwards from fortress the hill is occupied by gardens and parks. There is especially remarkable collection of cactuses with big barbs in gardens of Costa-i—Llobera.
In translation from medieval Catalan language Montjuik means hill of Jesus. Probably, it is a distorted Latin name Mons Jovicus — hill of Jupiter. But exactly this hill with its rich history brought miseries to its residents. It was built not to protect city from foreign conquerors but to conquer it in 1701 — 1714 when a habsburger succession to the throne became an apple of discord between Catalans and Bourbons. In civil commotions of XIX century streets of the city were fired from this fortress and in XX century it became a place of capital punishment for many opponents of political system.
The fortress was released in 1960 upon order of dictator Franco. Nowadays there is a military-historical museum that became a place of visit for tourists.
Another natural miracle of Catalonia is the highest point of Barcelona (500 metres) — Tibidabo mountain. A beautiful view at the city opens here.
Spain without opera house is not Spain. Liseu opera house is another sight of Catalonia. This world-famous opera house has a rich history. Its construction was begun on April 11, 1845, and the first performance was made on April 4, 1847.
The main theatre of Barcelona and one of the largest and luxurious halls in the world impresses with its beauty. Large marble surfaces, moulding, bronzes — a gold cane-cap of capital. And of course the main gorgeousness of the theatre is its great artists who glanced on its stages. These are Fedor Shalyapin, Maxim Mikhailov, Plasido Domingo, Montserrat Caballe, Jose Carreras, Alfredo Craus and others.
Spanish land is rich with its cultural heritage. World-famous people such as Pablo Picasso, Antoni Gaudi, Salvador Dali, Graciana Baltasara, Rojas Fernando de and others were born here and they left mark on world history.