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Barri de Gracia, Barcelona. By Otger Cataló.

Top 10 Sensational Facts about Barri de Gracia

Barcelona was once a walled city with rural surroundings before becoming the metropolis that it is today. The farmhouses or country houses in that area were grouped into towns or “Vilas,” with Barrio de Gràcia being one of the most developed.

The city gradually absorbed it, but it never lost its allure. On the contrary, with its bohemian and multicultural mix, it is now one of Barcelona’s most appealing neighborhoods.

Its parties, which “disguise” the streets every August, have their own identity, and its residents claim and protect the neighborhood’s DNA through a thousand activities.

Sensational facts about Barri de Gracia are discussed in this article. Let us have a look;

1. Some facades of the old farmhouses that made up the parish of Gràcia in 1620 are there

Some of the old farmhouses that comprised the parish of Gràcia in 1620 can still be seen today.

Can Tusquets, Can Xipreret, Can Canet de la Riera, headquarters of the current Royal Tennis Club of Barcelona, Can Mora… Many are true neoclassical-style jewels. There were plenty of parishes and religious convents.

The area was so beautiful that some bourgeois families from Barcelona built their second summer residence in the Barrio de Gracia over time.

2. Squares and terraces, the party will abduct you

Barcelona,Plaça Rius I Taulet. By Jordi domènech.

Let’s return to the present. Today, the Barri de Gracia is both a family and a bohemian neighborhood.

Its squares stand out: Plaça Rius I Taulet, where the old town hall is located, the republican Plaça de la Revolució, the spacious Placa del Sol, Plaça del Diamant, which gives its title to the novel by the writer Merce Rodoreda and recalls its protagonist, La Colometa, with a beautiful sculpture, the extremely gypsy Plaça del Poble Roman and Plaça del Raspall, the familiar Placa.

3. The are several bars and restaurants in Barri de Gracia

A Bar in Barri de Gracia, By Daniel Rueda.

Because the selection of bars, taverns, old wineries, new wine bars, and restaurants is overwhelming, it must be explored gradually.

Classics with their market cuisine offerings, Catalan cuisine to eat grilled meat with caliu potatoes, calçots or torrades de pa amb tomaquet and sausages, bars with tasty tapas and beers, and homemade restaurants have seen how designer cuisine restaurants, cupcake cafes, vegan restaurants, chic cocktail bars,… and, of course, world food restaurants as befits such a cosmopolitan neighborhood.

4. Barri de Gracia is wonderfully reflected in many of the novels by the writer Juan Marsé

Juan Marse. Picture By Elisa Cabot.

The streets compete against each other, there are various prizes and categories, and the week-long celebration concludes with “germanor” dinners and concerts of various types of music.

Gracia has always been a popular neighborhood, inhabited by working people but also a hangout for the Catalan bourgeoisie.

This environment, particularly in the postwar period, is beautifully reflected in many of the novels by Juan Marsé, one of the most awarded and recognized writers in contemporary Spanish literature. We recommend The Spell of Shanghai or Teresa’s Last Afternoons.

5. The Barri de Gracia has a lot of art

Aside from the Verdi cinema, which is known for its art and essay screenings, and various theaters (the Teatreneu, the Almera, the Teatre Lliure, founded in 1976 in the former headquarters of the Cooperativa La Lleialtat, the Jove Teatre Regina, and several rooms dedicated to micro theatre), many of Barcelona’s design shops, workshops, and exhibition halls are located here. As if that weren’t enough, several of these streets and squares are associated with flamenco and rumba. Thus with the history of the gypsy people in Barcelona.

6. Barri de Gracio was not immune to industrial change in the 19th century

With the industrialization of the nineteenth century, the rural world underwent significant change, and the Barrio de Gracia was not immune to this change. Many workshops and printing houses thrived in this area.

The workers’ social fabric resulted in frequent protests and solidarity movements, which are still felt in the environment. Hippies, hipsters, ecologists, anarchists… or a mix of all forms of coexistence are all part of the neighborhood coexistence.

The youth have discovered an alternative territory in Gracia, which has become one of its allures.  It is not in vain that the Tradicionarius Music Festival and other people-oriented events are held here for free.

7. Casa Vicens of Antoni Gaudi is found in Barri de Gracia

Casa Vicens, the first building project by Antoni Gaudí. By Pol Viladoms.

The Casa Vicens, covered with green, white, and yellow tiles that today are like the memory of an old garden and a rainbow fountain that time has made disappear, is one of Gaud’s most beautiful buildings in the Barrio de Gracia, and for a long time, it went unnoticed in the small Calle de las Carolinas, where the nuns of this name used to have a convent, and which has recently been opened to the public.

8. Domènech i Muntaner with the Fuster house contributed to Barri development

Domènech I Muntaner, another famous architect, contributed to the neighborhood’s decoration with the Fuster house, which is now a luxury hotel at the beginning of Gran de Gracia street.

Its moderate and elegant modernism contrasts with the splendor of El Paluet, which was designed in 1906 by Pere Falqués, who also designed the wonderful streetlights on Paseo de Gracia and the equally splendid ones on Paseo Gaudi.

9. Cases Ramos in Placa Lesseps

Another magnificent and one-of-a-kind structure is the Cases Ramos in Plaça Lesseps. It was built in the early twentieth century by the architect Jaume Torres I Grau (1906) and is one of the settings for Pedro Almodóvar’s film “All about my mother” (1999).

A section of the Gracia neighborhood was occupied by important jewelers with political clout in the City Council, such as Josep Rosell I Imbert, a gem merchant who, in 1850, had the idea of naming the streets and squares that are still in use today.

Calle de la Perla, Calle del Oro, Calle Topacio, and Plaza del Diamant are among them.

10. Placa del Diamant honors the memory of the poor people who lived through a war or live in the present

de la Plaça del Diamant, Barcelona. By Literat Tours,

  The odd construction in the neighborhood reminds us of the city’s harsh punishment during the Civil War.

Because of the number of small factories that had been established in the Gracia neighborhood, some areas became aviation targets.

The civilian population was sheltering from the bombs in over 90 shelters set up for it.

The Plaça del Diamant is one of the largest, and a guided tour of its underground interiors is required to honor the poor people who lived through a war or who live in the present.