Eixample

Barcelona claims to have the greatest collection of Art Nouveau buildings of any city in Europe. The style, known in Catalonia as Modernisme, flourished after 1854, when the government decided to pull down the medieval walls to allow the city to develop into what had previously been a military zone. The designs of the civil engineer Ildefons Cerdà i Sunyer (1815–76) were chosen for the new expansion (eixample) inland. These plans called for a rigid grid system of streets, but at each intersection the corners were chamfered, with their corners cut off at a 45° angle, to allow the buildings there to overlook the junctions or squares. The few exceptions to this grid system include the Diagonal, a main avenue running from the area of Pedralbes down to the sea, and the Avinguda de Gaudí, which links the Sagrada Família to the Hospital de la Santa Creu i de Sant Pau by Modernista architect Lluís Domènech i Montaner. The wealth of Barcelona’s 19th-century commercial elite, and their passion for all things new, allowed them to give free rein to the age’s most innovative architects in designing their residences, creating a unique cityscape.

In the late 20th century, a multitude of shops, bars, discos and restaurants catering to the LGBTQ+ community sprang up in an area of the Eixample, earning it the nickname “Gaixample”.