TIBIDABOThe Magic Mountain
The mountain of Tibidabo (512 metres in altitude) is the highest point of the Collserola hills, rising between the passes of Vallvidrera and Serola, and it hosts an amusement park which has recently been recovered by the Barcelona City Council. Everyone in the city remembers its fantastic grottoes, the dizzying experience of the Talaia, the Hall of Mirrors with its grotesque reflections, the excitement of the Aeromàgic, the fascination of the old fair of automatons ... sensations which can now be rediscovered by young and old since 15 April, when the park reopened its gates to the public. Barcelona has recovered its emblematic amusement park, the first in Spain and the second oldest in Europe.
The Blue Tram, stops at the front door of ÂBaC, and allows you to start the way to go to the Funicular and the attractions.
The Blue Tram and the Funicular were inaugurated on 29 October 1901, and shortly afterwards the first attractions were installed on Tibidabo. The park still conserves some of the most significant ones that have filled it during its hundred years of existence: for example, the Castle of Terror and the Big Dipper (roller coaster). Or one of its most unusual items: the aeroplane, which dates from 1928 and is a replica of the model that made the first flight between Barcelona and Madrid.
The Fabra Observatory and the Experimental Physics Museum
Other attractions of the mountain are two buildings erected between 1901 and 1905: in 1901 Camil Fabra, the Marquis of Alella, built the astronomical observatory which bears his name, designed by Josep Domènech i Estapà. Nearby, in 1905, Ferran Alsina built a museum of experimental physics named La Mentora, which, due to the great interest of its collection of scientific apparatus of the time, has been conserved to the present day. In 1908 the slopes of the mountain were converted into a municipal park.
The Expiatory Temple of the Sacred Heart
In 1886 Giovanni Bosco, the founder of the Salesians, was offered a piece of land at the top of the mountain to raise a temple dedicated to the Sacred Heart. Firstly a small oratorium was built, and it is still conserved. In 1902 the construction of the great expiatory temple was commenced: it is a monumental building designed in neo-Gothic style by Enric Sagnier, and is crowned by a bronze statue of the Sacred Heart. The construction of the temple was completed in 1961. An elevator takes visitors up to the top of the temple, 575 metres above sea level, where they are met with a breathtaking view of the city.
MONTJUICH
» The Montjuïc that looks out to sea » The Montjuïc of the 1929 Exposition
From various points of the city, and particularly from its tallest buildings, we can see the mountain of Montjuïc, the mountain situated between the city and the sea. At its summit is a castle, and at the foot of the abrupt precipice of its southern, seaward face lies the New Cemetery. On its eastern flank there is a garden of tropical and sub-tropical plants.
Montjuïc is, together with Tibidabo, one of the two mountains that give our city character, described in an old song as the “pearl of the Mediterranean”, surrounded by mountains and the sea, the “sentinels of its peace”.
The northern slope, which descends gently towards the city, is covered with gardens. The upper part, where an amusement park operated for many years (built in 1966), is to become an area free of leisure facilities, thus favouring the existence of the natural landscape.
If we want to make a tour of the hill, we will find, in addition to the exotic gardens, a rose garden, some of the city’s museums, various sculptures representative of traditional arts (The Lacemaker), historical figures (The Drummer Boy of El Bruc) and others dedicated to popular characters, writers and poets.
The Montjuïc that looks out to sea
Miramar: route from the top to the sea
‘Miramar’ is the name of the esplanade situated like an observation platform overlooking the harbour. It is dominated by a building which is now being restored and which formerly housed the first studios of Spanish Television. In the gardens of the esplanade we can see some very old ombu trees with fantastically-shaped trunks. There are also two sculptures, Fertility, by Josep Clarà, and Pomona, by Pau Gargallo. The cablecar that used to cross the harbour had one of its end stations here.
The Costa i Llobera Gardens
Beneath Miramar, on the gentlest slope of El Morrot, the cliff that closes off Montjuïc, one of the most important cactus gardens in Europe was installed in 1970, and dedicated to the priest and poet Miquel Costa i Llobera.
In these gardens we find plant species originating from Kenya, Ethiopia and Mexico.
There is also a sculpture by Josep Viladomat, The Lacemaker, and a monument dedicated to the Pine Tree of Formentor, the inspiration for Costa i Llobera’s most famous poem.
The Museums
In Montjuïc we can visit some of the city’s most significant museums: the Museum of Popular Arts and Industries, the Museum of Art of Catalonia, the Archaeological Museum, the Ethnological Museum and the Miró Foundation.
The sculptures
In the zone of the former amusement park we find several sculptures. Four are dedicated to popular figures: Carmen Amaya, by Josep Cañas (1966); Joaquim Blume (1966) and Charlie Rivel (1972), both by Ros Sabater, and Charlie Chaplin (1972), by Núria Tortras. The fifth, and the best-known due to being outside the park, is the monument to the sardana, the Catalan national dance, also by Josep Cañas (1966).
The Mayor’s Belvedere
From the so-called Mayor’s Belvedere (inaugurated by the mayor of the time, Josep Maria de Porcioles), we can enjoy a different view over the harbour of Barcelona.
The floor is an original collage of pottery and pieces of broken bottles, by the painter Joan J. Tharrats. The fountain was designed by Carles Buïgas, and in one of the corners of the belvedere there is the sculpture Homage to Barcelona by Josep Maria Subirats.
The Castle
The castle which crowns the hill of Montjuïc is an old watchtower. At its entrance there are two engraved stones bearing the dates 1679 and 1704. By the road up to the castle there is a winged victory sculpture on a pedestal, which commemorates the aviator Juan Manuel Durán, one of the heroes of the seaplane Plus Ultra which in 1926 made a non-stop Transatlantic flight from Spain to Argentina.
In 1751 the castle was enlarged by the engineer Juan Manuel Cermeño, giving it its present appearance. Interesting features are the parade ground, the well, and the bastions named San Carlos and Santa Amàlia in honour of King Carlos III and his wife.
The Military Museum
After 1940, and as a result of long negotiations, the state returned the castle to the city, and it now houses the Military Museum, which contains a collection of arms and armour, some of them exotic, and the portraits of the count-kings of Catalonia by Filippo Ariosto. The equestrian statue of General Franco, by Josep Viladomat, was removed from the courtyard with the restoration of democracy.
The Jacint Verdaguer Gardens
Walking down the road from the castle to the monument to the aviator Durán, we find a path which leads to the gardens dedicated to another priest and poet, Father ‘Cinto’ Verdaguer. The bulbous plants which are its main feature flower in the spring, when the garden is seen at its best. The play of water, formed by a series of terraces along which water gently flows, are also one of the attractions of the gardens. On the way to the pond there is a sculpture by Ramón Sabí, with verses by Verdaguer.
The Plaça de Dante
The square dedicated to Dante Alighieri has a number of sculptures, which are not all of the same level of interest. In 1921 a statue of Dante was installed on the esplanade in front of the entrance to the Verdaguer Gardens to commemorate the sixth centenary of the death of the author of The Divine Comedy. In the same square there is a splendid female nude, entitled Beauty, by Josep Llimona.
The Olympic swimming pool
Opposite the Plaça de Dante is the Olympic swimming pool, designed by Antoni de Moragas and built in 1992 on the same site as the old open-air pool. The construction of the new swimming pool signified the disappearance of the Trobada fountain, one of the historic fountains of 19th-century Montjuïc, which was situated inside a bar. (50 Times Barcelona, by Josep Maria Huertas Clavería).
The Forest School
Not far from the Olympic swimming pool stands the Forest School. This was the first large municipal school, opened in 1914 in the grounds of the Laribal estate. The neo-Arabic building which housed the school in its early years disappeared to give way to the new building, of indefinite style. At the entrance to the school, Josep Llimona installed a sculptural group entitled Love of Childhood. The first head of this school was Rosa Sensat, a teacher who carried out an important task in both the dissemination of the new currents in teaching and in the organisation of educational centres.
The Plaça del Sol
In this square situated beside the Forest School, in 1992, the City Council installed a garden of modern sculptures representing the various sculptural tendencies of the late 20th century, which surround the traditional sculpture of Manelic, the famous character from the play Terra Baixa by Àngel Guimerà. The sculpture was made by Josep Montserrat in 1909. Among the new sculptures, of special interest are the works by Tom Carr, Josep Plensa, Perejaume and Enric Pladevall.
The Miró Foundation
The Miró Foundation, built in 1975, is an extraordinary example of the creativity of Josep Lluís Sert. The building has subsequently been enlarged, following the philosophy of its creator. It houses a permanent collection of works by Joan Miró and also itinerant exhibitions. In the open-air spaces we find sculptures by Joan Miró, such as Bon Dia, Barcelona, which stands out against a panoramic view of the city.
At the entrance to the Foundation there is an orange bird, known as Four Wings, by the American sculptor Alexander Calder, which originally stood in the Avinguda Pau Casals but was finally transferred to the Foundation.
One of the great attractions of the Miró Foundation is the Mercury Fountain, also by Calder, made for the Pavilion of the Spanish Republic at the 1937 International Exposition in Paris. The Mercury Fountain is a mobile made of mercury from the mines of Almadén in homage to the Spanish Republicans. Calder, a close friend of Miró, donated it to the Foundation, where it now operates once again with its falling drops of mercury, as it was originally designed.
The Font del Gat
The path leading down from the Miró Foundation ends at the ‘cat fountain’, one of the best-known in Montjuïc. An old Catalan song, Baixant de la Font del Gat ("Coming down from the cat fountain"), contributed to its popularity. The fountain is at the entrance to what today is a restaurant, installed inside a building from 1925 designed by Josep Puig i Cadafalch.
The pond and the pergola
Opposite the Font del Gat there is a pond, surrounded by trees, with a cream-coloured pergola as a background. One of its notable features is a sculpture created by Antoni Alsina for the Exposition of 1929. This spot, known as the Jardins del Claustre (the Cloister Gardens), is one of the prettiest places in the whole of Montjuïc (50 Times Barcelona, J.M. Huertas Clavería).
The Greek Theatre
A little further down, on the right, is the Greek Theatre, also created for the 1929 Exposition, by the architect Ramon Reventós. The theatre was built on the site of an old quarry. At the entrance to the theatre there are gardens and a loggia with a sculpture by Josep Viladomat, The Girl with the Pony-Tail.
Every summer various performances (dance, theatre, concerts) are staged here during the well-known ‘Greek Season’. Performances also take place in other places in the city, such as the Picornell swimming pools (‘Cinema in the Pool’) , the Theatre Institute, the Mercat de les Flors, the Teatre Lliure, the Spanish Village, the Plaça del Rei, the Liceu Opera House, and so on.