Ancient architecture of Barcelona

The architecture of Barcelona has had an evolution parallel to that of the rest of Catalan architecture, and has followed in a diverse way the multiple tendencies that have taken place in the context of the history of Western art. Throughout its history, Barcelona has welcomed various cultures and civilizations, which have contributed their concept of art and have left their legacy for posterity, from the first Iberian settlers, through the Roman settlers, Visigoths and A brief Islamic period, until the emergence in the Middle Ages of Catalan art, language and culture, with a first period of splendor for Catalan art, where Romanesque and Gothic periods were very fruitful for to the artistic development of the region.

Barcelona , the capital of Catalonia , is located in the southwest of Europe , on the Mediterranean coast. It is located on a plain about 11 km long and 6 wide, bounded on its sides by the sea and the Sierra de Collserola, with the top of Tibidabo (516,2 m) as the highest point, as well as for the deltas of the Besòs and Llobregat rivers. Above the coastline and separating the city from the Llobregat delta , Montjuïc mountain (184.8m) is located. Also, from the Collserola range several hills that follow a line parallel to the coastal mountain range are on the plain: they are the Hills of La Peira (133 m), La Rovira (261 m), the Carmel ( 267 m), Creueta del Coll (249 m), Putget (181 m) and Monterols (121 m).

The Barcelona plan is in a fault that goes from Montgat to the Garraf , originating in the Paleozoic . The land is formed by substrates of slates and granite formations, as well as clays and limestone. The coast was formerly occupied by moist soils and avalanches, which disappeared as the coastline progressed thanks to the sedimentations contributed by the rivers and torrents that led to the beach; It is estimated that since the 6th century BC, the coastline has been able to move about 5 km. The area of the plain was formerly flooded by numerous torrents and streams, which were grouped into three river areas: the Horta stream in the area near the Besòs river (or eastern area); the Blanca stream and the Gornal torrent in the Llobregat area (or zone of the west); And, in the central part of the plain, a set of streams coming from the southern slope of Tibidabo, such as the streams of Sant Gervasi, Vallcarca, Magoria and Collserola.

Antiquity

Prehistory
There are few vestiges of prehistoric times in the city. Although the human presence in the Paleolithic is confirmed, the first remains with regard to architecture come from the Neolithic, the era in which the human being became sedentary and went from a subsistence based on hunting and harvesting A collection of agricultural and livestock economics. These first vestiges come from the late Neolithic (3500 BC – 1800 BC), and are manifested mainly by funerary practices with pit tombs, which used to be deep and covered with slabs. An example of this is the tomb discovered in 1917 on the southwestern slope of the Monterols hill, between the streets of Muntaner and Copernicus; of inaccurate dating, has 60 cm in height and 80 in width, and was formed by irregularly shaped flat slabs. In terms of rooms, from this time on, only a cabin pool has been found in what is the current Sant Andreu Comtal station.

Of the Bronze Age (1800 BC – 800 BC) there are also few remains with respect to the Barcelona plan. The main ones come from a site discovered in 1990 at Carrer de Sant Pau, where there were remains of fireplaces and burials of individual burials. The rest found in 1931 in Can Casanoves, behind the Hospital de Sant Pau, were also found, where there were remains of stone walls and the bottom of three circular cabins of about 180 cm in diameter. There are also written testimonies of two megalithic monuments, located in Montjuïc and Camp de l’Arpa, of which no material traces remained. Finally, from the final calcolítico there are a few remains of the so-called ” culture of the pollen fields “, found in the farmhouse of Can Don Joan, in Horta, and in the south-eastern slope of the Montjuïc mountain, in the paths of the Old Mill and the Source of the Mamella.

Iberian period
Between the 6th century BC and the 1st century BC, the Barcelona plan was occupied by the Laietans, an Iberian people that occupied the present counties of Barcelonès, Vallès, Maresme and Baix Llobregat. The Iberian architecture was based on walls of tapial, with a voussoir system, with false arches and vaults made by approximation of threads. The cities used to be located in acropolis, with towers and solid walls for the defense, within which the houses were located, of an irregular distribution, generally with rectangular plant.

In Barcelona there are almost no Iberian architectural remains: the main vestiges of this culture were found in the hills of La Rovira, La Peira and Putget, as well as in Santa Creu d’Olorda – in Tibidabo -, but they have not allowed to establish Some special characteristics in terms of burial tombs or burial grounds. The main remains come from La Rovira, where in 1931 there were vestiges of an Iberian settlement that, sadly, were destroyed when installing antiaircraft batteries during the Civil War. Apparently, it had a wall with two accesses, while located outside it was a set of silos with 44 deposits excavated on the rock.

Apparently, the main Iberian settlement in the area was in Montjuïc – possibly the Barkeno who named two coins minted at the end of the 3rd century BCE -, although the urbanization of the mountain in recent days and its intensive use as a quarry Throughout the history of the city has caused the loss of most remains. In 1928, new high capacity silos were discovered in the Magoria zone, which would probably be part of a surplus of agricultural surplus. On the other hand, in 1984 there were remains of a settlement in the southwestern slope of the mountain, in a land of 2 or 3 hectares.

Roman period
In the third century BC the Romans arrived in the Iberian Peninsula, during the Second Punic War between Rome and Carthage, with which began a colonizing process that culminated with the incorporation of all Hispania into the Roman Empire. In the 1st century BC Bàrcino was founded, a small walled city already projected with monumental air, and that took the urban form of castrum initially, and oppidum later, based on the Mons Taber (16.9 msnm). The maximum splendor of the Roman era occurred during the second century, with a population that ought to oscillate between 3 500 and 5 000 inhabitants.

The Romans were great experts in civil architecture and engineering, and brought to the territory roads, bridges, aqueducts and cities with a rationalized layout and with basic services, such as the sewer system, as well as buildings such as temples, spas, circuses and theaters. Roman architecture was based on the use of asphalt, brick and rubblework, and, in front of the Greek architec – tured system, they introduced the use of the arch, the vault and the dome. They adopted from the Greeks the use of the Ionian and Corinthian orders, to which they added the Tuscan and the compound.

The Bàrcino enclosure was walled, with a perimeter of 1.5 km, which protected a space of 10.4 hectares. The first city wall, of a simple factory, began to be built in the 1st century BC. It had few towers, only in the angles and at the gates of the walled perimeter. However, the first incursions of Franks and Alamans as of the years 250 gave rise to the need to reinforce the walls, which were enlarged in the fourth century. The new wall was built on the base of the first, and it was formed by a double wall of 2 m, with space in the middle filled with stone and mortar. The wall consisted of 74 towers 18 m high, the majority of rectangular base.

The center of the city was the forum, the central square dedicated to public life and business. It was located at the confluence between the cardus maximus (Carrer Llibreteria and Call) and the decumanus maximus (Bishop, City and Regomir streets), approximately at the center of the walled enclosure. The forum concentrated on constructions devoted to business, justice, terms and other public buildings, and was the place where the authorities met in the Curia and the Basilica. The forum site has not been clearly defined, but it seems to coincide with the current Plaza de Sant Jaume. In the forum was Temple of Augustus, the first emperor and founder of the Roman Barcino. It was built a few years after the foundation of the city, probably at the beginning of the 1st century AD. It was a rectangular building, on podium, hexastyle and perimeter, about 35 m long and 17.5 wide. Between the colonnade of the Corinthian order, the eyebrow was placed, a room that contained the image or sculpture of Emperor August, accessible from the forum. Of this temple, only three columns are conserved, still located in its original location, although they are currently located in the building of the Center Excursionista de Catalunya in Paradise Street.

Of the rest of elements conserved of Roman time it is worth to emphasize the necrópolis, a set of tombs located to the outside of the walled area, in the current place of the City of Madrid: it has more than 70 tombs of the centuries II and III, with remains of ares, steles and cups, discovered accidentally in 1954. There are also remains of two aqueducts that drove the waters into the city, one of them from the Collserola mountain range, to the northwest, and another from the north, taking water from the river Besòs; both joined in front of the decumana door of the city – current Plaza Nueva -. There are also important archeological remains preserved in the subsoil of the City History Museum, in Plaça del Rei.

In the domestic sphere, remains of a Roman house (domus) are conserved on Calle Lladó, from the 1st century BC. It was of an itatic model, with entrance hall and a constructed area of 500 m 2. It was excavated in 1927 by Josep Calassanç Serra i Ràfols, and some of its mosaics are preserved in the Archeology Museum of Catalonia. On the other hand, there are testimonies of a large thermal building located in the current square of Sant Miquel, around the second century AD, on which the church of the same name was built in the Age Medium, which kept until its demolition in 1868 a mosaic with representations of tritons and other marine motifs.

With the establishment of Christianity as an official religion in the 4th century, artistic production was developed around the religious theme, which has been defined as a Paleo-Christian art. This art was born from Roman forms and typologies, but with a new content based on Christian iconography. In architecture, he emphasized the church as the heiress of the Roman basilica, and new forms were incorporated, such as the Latin cross plant – the symbol of Jesus – and new buildings such as the baptistry. The main temple of the time was the basilica of the Holy Cross (centuries V-VII), the germ of the current Cathedral of Barcelona, of which there are some remains located in the subsoil of the current Plaza de San Iu and Carrer dels Comtes, as well as some sculptural remains that are preserved in the City History Museum. It was a temple of three naves, with a square-shaped baptistry that housed an octagonal pool.

Average age
The first intact constructions that are preserved in the city come from the Middle Ages, when Barcelona was constituted as a county and later it became part of the Crown of Aragon, becoming an important maritime and commercial axis of the Mediterranean sea. In the 13th century, Consell de Cent was one of the first public institutions in Barcelona. The city center was growing from the primitive urban nucleus -which is now the Gothic Quarter-, and in the 14th century the Raval district arose. Barcelona had about 25,000 inhabitants.

Pre-Romanic
The first style produced in the field of medieval art is the so-called pre-Romanic, located between the fall of the Roman Empire and the creation of the Hispanic Brand. During this period Barcelona was integrated into the Visigothic kingdom and, after a brief Islamic occupation, to the Carolingian Empire.

The Visigoth architecture was characterized by the use of the ashlars wall, the horseshoe arch and the vault of canyon or edges. The churches used to be of basilical plant of one or three ships, or of Greek cross, generally with free chapels and entrance porch. In Barcelona there are few remains of the Visigoth period, in which the city remained intramuros. Remains of a palace built in the 5th century are known on the old Roman forum, later episcopal palace. Another palace, perhaps where Ataülf was murdered, was discovered under the current Saló del Tinell, in Plaça del Rei, where a necropolis of the time was also discovered (VI-VII centuries). The cathedral continued to be the Paleo-Christian basilica, and there is evidence that churches such as Sant Pau del Camp, Sants Just and Pastor and Santa Maria de las Arenes already exist – after the Sea. It is probable that for a time the cathedral was ascribed to the arriana cult practiced by the first Visigoths, until the Catholic conversion of Recared in 587.

The brief Islamic occupation of the city, just 83 years old, did not leave a special mark. The population of the Muslim Barshilūna (برشلونة) continued to be mostly Christian, as the invaders did not try to turn them into Islam. The Arab valleys enabled a military garrison in the city, and possibly converted the cathedral into a mosque, as it happened in other cities, although there are no indications of this.

Subsequently the city fell under the dependence of the Carolingian Empire, from the conquest of Louis the Pious in 801 until the offensive directed by Almansor in 985. At that time the cathedral was restored, thanks to the initiative of Bishop Frodoí around 877, on the occasion of the transfer of the remains of Santa Eulalia to the crypt of the cathedral. During the approximately two centuries that the Carolingian influence lasted in Barcelona, the city counted besides the cathedral with the urban churches of Sant Jaume, Sant Miquel and Sants Just i Pastor, as well as those located outside of Santa Maria del Pi, Santa Maria del Mar and the monasteries of Sant Pau del Camp and Sant Pere de les Pueles; All these churches were later refurbished in other styles. Around the 10th century various parishes and population centers were also formed in the vicinity of the city, such as Sant Genís dels Agudells, Sant Andreu de Palomar, Sant Joan d’Horta, Sant Gervasi de Cassoles and Sant Martí de Provençals.

During the Middle Ages, Barcelona had a Jewish quarter, the Call, located between the present streets of Ferran, Banys Nous, Palla and Bishop. Founded in 692, it survived until its destruction in 1391 in a xenophobe assault. It was separated from the rest of the city by a wall, and had two synagogues (Major, now a museum, and Minor, nowadays parish of Sant Jaume), baths, schools and hospitals.

The development of agriculture in the Barcelona plan was consolidated with the construction, in the mid-10th century – and probably by Count Miró -, of two channels that led to the waters of the Llobregat river and Besòs in the neighborhood of the city: that of Besòs was known as Rec Condal or Regomir, and was parallel to Strata Francisca, a route that supposed a variant of the ancient Roman Augusta, and which was built by the Franks to better approximate the city to the center of the The Carolingian Empire.

Romanic
The Romanesque art, developed from about the year 1000 to the thirteenth century, is linked to the creation of the Catalan counties, of which the County of Barcelona acquired preeminence over the rest, which progressively gained autonomy from the ‘Carolingian Empire, while reclaiming terrain for the Islamic kingdoms. Feudalism was established as a prevailing regime, and the Romance languages emerged, among which is Catalan. In the county, the main influences came from Lombardy and the Provencal and Tolosan schools, although new typologies were created in the use of stone and in the cover of large surfaces that allow a talk of a Romanic genuinely Catalan. Romanesque architecture stands out for the use of canyon vaults and half-point arches, with stone walls worked on ashlars on a masonry core. The churches are one or three ships, with a wide and ambulatory cruise in some cases, as well as the presence of one or more apses in the back.

Little is known about the cathedral of the Romanesque period, except that it was consecrated in 1058, which allows to suppose that it had to be a building different from the Paleo-Christian or pre-Romanesque. He probably occupied the central space of the current Gothic cathedral and, if he followed the model of other churches of the time, he had three naves with three staggered apses and a porch entrance. It had a bell tower that was limited to the Palau Comtal. From the 11th century it is also the church of the Virgen del Coll, located at the foot of the Carmel hill, of which the central body and the bell tower are preserved, while the other current elements of the church are of the twentieth century.

The main exponent of Romanesque art in Barcelona is the monastery of Sant Pau del Camp, completely renovated between the 12th and 13th centuries. The church has a Greek cross floor plan with vaults of cannon and an octagonal floor dome that protrudes outside in the form of a tower, with three apses and a small cloister of paired columns. The facade has an eardrum with an image of Jesus among the saints, Pere and Pau, with the Tetramorph and the hand of God.

In the 12th century, the monastery of Sant Pere de les Pueles was also reformed, founded in 945 by Count Sunyer but rebuilt in Romanesque style before 1147, when the church was consecrated. It had a cross-shaped plant, with an atrium, a cloister and several monastic dependencies. In the middle of the century, the monastery of Santa Anna was created, with a Latin cross plan and a rectangular headwalk; The cloister is of the 15th century, with two floors, with a lower gallery of pointed arches with quadrilateral columns. From the 12th century there are also: the chapel of Sant Llàtzer, in Plaça del Pedró, which was part of an ancient leprosy; and the Marcús chapel, belonging to an old hospital for the poor, with a rectangular plan and an apse that was demolished in 1787. Of this time it would probably be the church of Sant Joan d’Horta, around which the municipality of Horta was created, destroyed in the events of the Tragic Week of 1909.

In the 13th century, the Romanesque was evolving towards forms that pointed to the new Gothic style. In this period, the city’s strength in the administrative and economic field led to the construction of numerous public buildings and palaces for the nobility and the clergy. The main exponent was the Palau Comtal, later the Palau Reial Major, which during the 12th and 13th centuries was extensively remodeled, from what was initially a fortified building to a fully stately palace. However, the Romanesque palace, which was later refurbished in Gothic style, only survives the vaults of the cannon below the Saló del Tinell, the north and south facades and the windows on the main façade, covered with the Tinell being built.

Another exponent was the Episcopal Palace of Barcelona, built between the 12th and 13th centuries. It had a three-story structure with a central courtyard, with some semicircular arcades on the north-western side, with columns with decorated capitals that are one of the few examples that are preserved in the city’s Romanesque civil sculpture. This palace included the chapel of Santa Llúcia (1257), currently integrated into the cloister of the cathedral, with small dimensions and a square plan, covered by a pointed vault, which points to the Gothic one.

The prosperity gained with territorial expansion led to the first settlements outside the city, once the danger of Muslim incursions was far removed. Several villages were created (new town), generally around churches and monasteries: this happened around the church of Santa Maria del Mar, where a neighborhood of a port nature was created; also in the church of Sant Cugat del Rec, of an agricultural nature; the neighborhood of Sant Pere around Sant Pere de les Pueles; the Pi district arose around the church of Santa Maria del Pi; and Mercadal, around the Portal Major market. The creation of these new neighborhoods forced to expand the walled perimeter, so in 1260 a new wall was built from Sant Pere de les Pueles to the Drassanes, facing the sea. The new stretch was 5 100 m, and covered an area of 1.5 km 2. The enclosure had eighty towers and eight new doors, among which were several places of relevance at present, such as Portal de l’Àngel, Portaferrissa or La Boqueria.

Gothic
Developed between the thirteenth and sixteenth centuries, it was a time of economic development and geographical expansion: Barcelona became one of the main political, economic, social, cultural and commercial centers of the Crown of Aragon, and would become one of the main Mediterranean powers in the XIII, XIV and XV centuries, in competition with Genoa and Venice. Architecture underwent a profound transformation, with lighter, more dynamic forms, with a better structural analysis that allowed for more streamlined buildings, with more openings and, therefore, better lighting. There appeared new types such as the pointed arch and the vault, and the use of buttresses and buttresses to support the structure of the building, which allowed more spacious interiors and decorated with stained glass and rosettes.

From the middle of the 13th century, fully gothic churches, characterized by the plant of a nave with a polygonal head flanked by lateral chapels between buttresses, were introduced in Barcelona. These churches were initially promoted mainly by Franciscans and Dominicans, and were the first exponents of the churches-monastery of Santa Caterina and San Francisco. The one of Santa Caterina, of the Dominican order, dropped out in 1837 and replaced by the market of the same name, was founded in 1243, and had a single ship of seven sections with side chapels and heptagonal head. The church of San Francisco (1247-1297) had a ship with seven sections, with side chapels and polygonal apses; It was located in the current square of the Duke of Medinaceli, until it was demolished in 1837. Between the 13th and 14th centuries, the convent of Carmen was erected (demolished in 1875), with a single nave with a polygonal header and side chapels with diaphragm arches that later were replaced by a vault.

In 1298 began the Gothic reform of the Cathedral of Barcelona, with a structure of three ships with ambulatory and double chapels, and crypt with the tomb of Santa Eulàlia. The headboard is inspired by the Cathedral of Narbonne, with anambulatory and crown of radial chapels. The initial project is an unknown author, while between 1317 and 1339 Jaume Fabre completed the head and the crypt; Bernat Roca was commissioned between 1365 and 1388 for the cruise and the bell towers, as well as the vaults of the ships to the rear; between 1398 and 1405 Arnau Bargués made the chapter room; In the following years the cloister was built, being master builders Jaume Solà, Bartomeu Gual and Andreu Escuder. The façade was built in the nineteenth century, neogothic style.

Next to the cathedral, there was a wide array of churches, the first one being the one of Santa Maria del Pi, which began in 1319 and was practically completed by the end of the 14th century. It has a single nave with seven sections with vaults of crucería, with chapels between the buttresses, following the type of churches of mendicant orders. The façade stands out due to its large rosette with radial tracery, comparable to those of Sant Cugat del Vallès and the Cathedral of Tarragona. Next to the church is the bell tower, with an octagonal floor plan. Trainer mastered works such as Guillem Abiell, Francesc Basset and Bartomeu Mas.

Shortly after, the monastery and church of Santa Maria de Pedralbes, from the order of the Clarisas, was founded in 1326 on the initiative of Queen Elisenda de Montcada, with the participation of the master builders Antoni Nató and Guillem Abiell. The church has a single nave with heptagonal head, with low chapels between the buttresses on the side of the head, and a heart on the lower side of the church. Subsequently, between the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, the cloister was built, around which there are the monastic dependencies.

It was followed by the church of Santa Maria del Mar, one of the best exponents of Gothic in the city, built between 1329 and 1384 on the primitive Paleo-Christian church of Santa Maria de las Arenas, with a project by Berenguer de Montagut, continued by Ramon Despuig and Guillem Metge. It has three naves separated by octagonal columns, an ambience with radial chapels and a spacious and diaphanous interior, with a magnificent glazed rose window.

Other churches of the time are: the one of Sants Just i Pastor (1342-1360), by Bernat Roca, with a ship of five sections with vault of vault, lateral chapels with apse, octagonal tower-bell tower and a facade where it emphasizes a window pointed to the usual rose window; the convent and church of Sant Agustí Vell (1347-1507), damaged during the siege of 1714 and later used as a barracks and currently as an exhibition hall and headquarters of the Municipal Photographic Archive, of which part of the cloister is conserved, the lateral nave of the church and the refectory; and the church of the Holy Trinity (1394) – after Saint James after the disappearance of the church of this name that was in the square in the nineteenth century -, built on the old synagogue minor from the Jewish Quarter, from which the ship and the door are only preserved from the Gothic period, while the headboard dates back to the 17th century and the rest of the elements are neo-Gothic additions from the 19th century.

The church of Sant Martí de Provençals, of uncertain origin although it was reconstructed between the 15th and 17th centuries in Gothic style, should be emphasized in the periphery of the city, of which its façade stands out, the work of Joan Aymerich, which features interspersed flamboyant moldings and an eardrum with a sculpture by Sant Martí de Tours; the monastery of Sant Jeroni de la Vall d’Hebron (1393), by Arnau Bargués, with a church with a five-section ship with a vaulted vault and two chapels between the buttresses, destroyed in 1835; and the Franciscan monastery of Santa Maria de Jesús (1427), located on the path of Jesus – downstream Passeig de Gracia -, which consisted of convent, cloister, church, cemetery and orchard, destroyed in 1808.

On the civil ground, the Royal Palace was renamed, renovated from the previous Romanesque building, during which the modifications were demolished most of the previous structure – only the facades were left, and a Large banqueting and reception hall, the Major Chamber or Saló del Tinell, built by Guillem Carbonell between 1359 and 1370. It is a rectangular room, 33.5 meters long and 17 meters high, with six diaphragm arches half-point supported on small pillars with capitals, and a polychrome wood ceiling. At that time, the chapel of Santa Àgata, built between 1302 and 1310 by Bertran Riquer, was added to the palace, which consists of a single nave, with a wooden roof of two slopes, supported by diaphragm arches; On the altar is the Retablo del Conestable, by Jaume Huguet.

The same Carbonell reformed between 1367 and 1368 the Royal Palacio Real, located in the current street of Ataülf, an original building from the 12th century that had belonged to the Order of the Temple, which was renovated in Gothic style with new rooms, such as the “Sala dels Cavalls”, which was imitated by Tinell, or the White Chamber, intended for the king. This palace also stood out for a large garden with exotic animals in the form of a small zoo. At present, only the chapel, reformed between 1542 and 1547 by Andreu Matxí, is preserved, which replaced the previous diaphragmatic arches through some vaulted vaults, and built the side chapels; In 1868 Elies Rogent reformed the façade.

At this time, the City House – the City Hall – was created, which consisted in the beginning in a living room built in the interior courtyard of the house of the writer of the Consell de Cent, the group of prohoms that led the city, whose meetings were held until then at the Santa Caterina convent. It was then built at the Saló de Cent, the work of Pere Llobet inaugurated in 1373. Between 1400 and 1402 a new facade was built, by Arnau Bargués, where the midpoint door and a blind arches stand out the openings, as well as the sculptural decoration, from which stands a San Rafael made by Pere Sanglada; This is the façade that leads to Carrer de la Ciutat, since the current main façade, which leads to Plaça de Sant Jaume, dates back to the 19th century, in neoclassical style.

The Palace of the Generalitat de Catalunya was also created – originally a tax collection institution and the current headquarters of the Government of Catalonia – located in an old manor house of the Call, acquired by the Catalan Courts in 1401 after the expulsion of the Jews. Between 1416 and 1418 it was remodeled by Marc Safont, mainly with regard to the construction of a new facade on Calle del Bisbe, executed in Gothic flamíger with sculptural ornamentation by Pere Johan. Subsequently, in 1425, the same Safont reformed the gallery of the noble floor, and between 1427 and 1434 he built the chapel of Sant Jordi in the space where previously there was a tower.

Other exponents of the civil architecture were: the Shipyards, built between the 13th and 14th centuries with a first structure around a large courtyard with porches and fortified with defensive walls and towers, which was enlarged at the end of the century XIV by Arnau Ferrer, who covered the patio and extended the porches with two bodies of eight ships each; La Llotja de Barcelona was built between 1380 and 1404 on an old open-air porch, by Pere Llobet and Pere Arvei, although the Gothic building is only a part of the Recruitment Hall, which stands out for its monumentality (16 m high), rectangular with three naves and large half-point arches that support a wooden roof, a structure reminiscent of the famous Loggia dei Lanzi in Florence; The Hospital de la Santa Cruz was built between 1401 and 1415 in the Raval, with an initial project by Guillem Abiell, who planned a four-rectangular building arranged around a central courtyard with two floors, the lower one resolved with vaults of crucería and the superior with roof to two waters on arcs diaphragm – at the moment it welcomes the Library of Catalonia and the Massana School -.

At this time, numerous houses of noble families also arose, usually with a typology based on a quadrangular or rectangular module, with an interior courtyard that distributed the space, and two floors connected by a stairway, with constructive elements based on vaulted vaults, pointed arches and pierced traceries. Some exponents are: the Requesens palace (14th century), present Royal Academy of Good Letters; the Christmas palace (14th century), the current Museum of Pre-Columbian Art; the house of the Canonges (14th century), which formerly housed cathedral canons and is currently the official residence of the President of the Generalitat; the Aguilar palace (mid-fifteenth century), by Marc Safont, current Picasso Museum; and the Cervelló-Giudice palace (15th century), now the Maeght Gallery.

Another typology that arose in this period was that of the rural farmhouse, a type of ancestral home that evolved from the fortified Roman farms, which eventually became authentic stately residences. They were usually followed by a basilica scheme, with a rectangular central body and gallery with arcade, composed of two floors and attic or granary. One of the oldest preserves is that of Can Vinyals or Torre Rodona, in Les Corts, original of the 10th century, the time the base of the tower of defense is preserved, but reformed in the XIV. From the 15th century they are Can Cortada, in Horta; Can Fuster, also in Horta; and Torre Llobeta, in Nou Barris.

The continuous urban growth led to a new extension of the walled enclosure, with the construction of the Raval wall in the western part of the city, which included a surface area of 218 ha, with a perimeter of 6 km. The works lasted about a century, from the middle of the fourteenth century to the middle of the fifteenth century. The new urban center left the Drassanes, following the current rounds of Sant Pau, Sant Antoni, Universitat and Sant Pere, descending through the current Paseo de Lluís Companys to the monastery of Santa Clara – in the current Ciutadella Park -, to the sea – by the current Avenida del Marqués de l’Argentera. At the moment only the Portal de Santa Madrona is preserved, at the Drassanes.

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