Do you think you know everything about Barcelona? Rest assured; the Catalan metropolis has not yet said its last word. In Barcelona, there are unique places, little-known works of art, architectural pearls far from the crowd Intimate more than exceptional, all these places evoke an authentic and terribly endearing city, to (re) discover tirelessly. Zoom on 8 off the beaten track sites in an unknown Barcelona.

La torre Bellesguard is Gaudí’s least known work in Barcelona, and for good reason. The house long inhabited by the Guilera family recently opened its doors to the public. The visit is worth a detour, even if access by public transport is not easy.

Perched on the heights of the city, the tower takes its name from its position “Bellesguard”, “beautiful view” in French. Gaudí took advantage of the medieval vestiges to build a house halfway between Gothic and Art Nouveau. A curiosity that the Catalan master will reproduce at the Parc Güell a little further down the city. You only have to look at the viaduct that Gaudí built outside the park to realize it.

Inside the tower, only the magnificent hall with its Andalusian-Moorish airs, the smoking room with its breath-taking view of the mountain and the unfinished attic can be visited. An even more privileged discovery on weekends when accompanied by a guide (Spanish or English).

The tour ends on the rooftop terrace with the view over the spire surmounted by the four-branched cross symbol of Gaudí. In the distance, the city can be discovered with the Sagrada Familia in high point. God that Barcelona is beautiful could have said the master of modernism!

Gaudi’s Bellesguard Tower: 20 Calle Bellesguard. Open Tuesday to Sunday from 10 am to 15 pm. Audio guides available in French.

Miró welcomes you to Barcelona

Every day, many of them pass in front of a work by Miró without even looking back. It is travelers (well, almost all) who arrive and depart from Terminal 2 (the low cost one) at Barcelona El Prat Airport.

However, the fresco is gigantic! Nine by five meters. A mosaic made up of 4,900 ceramic tiles measuring 35.5 x 25.5 cm. It was produced in collaboration with his childhood friend and ceramist Josep Llorens i Artigas.

In 1968, when the city of Barcelona commissioned Miró to create a work for the inauguration of the new Terminal at Prat Airport, the artist proposed making three. Three works entitled “Bienvenida” which welcomed new visitors arrived by sea, land and air.

The first is a hymn to joy for all those who arrive in Barcelona by plane. The second work, “Pla de l’Os”, is a 65 m 2 floor mosaic created in 1976, still with his ceramic friend. Located on La Rambla, opposite the Boqueria market, it invites all those who disembark from the port to discover the city. At the time, it destabilized a lot, and the Barcelonans did not hesitate to describe the artist as a dauber. The name “Pla de l’Os” pays homage to the porters who were available at this location.

Of the three works, only the sculpture “Dona ocell i una estrella”, planned for the Cervantes park not far from Sants station and which was to accommodate tourists who came by land (road and train) was never produced. The municipality of Barcelona rejected the project. A model can be found at the Miró foundation. The city of Chicago bought the sculpture, naming it “Miss Chicago”.

The kiss of peace

To discover this mosaic of a new genre, it is better to know the address. If it is located in the popular Barri Gotic, near Barcelona Cathedral, it nestles in an alley that looks like a dead end.

Nicknamed “El Beso “, the work intrigues by its composition. She juxtaposes more than 4,000 photos printed on cement tiles by artist Antoni Cumella. At the origin of this 30 m 2 photomosaic, a collaborative project between photographer Joan Fontcuberta, the Spanish newspaper El Periódico and the city hall of Barcelona.

After collecting the photos sent by readers on the theme of freedom, Joan Fontcuberta managed the feat of imagining a kiss by organizing the images according to the colors.

The work pays homage to the Catalan national holiday, the Diada. Celebrated on September 11, it commemorates the resistance of the Catalans in 1714 when Barcelona was besieged by Franco-Spanish troops. A mosaic that leaves no one indifferent.

And there was light

He is the most discreet artist in Barcelona and the most difficult place to find, because, by day, the work is invisible!

With “Deuce Coupe “, the American artist James Turrell managed to make his mark in a white corridor. After looking for a long time for a place, he decided in July 1992 to decorate a space with public access to the cloister of the monastery of Saint-Augustin in the Born district, in the old town.

A work so secret that it can only be discovered at night or, for aesthetes, at sunset … It is at this precise moment that it takes on its full extent. The luminous installation made up of neon lights intensifies slowly to finally make appear on the walls an azure blue color punctuated by a red point on the ceiling. The passage thus illuminated highlights the arches of the cloister of the convent of Saint Augustin located just opposite.

Civic Center, Saint Augustin Convent, Calle Comerç 26. Open from Mon to Fri until 10 p.m. and Sat until 9 p.m. Close on Sunday.

Ignacio de Puig: a secret garden in Barcelona

The garden is so hidden that you have to dare to enter the Petit Palace Boqueria Garden hotel and go through the glass door to the right of the reception to discover it. It is however a public garden with its benches and its fountain, where it is good to stroll in the shade of a magnolia. Some neighbors come to read here while children are playing hide and seek.

The garden is relatively small, but quite pleasant when it comes to having lunch on the go after buying some Catalan specialties at the Boqueria market, just opposite.

It is a haven of peace set between two hotels like there are in Barcelona. Today the municipality of Barcelona is trying to maintain these green oases in the heart of tourist districts and encourages the inhabitants to take possession of vacant lots to infuse notes of greenery and conviviality in the city. Do not hesitate to enter these new popular gardens!

Calle Boqueria, 10, open daily from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m.

The Enric Miralles foundation

Opposite us is the Pasage de la Paz, whose name is inscribed in stone and which reminds one of the Paris covered passages. On the right the Enric Miralles foundation is barely noticeable, and yet you have to dare to push the door.

Entering the patio of this beautiful neo-classical building, you discover by climbing a few steps the world of Enric Miralles, an architect of international renown born in Barcelona. It was he who imagined the Santa Caterina market with its veil of colored ceramics near the Palau de la Música, as well as the very beautiful Gaz natural building in the Barceloneta district. Each semester a new free exhibition shows the talents of a missing architect.

Even if it is not very large, the place has all the characteristics of a classic apartment with its colored cement tiles on the floor and its Catalan brick vaults on the ceiling. For architecture enthusiasts, it is possible to visit the architecture studio on the first floor provided that you book by email.

Fundacio Enric Miralles. Passatge de la Pau 10 bis. Open houses from Mon to Fri from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. and 4 to 7 p.m. Request to visit the studio by writing to info@mirallestagliabue.com

A museum of Giants in Barcelona

Not only does this museum not appear in tourist guides, but it is quite difficult to find information on its website if you do not understand Catalan! It is located in one of the most touristic areas of the city, next to the Santa Caterina market.

This unique and free place refers to Catalan culture. In 1902, the city of Barcelona organized the first competition of giants, dwarfs and typical monsters made of cardboard. During successive political regimes, the giants will adopt pagan faces to finally resemble popular figures in the neighborhood, often members of corporations.

They are made by neighborhood associations also called “glues”. Today, parades punctuate the streets of Barcelona during the feasts of the patron saints and the Giants turn like a wild sardana (folk dance).

Admire the giants of Saint Roch at the entrance they open the ball with a series of fantastic earthy characters and animals.

Casa dels Entremesos, Plaça de la Beates, 2. Open from Tue to Sat 10 am-1pm and 4 pm-7pm. Sun and holidays 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.

On the cobblestones, the sea

What would Barcelona be without its cement pavers in the shape of flowers that have covered the city since 1906? They are called “the panots”.

Originally, the Barcelona city hall launched a competition to standardize the city’s sidewalks and cover the 10,000 m 2 of new pedestrian paths in the Eixample district designed by the Catalan urban planner Cerda to enlarge the city.

Given the repeated mudslides and downpours that Barcelona suffered, the pavers were designed to be non-slip! Five patterns have been selected and each one has the particularity, with its more or less deep grooves, of retaining water to avoid slipping.

The most famous being the quadrilobe flower inspired by the bas-reliefs of the Casa Amatller built by Puig i Cadafalch and whose petals have the effect of a small gutter. The most artistic motif is that of Paseo de Gràcia created by Gaudí.

You just have to look at his feet to see a marine picture appear. By taking a step back and identifying seven contiguous hexagonal paving stones, we discover a real work of art. A drawn composition of seaweed, sea anemones and stars to be discovered by lowering your eyes. A nod to the decor of the facade of Casa Batló, also built by Gaudí and whose balconies plunge over the Paseo de Gràcia.

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