The invention of the Gothic Quarter
Insòlitbarcelona
Is Barcelona’s Gothic Quarter truly Gothic? Or is it an invention? This tour invites visitors to discover the real history behind the city’s most visited neighbourhood.
The Invention of the Gothic Quarter is a guided tour that reveals the process of idealisation that transformed the historic centre at the end of the 19th century. The itinerary explains the context of the Renaixença, when architects and intellectuals, inspired by Romantic ideals, sought to reconstruct a deteriorated urban environment and give it a new historicist image linked to the “glorious” imaginary of the Crown of Aragon.
Along the route, participants will discover the architectural and artistic interventions that helped shape this narrative of the neighbourhood. The tour concludes with a reflection on the construction of the concept of the Gothic Quarter and on its very name, as many of these interventions actually belong to a Neo-Gothic reinterpretation.
Guide: Alba Vendrell