On the other side of the city, in the Gran Via de les. Corts Catalanes and Passeig de Carlos I, is the Plaza de Toros Monumental, with a capacity for 19.600 spectators.
Starting from the bullring, Plaza de Toros Monumental, in the direction towards the sea, we find Barcelona’s latest urban development, called Area de Pare de Mar, it has meant the definitive opening of Barcelona to this Mediterranean, which has washed its beaches from the beginnings of time. The old Poblenou district, the seat of industrial Barcelona in the XIX century, was the scene of one of the greatest works for the Olympic Games. The railway lines were buried, the Estacio de Franga remodeled, and the old Estacio del Nord converted for sports events and exhibition hall.
Barcelona’s sewage system was amplified and the construction of a residential area with 2,000 flats, office blocks, and a hotel with more than 20 floors was planned.
From this, the Villa Olympica was born. The best architects in the country worked on the plans. In front of this completely new district, called Nova Icaria, there are seven kilometers of new beaches and a sports harbor. It is becoming an important residential and leisure center. Its wide avenues and gardens, innumerable terraces, and restaurants in front of the sea make it one of the areas of Barcelona with more future. It connects with the Passeig Maritim, also finished in 1992, and with the Barceloneta beaches.
Another new area created for the Olympic Games is in the Vail d’Hebron. Five hundred flats, a tennis club, two multisports installations, and the connection between the two new districts, the Cinturo del Litoral and its continuation, the Ronda de Dalt have given this city a definite push towards the year 2000, with the hope that the new century will bring as much hope and prosperity as the previous XX.
The last part of this book is dedicated Barceloneta and Barcelona’s beaches, in homage to the opening up to the sea produced by this latest urban transformation.
Barceloneta is a fishing district and was intended to house those who lost their homes when the old La Ribera district disappeared. It was begun in 1753, as a project by Prospero Vervoon, with a one-story house. However, in 1837, the baron de Meer authorized the addition of another story to each building and it was the general marques de la Mina who authorized the construction of this popular Barcelona district, which was the first “example” of Barcelona.
The definitive “Eixample” was carried out to the plans of the engineer Ildefonso Cerda, regular blocks of flats 100m by 100m, in straight streets, which have an invariable width of 20m, and right-angle crossroads, Passeig de Gracia, la Rambla de Cataluyna and la Diagonal were the only exceptions. Now with the latest constructions on the coast, the clearing of the Barceloneta beaches, finishing the Passeig Maritim, at the end of which the Port Olimpic was built and the creation of seven new beaches in the Poblenou district, this part of the coast has undergone one of the most beautiful transformations which could be given to Barcelona. The dream of a city, eminently seafaring and mortuary, open to the sea. definitely, its great destination which had not been fulfilled until now.
Those Olimpic games were held in 1992., and since it was a long time ago, the building dedicated to this occasion still stands as a reminder of that time. I think that it’s amazing building, and even though Olimpic games are held every 4th year, this building stands as a reminder for the next generations to make bigger and better structures for every new games, wherever they decide to be held.