El Poble Espanyol is an open air museum located at Montjuic mountain, with 40 handicraft shops and a number of excellent restaurants and bars. It should be near the top of any list of things to do in Barcelona.
Built in 1929 it was made as the pavilion dedicated
to art for the Barcelona International Exhibition and it was conceived
as a real "village" from the beginning in the middle of a city, with a
surface area of 49,000 m2.
The aim of the town was to act as an
"ideal model" to give an idea of what a Spanish village might look like
and contains the main characteristics and features of towns and
villages in the peninsula. Therefore 117 buildings, streets and squares
were reproduced to scale for this reason.
Poble Espanyol was
built in just 13 months and actually had an expiry date which was the
same time as the Universal Exhibition - just six months however its
success as an open-
air museum has kept it open until this day.
El Poble Espanyol combines history and art with more than forty art and craft workshops and shops working in the open-air museum. You can experience the wonder of historic handmade production techniques and qualities and appreciate how innovative elements of design and shape can enrich a traditional product.
The craft techniques that can currently be found here are: ceramics, engraving, decorative painting, glass fusing, puppet-making, jewellery, masks, sculpture, leather, embroidery, basket-weaving, musical instrument-making, espadrille-making and a long list of others.
Montjuic itself is a great day out for tourists renting apartments in Barcelona and during the summer months the central square of Poble Espanyol transforms into the open-air discoteca, La Terrazza which is very popular with tourists and locals alike.
Getting There
Take
the metro (green or red line) to stop Plaza Espanya and from there take
the escalators to Poble Espanyol. It is well signposted.
For a more comprehensive Barcelona guide.
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