Plaça d'Espanya
Built for the 1929 Expo on a spot that staged public hangings until 1715 — its towers now open the avenue up to the palace on the hill.
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One of Barcelona's biggest squares, built for the 1929 International Exposition at the foot of Montjuïc and the launch point for the walk up Avinguda de la Reina Maria Cristina to the MNAC. Most rush through the traffic hub; the towers, fountain, and repurposed bullring reward a stop.
What to look for
- The two 47 m Venetian Towers framing the avenue up to the Palau Nacional and the MNAC
- The central fountain, designed by Gaudí collaborator Josep Maria Jujol, with statues by Miquel Blay
- Arenas de Barcelona, a 1900 Moorish Revival bullring on the square's edge, now a shopping center
Metro Espanya (L1, L3, L8) drops you at the door — the ideal start for walking up to the MNAC and Montjuïc.
Plaça d'Espanya is one of 39 sights worth the detour in Barcelona, all bundled offline in Voyage GO — download the Barcelona pack and it sits on your map with no signal, filling your travel passport the moment you walk past.
More to see in Barcelona
- Sagrada FamíliaGaudí is buried beneath a church begun in 1882 and still unfinished — one that in 2025 became the world's tallest.
- Camp NouThe bowl that once crammed 120,000 people in to watch Barça — European football's biggest room.
- Park GüellGaudí's failed luxury subdivision — 2 of 60 planned homes ever built — that Barcelona inherited as a mosaic playground.
- Casa Milà (La Pedrera)Gaudí's last private house looks like a wind-carved sea cliff parked on a city corner.
- Casa BatllóGaudí reskinned a townhouse into a slain dragon, down to columns shaped like leg bones.
- Barcelona CathedralThirteen white geese live in the cloister — one for each year Saint Eulalia was alive before Rome killed her.