Dali Museum (Cultural Site 1)

About an hour north of Barcelona you will find the small windy town of Figueres where the famous artist Salvador Dali lived.  Upon entering the town you can feel how small it is and it seems that everybody knows everyone else living in the town.  Perhaps this strange yet familiar feeling is what accounted for Dali's uniqueness in everything he did.  Dali is known for his surrealist artwork that evokes thoughts people have never encountered and unlocks parts of our brains that have never been used.  Although Dali seemed eccentric and full of happiness, his life was full of hardship.  Before Salvador Dali's birth his parents had a son before him who was named Salvador Dali as well.  After the first born's death, the parents conceived again and named the boy Salvador Dali after their first child, this was the child who would grow to be a tortured yet brilliant artist.  It's no secret that being named after his dead brother had a great effect on Dali's psyche.  He felt unwanted and unloved because his parents named him after the son they lost, it was like Dali was the replacement.  Although, his life was full of pain it gave him the inspiration and imagination to create the many masterpieces Dali has.

The Dali museum in Figueres houses some of Dali's most famous works which the public can view.  My experience there was amazing and I would highly recommend it to those who are willing to make the short trip to Figueres.  I do enjoy art but I have not been to many museums, but the Dali museum was one of my best experiences at a museum.  The museum has many different floors containing different pieces of Dali.  Upon entering the museum the floors and sections where the paintings reside are all numbered so that you can follow a path leading you throughout the entire museum.  One of the most interesting pieces is Dali's reincarnation of May West.  Of course there was a queue you had to stand in before viewing the piece but it was well worth it.  Using a large pair of lips that look like a sofa, two abstract paintings for the eyes, a nose, and lots of blond hair, Dali allows you to gaze through a distorted lens that ties all these random things together into a beautiful surreal piece of art that was modeled after the celebrity May West.

The Dali museum located in the town of Figueres was a very interesting place to visit and I would highly recommend it to anyone who wants to have a cultural experience while in Spain.  Before visiting the museum I only knew a few things about Dali and his life, but after the visit I was extremely informed on his lifestyle, upbringing, and genre of art he created.

Medieval Barcelona (El Born)

The district of El Born, which is also known as the medieval quarter of Barcelona, is a special part of the city to those who live there and to those who come to visit.  Dating back to the 13th-15th centuries, El Born was a well to do quarter that was close to the sea.  El Born housed some of the most wealthy and prestigious figures of Barcelona, particularly Carrer Montcada.  The residences of these people had large atriums which were surrounded by their living quarters.  Today El Born is identified by the various structures and cultural sites located within it.  The Basilica de Santa Maria del Mar and the Picasso Museum are among the most visited sites in El Born.  Although not to be overlooked, the mass grave of Catalan soliders who lost their lives in the War of Spanish Succession stands tall next to the Basilica de Santa Maria del Mar, and the flame atop the monument burns throughout the day and through rain and sunshine.  The War of Spanish Succession marked an important time in Barcelona's history because of the aftermath that was caused by the battle.  The two fighting sides of the war were the Bourbon monarch Phillip V and the Hapsburg Charles, who the Catalans supported although their efforts were crushed by the Bourbon.  After the fighting ceased Phillip V implemented various changes to Barcelona which created unrest. One-third of the city was destroyed and left many homeless so Phillip V built Barceloneta as a grid design full of identical structures to house those left homeless.  Phillip V also built La Ciutadella, also known as the star fort, which many people despised.  Probably the most intense change that was implemented was the denationalization of Catalonia.  Phillip V sought to unify Spain by ruling from Madrid and forcing the people of Spain to only speak Spanish.  The monarch created the Decreto de Nuevo Planta (New Plan Decrees) which set the foundation for the political and economic changes that would come about.  Conclusively, Phillip V's victory of the War of Spanish Succession had an everlasting impact on Spain which can still be seen today.

Roman Barcino

The first field study we participated in was a trip to the old Roman city which was once called Barcino.  Currently the ancient city is surrounded by shops, cafes, and Barcelona's famous La Catedral; but it once was a bustling city square full of families, merchants, and soliders all thriving as a part of the Roman Empire.  Emperor Augustus founded the city in 15 b.c. and it started as a peaceful area with a prime location near the ocean where ships could come and go bringing imports and exports.  At first the colony was built and settled by soldiers of legions, but with the construction of the Via Augusta the colony grew commercially and economically, and gained immunity from imperial taxation.  The Roman city was set up like a military camp with the Forum acting as the central meeting place of the city where the two main roads connected all others.  The north-south Cardus Maximus and the east-west Decumanus Maximus were the names of the main streets that connected all the alleyways and the people of the city could follow these two roads in and out of the city.  No civilization can thrive without water and the Romans knew this all too well, so they constructed an aqueduct which funneled water into the city.



Today when you walk around the ancient Roman city you can still see the old foundation that the Romans built.  The walls of a building look like sedimentary rocks where there are separate visible layers of different types of stone, the oldest being on the bottom.  When we visited the ancient city all I could think about was how life must have been in these ancient times.  I imagined walking in the forum and seeing all the people going about their daily business.  What astounded me the most was thinking about how these structures were built only by hand.  The structures are made of massive stones and there was no machinery to cut and shape the stones into the cubes that were necessary for building walls and aqueducts.  It was truly amazing.  The most interesting aspect of our visit to the Roman town was the remains of the Temple of Augustus.  The temple was built as a worship place for Emperor Augustus and today there are still three massive pillars standing on the original foundation they were layed.  When we walked into the room where these pillars stood there was a peaceful quiet because no one was talking but everyone was thinking and admiring the sheer beauty and size of these ancient stones.  Today you can still see the remains of the aqueduct the Romans built to bring water into the ancient city.  Although it is only a sliver of what the original aqueduct was you can still admire the craftsmanship and intellect of the Romans.  These people were extremely intelligent, diligent, hard workers that strove to flourish in all aspects of their lives, and this is the reason why the Roman Empire stood strong for hundreds of years.

History of the Sant Gervasi Neighborhood

The Sant Gervasi Neighborhood

Sarrià-Sant Gervasi is one of the largest neighborhoods within the city of Barcelona and is located in the north-west of the city.  Sarrià-Sant Gervasi is encompassed by Les Corts, Gràcia, and Eixample.  The first written document about this neighborhood was found from the year 987 which dates Sant Gervasi back to the Roman colonies.  Although constant construction and addition of taller and more modern buildings has increased, Sant Gervasi still maintains its small village atmosphere with its narrow streets and old houses.  The Collserola mountain is part of the neighborhood and provides a popular yet unique place to hike and enjoy the beauty of Barcelona.  Atop the mountain stands the telecommunications tower Torre de Collserol, as well as the Catholic church Temple de Sagrat Cor, and most uniquely the amusement park where people of all ages can enjoy themselves. The church atop Tibidabo was designed by Enric Sagnier and took 60 years to construct.  On top of the church is a sculpture of the Sacred Heart by Josep Miret Llopart.  The amusement park on the mountain is the oldest in Barcelona and still retains some of its original attractions which date back to the turn of the twentieth century.  Tibidabo was also featured in Woody Allen's film Vicky Cristina Barcelona.  The origin of the name "Tibidabo" derives from the Bible when Satan tempts Jesus atop a high mountain, "All this power will I give thee, and the glory of them."  Therefore the name of Tibidabo refers to the popular tradition that the mountain is indeed in itself a very high mountain.

Not only is the district enriched with history but it is also enriched in people and wealth.  The Sant Gervasi neighborhood is one of the wealthiest in Barcelona and is full of private schools, clinics, and embassy villas. The neighborhood also has a number of public parks that one can stroll through on a lazy Sunday afternoon while bathing in the warm Mediterranean sun.  The most famous of these parks is Parc Güell designed by Antoni Gaudí.  When one visits Parc Güell one obtains the feeling of something monumental.  Once you cross the threshold into the park you almost enter a different world, one that was intelligently and uniquely designed by the genius Gaudí.  The dirt pathways lead you to an open area where a panoramic view of Barcelona displays the sheer beauty and size of the city.  The park is filled with Gaudí's works of mosaics and stone structures, the most famous is the long bench in the form of a sea serpent.  When designing the curvature of the bench Gaudí used the shape of the buttocks of a naked woman left in wet clay.  Another famous structure in the park is the mosaic lizard in the main courtyard.  This piece of art greatly depicts the style of Gaudí's mosaic work, although to many people's dismay the lizard was vandalized in 2007 but was soon restored to its original condition.