Public art in Barcelona consists of a designated group of monuments and outdoor sculptures in the city. Artworks exist within the architecture, as well as within the network of museums, parks, and gardens, all of which lend an artistic taste to the Catalan capital.Fabre; Huertas; Bohigas, 1984, pp. 10–11. There, public art flourished in the 19th century, although the first municipal commission was the 1673 monument to Saint Eulalia in Pedró Square.
Artworks are typically located in niches or on the façades of public buildings. Their density of appearance is usually very high, due to the city's limited space behind the enclosure of medieval defensive walls.Subirachs i Burgaya, 1986, p. 10. Consequently, the walls' demolition in the 19th century sparked a boom the creation of public works, such as Ildefons Cerdà's Eixample project.
The city annexed several municipalities in the early 20th century, increasing the space available for public art. Some were commissioned for particular events such as the 1888 and 1929 Expositions, the 1992 Summer Olympics and the 2004 Universal Forum of Cultures.
Overview
Public art in Barcelona is regulated by the city council and protected by Law 9/1993 of Catalan Cultural Heritage, which guarantees the protection, conservation and research of cultural heritage at several levels.«Patrimoni arquitectònic».
Urban planning includes architecture, engineering, gardening, industrial arts and sculpture. Urbanism relates to politics, economics, history, geography and sociology.Subirachs i Burgaya, 1986, pp. 45–46.Subirachs i Burgaya, 1986, p. 47.
Monuments are generally located in parks and gardens, squares and intersections, or near public buildings.Subirachs i Burgaya, 1986, pp. 55–57. There are several types; until the 19th century the most common were the column, the triumphal arch and the equestrian statue, three types of monuments inherited from Roman art. Later monuments were busts placed in niches, medallions, fountains, steles and pedestals, friezes, reliefs, commemorative plaques, gravestones, followed by installations, land art and multidisciplinary works.Subirachs i Burgaya, 1986, p. 64-68. Commonly-used materials include wood, plaster, terracotta and other ceramics, stone, marble, bronze, iron, steel, concrete and aluminium.Subirachs i Burgaya, 1986, p. 81-82.
Themes include homage to a character or event: religious, mythological, symbolic, allegorical, historical, political, military, scientific or artistic. Public artworks commemorate many aspects of the history of Barcelona.Subirachs i Burgaya, 1986, pp. 89–99.
History
Middle Ages Barcelona's first public artworks were created during the Middle Ages, when the city was part of the Crown of Aragon and an important commercial Mediterranean port. The 13th-century Council of One Hundred was one of Barcelona's first public institutions. The city was growing beyond its core – the present-day Gothic Quarter. The El Raval neighbourhood was developed during the 14th century when Barcelona's population was about 25,000.Lecea et al., 2009, p. 19.
At that time the city had fountains, and the Gothic city hall had sculptures in front dating to about 1400. In front stands a stone statue of the archangel Raphael. At either side were statues of St. Severus (bishop of Barcelona) and Saint Eulalia of Barcelona.Lecea et al., 2009, pp. 20–23.
Early modern era
During the Renaissance, Barcelona became part of the Monarchy of Spain that emerged from the union of Castile and Aragon. It was a period of economic and cultural decline, marked by social conflicts and fighting in the Reapers' War and the War of the Spanish Succession. Barcelona was still a walled city of almost 100,000 then, with its only expansion to the coastal district of La Barceloneta. Its architecture featured Renaissance and Baroque palaces and churches.Lecea et al., 2009, p. 29.
Barcelona's artworks were primarily fountains and statues in public buildings until the end of the seventeenth century, when a monument to Saint Eulalia was erected.Lecea et al., 2009, p. 30.Lecea et al., 2009, p. 34. A cross on a Solomonic column by Bernat Vilar in the courtyard of the Hospital of the Holy Cross was destroyed in 1691 and rebuilt in 1939. In the same courtyard are statues of Saint Roch and Caridad dating to the late 1630s. In the courtyard of the hospital's convalescent home is a 1679 statue of Saint Paul by , and on Calle del Carmen a statue of Paul from 1668 by Dominic Rovira.
Other works were commissioned by guilds; St. John the Baptist (1628), in the Square of Assaonadors Marcús, was sponsored by the tanners' guild and rebuilt in 1958 by . A 1763 statue of Our Lady of the Angels is on Via Laietana.Lecea et al., 2009, pp. 37–38.
The oldest public monument in its original location is the , dedicated to the patron saint of the city, which was erected in Plaça del Pedró in 1673. It was made by master builder Pares Benedict with a wooden statue of the saint by Josep Darder, which in 1685 was replaced by a marble statue by Tramulles Lazarus and . In 1826, the base of the monument was converted into a fountain by Josep Mas i Vila. The monument was destroyed in 1936 at the start of the Civil War fighting, but was rebuilt in 1951 with a new design by . The head of the saint survived and is preserved at the Museum of the History of Barcelona. The base of the monument is square with water spouts, and supports an obelisk topped by a statue of Santa EulaliaFabre; Huertas; Bohigas, 1984, pp. 20–23.
A monument in Santa Eulalia had previously been erected in the Plaza del Blat, now Àngel. It was designed and drawn up in 1618 by Rafael Plansó and consisted of an obelisk on which stood an angel, pointing to the place where an angel had appeared to the delegation that transferred the remains of the saint to the Cathedral Barcelona. The figure of the angel was made by silversmith Felip Ros. In 1821, the obelisk was removed because it impeded traffic movement and was placed in a niche. In 1966, it was replaced by a copy and moved to the Barcelona City history museum.Jaume Fabre, Josep M. Huertas i Victòria Mora. "Angel". [Consulted: 15 March 2014].
In 1784, he built the Fountain of Neptune, by Joan Enrich promoted by the count of Assault, next to the Customs, the location of the current station in France. It represented Neptune standing on a pedestal with dolphins and bas-reliefs, amid a cup of water. The statue was destroyed in the popular uprising of (1843) and replaced by a copy made by a stonemason, until 1877 the fountain was dismantled; even retained bas-relief of the pedestal, which is in the Museum of History of Barcelona.Fabre; Huertas; Bohigas, 1984, p. 32.
In the late eighteenth century, was founded on the estate of the Marquis de Llupià located in the municipality of Horta de Sant Joan -today a district of the city-garden that despite being passed from private to public property later. Now known as Horta Labyrinth Park, it has profuse sculptural decoration despite its unknown artist and is an interesting example of neoclassical art. The garden highlights the labyrinth that gives the park its name, at the center of which is a statue of Eros, while in the entrance there is a relief of Ariadne and Theseus, at the exit is the echo grotto and Narcissus; at a higher level is the Belvedere viewpoint and two temples in the Italian style with statues of Artemis and Danae; Finally, on a third terrace stands the pavilion of Charles IV, crowned by a sculpture depicting Apollo and the muses, while to the rear is a large lake fed by the source of the nymph Egeria, inspired by the Stowe cave.
Nineteenth century
In this period there was a great economic revival, especially related to the textile industry, which also involved a cultural renaissance. Between 1854 and 1859, the city walls were knocked down so the city could expand, especially through the Eixample project drawn up by Ildefons Cerdà in 1859. The revolution of 1868 achieved the demolition of the Citadel, whose grounds of were made into a public park. The population was growing, especially thanks to immigration from the rest of the state, and reached 400,000 at the end of the century.Lecea et al., 2009, p. 73. Artistically, the century saw a succession of different political styles including neoclassicism, romanticism and realism.DD.AA., 1997, pp. 114–149.
As in previous periods, the artistic achievements of governments were confined mainly to public fountains. Some public monuments, such as those dedicated to Ferdinand VII (1831) and King Ferdinand (1850), have not survived. However, many such works were made at this time. The oldest was the Hercules Fountain at the crossroads of Passeig de Sant Joan, Barcelona and Carrer de Còrsega, the work done in 1802 by Josep Moret to a design by Salvador Gurri. Initially located in Passeig Nou, or the Esplanada of the Citadel, it has been in its present location since 1928 and is thought to be the oldest public statue in Barcelona.Fabre; Huertas; Bohigas, 1984, pp. 24–26.
Other fountains from this period include Font del Vell (old fountain) (1816) by Damien Campeny, initially located in Pla del Teatre, next to La Rambla, which was later transferred to the Parc de la Ciutadella (1877) and, lastly, the Plaça de Sants (1975); Fountain of Ceres (1825–1830), Celdoni of plaster, located on a Passeig de Gràcia Provença street corner, and in 1874 moved to the Plaça Blasco de Garay in the Poble Sec, and in 1918 in the Plaça de Sant Jordi in Montjuïc; Neptune's Fountain (1826), Ferran Adrià, placed at the Moll de la Riba, Barceloneta, and later transferred to the Laribal Gardens and 1983, in the Plaza de la Merced, in front of the basilica; Monument to Galceran Marquet (1851) by Damià Campeny and Joseph Anicet Santigosa in the Plaza del Duque de Medina, the first work performed on iron-Town; Font del Geni Català (1856), Faust and Joseph Baratta Anicet Santigosa at Pla de Palau; Fountain of the Three Graces (1876), in the Plaça Reial, designed by the architect Antoni Rovira i Trias
The Wallace fountains, made in 1872 by Charles-Auguste Lebourg, commissioned by the English philanthropist Sir Richard Wallace, and erected in many European cities as an act of brotherhood; two of the original twelve remain in Barcelona: the Rambla Santa Monica and the Gran Via with Passeig de Gràcia. All of them have four figures of caryatids supporting a hemispherical dome, with a water jet.Fabre; Huertas; Bohigas, 1984, pp. 26–37.
As for public buildings, the most important were the two statues placed in niches on both sides of the front door of the new facade of the Hotel de Ville, representing James I the Conqueror and , made by Josep Bover in 1844. Just the opposite, in front of the Palau de la Generalitat, in 1871, a statue of St. George was placed in a niche, designed by Andreu Aleu. This facade was also new, since the opening of the Sant Jaume square in 1823 left both institutional buildings facing front. Note that then the Palau de la Generalitat did not harbor this institution, abolished by the Decree of New Plant, but the Royal Court, the Provincial Council and the General Archive of the Crown of Aragon.Lecea et al., 2009, pp. 42–44.
Statues located in the lobby of the University of Barcelona, a monumental architectural complex built between 1863 and 1882. Rogent Elijah, the architect, proposed the statues, by brothers Agapito and Venanci Vallmitjana, made in 1865 and 1876. They placed five figures representing science and knowledge throughout the history of Spain: San Isidoro de Sevilla, for the Visigoth kingdom; Averroes, for the Spanish-Muslim period; Alfonso X, for the medieval period in Castile; Ramon Llull, for the same period in the Crown of Aragon; and Joan Lluís Vives, for the Renaissance period.