Barcelona from above
- Thread starter Mave
- Start date
Stybar
Yeah, groupsex seems to be the way to go
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- 15,798
Gather round children, it's time to hit you with some motherfucking fun facts.
Barcelona is only laid out like this for a large part. The core of the city, the Gothic Quarter, is pretty much like any other old city: a clusterfuck of streets and alleys. It wasn't until later, when the city expanded and tore down the old city walls, that Ildefons Cerdà (an urban planner) decided on this checkerboard pattern.
He wanted the new district, called Eixample, to be efficient, and neat. He started with the checkerboard pattern, and added the slanted corners on each square to allow sunlight to flow into the streets, If you walk around Barcelona, you can notice the difference in the Gothic Quarter and the Eixample. Eixample feels much more open and light.
It was in this new quarter that most of the city's bourgeoisies resided. Obviously, they wanted their homes to be as unique as can be, so that's where architects such as Gaudì made his name.
Another fun fact I discovered while there: There used to be a big fuckoff citadel in the east of the city, designed by a dude from Antwerp in the 18th century. The purpose of this citadel was to oppress the Catalonian population of Barcelona into not rebelling, because that's what they were prone to do.
In order to build that citadel though, they had to raze about 30% of the old city. After the oppression was gone, they people of Barcelona tore down the citadel (there is a large park there now), and rebuild residential buildings which were destroyed. So there is a small piece of the Gothic Quarter that's nice and orderly, because it was built halfway in 19th century.
So yeah, Barcelona was mostly "designed" to be this nice.
Barcelona is only laid out like this for a large part. The core of the city, the Gothic Quarter, is pretty much like any other old city: a clusterfuck of streets and alleys. It wasn't until later, when the city expanded and tore down the old city walls, that Ildefons Cerdà (an urban planner) decided on this checkerboard pattern.
He wanted the new district, called Eixample, to be efficient, and neat. He started with the checkerboard pattern, and added the slanted corners on each square to allow sunlight to flow into the streets, If you walk around Barcelona, you can notice the difference in the Gothic Quarter and the Eixample. Eixample feels much more open and light.
It was in this new quarter that most of the city's bourgeoisies resided. Obviously, they wanted their homes to be as unique as can be, so that's where architects such as Gaudì made his name.
Another fun fact I discovered while there: There used to be a big fuckoff citadel in the east of the city, designed by a dude from Antwerp in the 18th century. The purpose of this citadel was to oppress the Catalonian population of Barcelona into not rebelling, because that's what they were prone to do.
In order to build that citadel though, they had to raze about 30% of the old city. After the oppression was gone, they people of Barcelona tore down the citadel (there is a large park there now), and rebuild residential buildings which were destroyed. So there is a small piece of the Gothic Quarter that's nice and orderly, because it was built halfway in 19th century.
So yeah, Barcelona was mostly "designed" to be this nice.
lextoc
I like pizza.
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- 394
- Location
- Belgium, Antwerp
That's quite beautiful, only the building don't seem that high ... Not sure if it's because of the perspective of the picture? Bet their fucking traffic flow is better than Antwerp's.
