Beyond Via Laietana, which separates it from the Gothic Quarter, lies the Ribera district, known to all as el Born after its main promenade. In the Middle Ages it was the quarter of merchants and sailors, grown rich with the Crown of Aragon; today its Gothic lanes and palaces house museums, galleries, designer boutiques, cocktail bars and restaurants. It is part of the Barcelona guide.
Santa Maria del Mar
The basilica of Santa Maria del Mar is the masterpiece of Catalan Gothic and, for many, Barcelona's most beautiful church. It was built in just 54 years, between 1329 and 1383, with the money and labour of local people: the bastaixos, the port porters, carried the stones from the Montjuïc quarry on their backs, and are remembered in the reliefs on the doors. The interior is extraordinarily pure: three naves of almost equal height, slender, towering octagonal columns, a great rose window. The baroque furnishings burned in 1936, leaving bare stone and light. It is the church of Ildefonso Falcones's novel Cathedral of the Sea. Guided tours go up onto the roofs.
The Picasso Museum
On calle Montcada, the street of the merchants' Gothic noble palaces, five linked palaces house the Museu Picasso, with over four thousand works. The museum focuses on Picasso's formative years: he lived in Barcelona from age 13 to 23 and studied and painted here. You see his childhood drawings, academic paintings like Science and Charity, Blue Period works and the extraordinary series of 58 variations on Velázquez's Las Meninas painted in 1957. Entry is free on Thursday evenings and the first Sunday of the month, with booking. On the same street are the Design Museum and the Museum of World Cultures.
The Born Cultural Centre
The Mercat del Born, a great iron market of 1876, is now the Born Centre de Cultura i Memòria. During its renovation, an entire neighbourhood of the 1700 city emerged beneath the floor, with streets, houses and shops, demolished after the 1714 siege to build Philip V's military citadel. The excavations can be seen free from above, and an exhibition tells the story of Barcelona at the time. Next door, the Fossar de les Moreres, the square with an eternal flame honouring the defenders who fell in 1714, is a symbolic place for Catalans on the Diada, 11 September.
Passeig del Born and the lanes
Passeig del Born, the old square of medieval tournaments and festivals, links Santa Maria del Mar with the Born CCM. Around it, streets such as calle de l'Argenteria, calle dels Flassaders and calle del Rec are full of independent fashion shops, jewellers, craft workshops, bars and cafés. It is one of the best districts for an aperitivo and cocktail bars, some among the world's best according to international rankings.
Sant Pere and Santa Caterina
The northern part of the district, towards Via Laietana and the Palau de la Música, is more working-class. Santa Caterina market, rebuilt by Miralles-Tagliabue with an undulating roof of thousand-coloured ceramics, is one of the city's most photographed markets, with a good restaurant. A little further up is Domènech i Montaner's Palau de la Música Catalana, UNESCO-listed (see modernisme).
Ciutadella Park
At the edge of the district is the Parc de la Ciutadella, the great park built on the site of the Bourbon fortress demolished in the 19th century and home to the 1888 World's Fair, of which the red-brick Arc de Triomf survives. In the park: the monumental Cascada, which the young Gaudí worked on, a boating lake, the Parliament of Catalonia, the zoo, the Zoology Museum in Domènech i Montaner's "castle of the three dragons", and lawns full of jugglers, musicians and families.
Tips
- The Born is perfect in the evening: aperitivo, a tapas dinner and a cocktail.
- Book the Picasso Museum online, as queues are long.
- The district is noisy at weekends until late.
- As everywhere in Ciutat Vella, watch out for pickpockets.
See also Barcelona neighbourhoods and nightlife.