What will you do if you want to see the whole of Spain in one place? The simple answer is to visit Poble Espanyol in Barcelona. Built in 1929, it was created to build the soul of Spain in a single space. It has scaled representations of buildings of different regions of Spain. Not just buildings, but also artisans of Dali, Picasso and Guinovart.
Here is the entrance to Poble Espanyol:
Do you know that:
The creators of Poble Espanyol actually visited 1600+ places in Iberian Peninsula and Southern Portugal to choose the buildings that should be represented here. There are 117 buildings in total.
Some scenes of the famous move 'Perfume - The story of a murderer' was shot here.
A lot of Disney Theme parks are inspired by Poble Espanyol
It was intended that Poble Espanyol will be demolished after the 1929 exhibition, but was spared after it started getting good reviews and traction
Poble Espanyol during the Civil War and after
During the Civil war of 1936-39, Poble Espanyol was converted to a prisoner camp. After the war as well it was under the threat of ruin since Franco supported used this site for anti-Catalan messages.
The change started happening in 1985 when the city council took the initiative of reforming Poble Espanyol and reconstructed the buildings to make this site for leisure, culture and tourism. The impact was that 6L people visited in 1987.
But not much later, the place started to get into financial trouble and the council thought that nothing can save it from closure. Thanks to some entrepreneurs who funded the project and revived Poble Espanyol.
Today, it is not just a place of leisure but a single space where once can study about entire Spain and feel the aura.
Do take out at least half a day here if you visit Barcelona!
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