Barcelona

                                      Barcelona

Barcelona is a Spanish city, capital of the homonymous province and autonomous community of Catalonia. With a population of 1,619,337 inhabitants in 2010 is the second most populous city in Spain after Madrid, and eleventh of the European Union. The Barcelona metropolitan area, including Urban Region of Barcelona, ​​has 5,012,961 inhabitants, making it the sixth most populous in the European Union. 

Located on the shores of the Mediterranean Sea, south of the ridge of the Pyrenees and the French border, on a plain bounded by the sea to the east, west Collserola Mountains, the river Llobregat to the south and the River Besos north. Having been capital of the County of Barcelona, ​​is often referred to it under the name of Barcelona. 

Barcelona has hosted many world events that helped shape the city and give it international exposure. The most important have been the 1888 Universal Exhibition, the International Exhibition of 1929 Summer Olympic Games 1992 and the Universal Forum of Cultures 2004. It also hosts the secretariat of the Union for the Mediterranean. 

Nowadays, Barcelona is recognized as a global city for its cultural, financial, trade and tourism. Has one of the largest ports in the Mediterranean and is also an important communications between Spain and France, due to motorway connections and high-speed train. The Barcelona airport was used by about 30 million passengers in 2010. 

                        Its History

The decline began in the fifteenth century with ups and downs, and would continue over the following centuries. The tensions arising from the dynastic union with Castile, which began with the marriage of Isabella of Aragon, Castile, reached its peak with the Reapers' War, between 1640 and 1651, and later, the War of Succession, which meant the disappearance many of the institutions of Catalonia, but also meant the city's economic resurgence thanks to integration with the rest of Spain, and trade with America. 

In the early twentieth century emphasized both economic growth and the proliferation of new ideologies embraced by large sections of population, especially the working class. The government promoted the momentum Metro and the Port. However, the crisis of 29, which hit Spain and then the start of the Spanish Civil War stopped all growth for a decade. Despite defending the Second Republic, the city was the focus of internal rebellions and fights between parties that neither the city nor the government could control the Republic. During the war the city was bombed several times. Franco's troops occupied the city in late January 1939.La military dictatorship named Barcelona as a center of intense development by promoting industrialization that led to a sharp and prolonged immigrants were mostly from the south of the peninsula.The new social and economic conditions energized the city and radically transformed the urban landscape, highlighting the emergence of densely populated working class districts and major roads. The subway appeared expanded and diversified transport trolleys. The railway network became more dense and modern, while the airport also gained importance. However, transport the big bet of Barcelona, ​​in comparison with other large and medium cities, was the impetus of private vehicles, for which he built a dense network of parks subterráneos.Tras the death of General Franco and the difficult early period democracy, the city benefited, like the rest of the state, a new economic boost greatly influenced by the integration into the European Union in January 1986 that led to modern cultural and urban projects. 

                             Its music and culture 

 

Barcelona has become in recent years in European music reference, due to the amount and variety of its proposals.Symphonic music has its place in the Palau de la Musica Catalana, located just off the Via Laietana, which also features performances by singer-songwriters, and the Auditorium, the official venue of the "Orquesta Sinfónica de Barcelona i Nacional de Catalunya. The opera is at the Gran Teatro del Liceo, located on the bottom of the Eixample districts Ramblas.En and, above all, Ciutat Vella, there are plenty of places where performances are given sets of jazz at a small audience. Also capacity is medium rooms such as the Gas Light, the Razzmatazz, Jamboree in the Plaza Real and the Sala Bikini, scheduled every week and joint performances of pop and rock artists. With respect to hip hop Spanish, Barcelona has asolid genre scene with artists like Mucho Muchacho, Mr. Zambrana, or Masstone Falsalarma among others, have paid off well now defunct group 7 Notas 7 Colores. Finally, with respect to electronic music, Barcelona is the center Spanish translation of this genre after Ibiza together with Andalusia and Gijon, with emphasis on house, dance, trance, progressive, makin a scene and taking chill out from the residence of the Sea decaf 
Parallel Avenue stands out for its large concentration of theaters he has, even today, after the close of "The Mill" and other facilities, its appeal is less than a couple of decades. The most prestigioustheaters in the city are now the Gran Teatro del Liceo, specializing in opera, the Teatre Nacional de Catalunya, with three rooms whichrepresents the great classics, and the Teatre Lliure, most innovative proposals. In the districts of Ciutat Vella Eixample andthere are a lot of venues, including the Teatro Condal, PolioramaTeatro, Teatro Romea, the Victoria Theatre and El Mercat de lesFlors, offering musicals, comedies and experimental proposals.
The city also offers various rooms and multiplexes that offer film screenings of different styles: commercial, original films, auteur films, European cinema ... In this sense include the Film of the Generalitat of Catalonia, and cinemas as Verdi Gracia.

                                             Tourism

Barcelona offers visitors the chance to walk from the Roman ruinsand medieval city to the suburbs of Catalan Modernism, with itscharacteristic buildings, its severed edge square blocks, tree-linedstreets and broad avenues. The old town is practically flat, while the new quarters, as they approach the coastal mountain range, become more aware.