Cines Verdi: The Cinematic Heart of Gràcia

Barcelona is a city where tradition and modernity interact constantly. While Antoni Gaudí’s Sagrada Família or the Gothic Quarter often take the spotlight, the real character of Barcelona lies in its neighborhoods. Among these, the Gràcia quarter stands out for its history, independent spirit, and cultural life. It is here, on Carrer de Verdi, that one finds Cines Verdi, an institution that has become more than a cinema: it is a cultural reference point for the entire city.

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The Neighborhood: Gràcia’s Independent Spirit

Originally an independent village until annexed to Barcelona in 1897, Gràcia has preserved its identity. Narrow streets, local squares, and strong neighborhood associations maintain its communal character. It is bohemian, authentic, and less overwhelmed by mass tourism than other parts of the city. Gràcia values artistic expression, small businesses, and cultural initiatives rooted in community.

This background helps explain why Cines Verdi thrived here. The cinema’s dedication to films in original version (VO), its focus on independent and international productions, and its refusal to follow the commercial multiplex model fit perfectly with Gràcia’s sense of authenticity and cultural independence.

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Origins: From Spectacle Hall to Cinema

The story of Verdi begins in 1893, when the Fomento para la Protección de Gracia opened a hall for public spectacles on Carrer de Verdi. The building has taken many forms, reflecting both the neighborhood’s evolution and the city’s history.

• Civil War years (1936–1939): The venue was used as a children’s canteen, showing how cultural spaces were repurposed in times of hardship.
• Postwar period: The upper floor became El Gran Salón Verdi, a dance hall, providing a social outlet during repression and scarcity.

It was only later, in the second half of the 20th century, that the space fully became a cinema. By the 1980s, Cines Verdi was already a reference point for cinephiles seeking films outside the mainstream.

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The Expansion: Verdi and Torrijos

In 1995, Cines Verdi expanded with new screens on Carrer de Torrijos, reinforcing its role in Gràcia. Unlike conventional multiplexes, Verdi maintained its character as a cultural cinema. Its five screens on Verdi and additional ones on Torrijos allow for varied programming.

The cinema has received two Sant Jordi awards and the European Cinema Award (2002), which recognized its contribution to European film culture.

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What Makes Cines Verdi Different

1. Original Version Programming: In a country where dubbing is the norm, Verdi’s commitment to subtitled screenings is crucial. It attracts international residents, language learners, and locals who value authenticity.
2. Diverse Selection: Independent European films, auteur cinema, Latin American productions, and documentaries find their place here, alongside selected mainstream titles. The cinema offers an alternative to Hollywood dominance.
3. Cultural Environment: Just steps away, the Café Salambó acts as a counterpart. Named after Flaubert’s novel, Salambó has long been a meeting point for writers, critics, and film lovers. It also hosts the Salambó Prize, which rewards the best book of the previous year, bridging literature and cinema.

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Verdi in the Context of Barcelona’s Cinema Scene

Barcelona has a long film history. The first Spanish film with a plot, Riña en un café (1897), was directed here by Fructuós Gelabert. The city is also home to the Filmoteca de Catalunya, since 2012 located in El Raval, with screenings, archives, and exhibitions. Another landmark, Cinemes Méliès, is known for its focus on original-language screenings.

Even within this rich landscape, Cines Verdi holds a special place. It combines the accessibility of a neighborhood cinema with the standing of an international cultural venue. For many residents, a film at Verdi is not just entertainment but part of a cultural habit.

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Gràcia’s Cultural Surroundings

Cines Verdi is tied to the wider cultural fabric of Gràcia. Around it, one finds:

• Casa Vicens, one of Gaudí’s early works, mixing Moorish and modernist elements.
• Casa Fuster, a Domènech i Montaner building once called “the most expensive house in Barcelona.”
• Plaça del Nord, with the Lluïsos de Gràcia, a socio-cultural association founded in 1879.
• Independent shops such as Cinemascope, dedicated to cinema memorabilia.

These surroundings show that Verdi is not an isolated venue but part of a larger cultural ecosystem that makes Gràcia a center of intellectual and artistic activity.

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Recognition and Endurance

Cines Verdi’s awards reflect its importance. The European Cinema Award (2002) placed it among Europe’s cultural landmarks. The cinema has become an emblem of Barcelona’s commitment to cultural diversity and openness.

Despite challenges—ranging from the Spanish Civil War to the current pressure of streaming platforms—Verdi has survived. Its strength comes from loyal audiences and its ability to adapt while staying true to its principles.

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Barcelona’s Broader Cultural Narrative

The existence of Cines Verdi also reflects Barcelona’s evolution. Since the Universal Exhibition of 1888 and the urban plan of Ildefons Cerdà, the city has tried to combine tradition with innovation. Verdi embodies this blend: rooted in local identity but open to international culture.

Barcelona today is a UNESCO Creative City of Literature, home to countless festivals, museums, and cultural institutions. But it is places like Cines Verdi that ensure culture is not reduced to monuments or events but remains a shared, everyday experience.

Cines Verdi is more than a cinema. It is a symbol of Barcelona’s cultural resilience, an anchor of authenticity in a globalized world. In Gràcia, where independence and creativity thrive, Verdi represents the continuity of a tradition that values film as art, language as identity, and cinema as a communal act.

To watch a film at Verdi is to take part in over a century of history, to connect with a neighborhood that resists superficiality, and to embrace a Barcelona that is both local and international at the same time.

Barcelona Cathedral’s Pietà: A Gothic Masterpiece with a Secret Past

Hi friends! Today, we stroll down one of those shadowed medieval streets that can still surprise even the most seasoned Barcelona walker — el carrer de la Pietat. It’s a place where history is carved into stone… or, in this case, molded in resin.

The famous tympanum that’s not what it seems

Visitors flock to the Gothic Quarter for its cobblestone charm, intricate façades, and the hushed coolness of cloisters. Right where carrer de la Pietat meets the side of Barcelona’s Cathedral, above a sealed doorway into the cloister, you’ll see a striking relief: Mary cradling the lifeless body of Christ, symbols of the Passion clustered around them, and, kneeling humbly in the corner, the canónigo Berenguer Vila — the man who commissioned the piece in the late 15th century.

For decades, most assumed they were looking at the real medieval carving. In truth, what you see today is a replica. The original — carved in oak by the German sculptor Michael Lochner — rests safely inside the Museu Diocesà.

From Gothic Germany to the streets of Barcelona

Michael Lochner wasn’t just any itinerant craftsman. Arriving in Barcelona in the late 1400s, he brought with him the stylistic language of German Gothic art — sharp folds in garments, expressive faces, and a heightened emotional realism. Alongside the Pietat, Lochner is credited with works inside the Cathedral choir and a now-lost retable of Sant Pere for Premià de Dalt, destroyed during the Spanish Civil War.

The Pietat was once in place over this very door until one night, decades ago, thieves tried to prise it from the wall. The plot was foiled by the Guardia Urbana, but the scare convinced Cathedral officials to replace it with a resin copy. Some whisper the attempt bore the signature of the infamous art thief Erik el Belga, though the link has never been officially proven.

Carrer de la Pietat: a medieval artery

Carrer de la Pietat is more than just the stone backdrop to this story. Winding along the northern flank of the Cathedral, the street owes its name to the very sculpture we’ve been talking about. Historical records place it as part of the medieval precinct known as the barri de la Sede, home to clergy, scribes, and artisans linked to the Cathedral works.

In medieval times, the street was a service corridor between the ecclesiastical quarter and the episcopal palace. Here, merchants brought stone, wood, and supplies; choristers and canons passed between the cloister and their dwellings. Narrow, shaded, and somewhat secretive, carrer de la Pietat retains that hushed quality today — a whispering path between centuries.

The cloister: oasis and symbol

The cloister of Barcelona Cathedral, accessed from the main nave or through side doors like the one beneath the Pietat, is a world apart from the bustle outside. Built between the 14th and 15th centuries, it surrounds a garden filled with palms, orange trees, and the famous gaggle of white geese — 13 in number, symbolizing the age at which Saint Eulàlia was martyred.

For clergy, the cloister was a spiritual and practical center — a place for processions, chapter meetings, and quiet contemplation. For us modern visitors, it is a stone-walled time capsule. Standing inside, you can almost hear the echo of sandals on flagstones and the distant peal of bells.

Stories in stone

The Pietat portal isn’t the only sculptural treasure along this street. Look up and you’ll spot gargoyles — dragons, grotesques, and even more playful creatures — jutting from the buttresses. Their function was practical (to drain rainwater) but their artistry, like Lochner’s work, was deeply tied to the imagination of the time.

Other chapels inside the cloister bear coats of arms from Barcelona’s guilds, reminders that the Cathedral’s grandeur was as much a civic as a religious endeavor.

A walk worth slowing for

For photographers, carrer de la Pietat offers layered perspectives — arches framing arches, light filtering between stones, and the drama of the Pietat relief catching the sun at certain hours. Knowing that the carving is a replica doesn’t diminish its power. In fact, it adds a layer of intrigue: a secret between the city and those who care to look closer.

And here lies the essence of Barcelona’s Gothic Quarter — beauty woven with stories, some whispered in archives, others hidden in plain sight.

So next time you pass the Cathedral, slip down carrer de la Pietat. Pause before the Pietat. And think of the hands that shaped it five centuries ago, the near-loss that prompted its retreat indoors, and the quiet street that still bears its name.

Roman Temple, Vic, Catalonia

There are numerous good samples of the Roman past of Catalonia throughout our geography. This Roman temple from II a.c in the city of Vic is not precisely the best example since it underwent two important restorations but the fact is that at least part of a column shaft and the Corinthian capitals on the right hand side of the entrance are authentic. What is certainly special about this temple is that it was discovered in 1882 while demolishing the old Montcada's family castle who lived there in XI century. In IX c. Guifré el Pelós decided to integrate the old VIII c. fortress it had been during Saracen times, into a castle.

L'Ou Com Balla or The Dancing Egg, Barcelona Cathedral

L'Ou Com Balla tradition at Barcelona Cathedral, Barri Gotic, Barcelona

In the cloister of the Cathedral of Barcelona there is a beautiful fountain decorated with flowers that reminds you of idyllic gardens, of some paradise lost on earth.

It is the Sant Jordi fountain. Surfing over the soft cushion of its water jet once a year you can see a fragile eggshell that seldom falls which is called the L'Ou Com Balla, which translated literally from Catalan means how the egg dances or how dances the egg.

This is not the only place in Barcelona where you can find a dancing egg (there's one a la Casa de l'Arcadia or at Museum Frederic Mares' courtyard for example) but I think this is the one with more tradition, a tradition that goes back to the XIVth century and has to do with Corpus Christi celebrations, the eggshell itself representing the body of Christ.

The exact date to see L'Ou com Balla changes but it takes place at the end of May or in June depending on Corpus Christi Feast.

Francesc de Paula Rius i Taulet by Manuel Fuxa and Pere Falques

Walking down Passeig Lluis Companys towards Parc de la Ciutadella right at the opposite site of Arc de Triomf we find a monument that honors city mayor Francesc de Paula Rius i Taulet. This obelisk was built between 1897 and 1901 by sculptor Manuel Fuxà with the help of architect Pere Falqués. The universal exhibition of 1888 held in Barcelona had a significant impact on the economic, cultural, demographic and urbanistic development of the city and much of such improvement is owed to Rius i Taulet as president of the event and as promoter of many projects started as a result of the exhibition. Notice the man with hammer on his left that symbolizes Labor and a lady paying homage to the mayor on behalf of the city.

Cogwheels: Industrial Reminiscence of Catalonia's Past

Cogwheels that evoke the times of industrial revolution in Europe, times of textile factories in Catalonia, of heavy machinery, of steam and rising unions, of a powerful bourgeoisie interested in new technologies, in productivity, in capitalism and also in the latest artistic trends, as a way to rebel against the heavy yoke of aristocracy and monarchy.

This cogwheel is part of a bigger sculpture placed in Parc de la Ciutadella in 1998 to celebrate the centennial year of the Universal Exhibition in the city. It is a modern sculptoric work by Spanish painter, sculptor, stage and costume designer Antoni Clavé (1913 –2005).

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Passeig de Lluis Companys - Barcelona: Dragon Face on Cast Iron Planter

Along Passeig de Lluis Companys, called Saló de Sant Joan in times of the Barcelona Universal Exhibition of 1888, there are these fabulous cast iron planters adorned with mythological beasts, menacing dragon faces watching passersby from each side of the urn. In fact, they look like gargoyles draining the water from the plant. Both these wrought iron urns on the balustrades and the fabulous gas lamps with benches by Pere Falques, must have been a wonderful attraction back in XIX. You should know that this promenade, that starts with the Arc de Triomf and ends at the Rius i Taulet monument in honor to the city mayor who was responsible for the embelishment of the "antechamber" to the event venues in the Parc de la Ciutadella, was in a way the red carpet, the vestibule to the first buildings of the famous exhibition. That previous surrounding area was kind of deserted as many of the buildings were about to be built like the Palace of Justice 1888-1910, walking down on the left, about half way of the road. On a picture I will post soon I will abound on the history of Passeig de Lluis Companys and the sculptoric elements that remain. For the moment enjoy the company of this horrendous animal basking in the morning sun or better yet, watch the exact planter on Google street view mode below and don't forget to surround the whole walk to see both the Ciutadella park and the Arc de Triomphe.


View Larger Map

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Graffiti on Ancient Door, Casa de la Congregació de la Puríssima Sang, Plaza del Pi, Barcelona

Well, not much. Some flashy graffiti on some Barri Gotic rickety door. An interesting combination of present and past considering in this case, that the door belongs to an ancient building. And there is where this spontaneous, beautiful artistic manifestation loses every righteous meaning and becomes insulting to the eye of anyone who respects Barcelona's cultural heritage. 

This magnificent door is located at Plaza del Pi number 1. It is one of the entrances to the Casa de la Congregació de la Puríssima Sang (House of the Congregation of the Holy Blood) built in 1342 upon Santa Maria del Pi church rectory. It was later remodeled in 1613 and 1789. 

On top of the door there is an encryption in Latin related to the activity of the congregation. I tried to google the meaning and not without some trouble I found this: "And I will pass through the land of Egypt that night, and will kill every firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast: and against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgments; I am the Lord and the blood shall be unto you for a sign in the houses where you shall be; and I shall see the blood, and shall pass over you; and the plague shall not be upon you to destroy you, when I shall strike the land of Egypt" Exodus XII (strange cause the encryption seems to read XI). Guess what, their mission was to offer spiritual support to those sentenced to death on their way to the scaffold. 

Early in the morning, members wearing black robes and hoods gathered in this very house to grab the Holy Christ figure and go for the condemned to start the walk towards their final destination. After the execution took place bodies were buried in the church graveyard which happened to be where the square is at present. 

So, going back to the start, and although the building is somehow neglected by authorities, do you think this graffiti has been drawn on the right place? 

Check the exact location on my Barcelona map.es

The Gargoyles of Death, Plaza del Rey, Barcelona

Half-bred uncanny creatures, stalking from above and ominously spitting rivers of water as if announcing the downfall of man and the arrival of an ignote, unfathomed gloomy world. 

Sunday morning on your way to church. A long, long time ago. You have a sudden urge to pray. Things are not going too well lately. Mysterious deaths scamper through the city. Hundreds, perhaps thousands of people are doomed by now and nobody knows why. Is it God's wrath? Is it one of the seven plagues? 

Some say it comes in the air or that it dwells in the pestilent waters of the outskirts. Almighty God! What is that! A filthy rat!. Get out of my way, you abominable evil creature. I wonder why there are so many. Stop looking at me, you hideous gargoyles...

In 1589 1/4 of the population in Barcelona, 12.000 to 13.000 approximately, succumbed to bubonic plague. Here is Plaça del Rei, the place where the gargoyles are.

The Art Nouveau Lamp in Barcelona, Europe

Decorative arts, architecture and other forms of artistic expression lived an authentic ecclosion by the end of XIX and the first years of XX c. in Catalonia as part of a cultural and political movement known as Renaixença which was spurred by the new spirit of the wealthy local bourgeoisie and their quest for industrial expansion, the influence of Paris and other industrialized European countries as the new model to follow in opposition to the retrograde, stale Castilian yoke. The cultural side of this renaissance, this art nouveau and the way it manifested in Catalonia is called Modernisme. A lamp was just a lamp but all of sudden there was an urge for innovation and new trends, an outburst of creativity that said hey this is our art, it is Catalan, we borrowed some elements from the most modern and fashion countries in Europe and Asia, we improved it and lifted it to the category of divine, we are educated, passionate for art, powerful and basically we don't need your Royal Majesties anymore, in fact we never did. Of course this is history in a very personal and simplified way. Here is another modernist lamp.

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Obelisk at the Intersection of Passeig de Gracia and Diagonal, Barcelona, Spain

This obelisk you find at the intersection of two main arteries in Barcelona, Passeig de Gracia and Diagonal. Known as the Lápiz (the pencil) it is located on the center of a quite peculiar crossroad that goes by the name of Cinc d'Oros (Five of golds, that is, the golden coins, one of the suits in the Baraja Española or Spanish cards) due to four lamp posts that used to surround the monument. The sculpture represents Franco's victory and dates back from 1940 (I can't believe it is still there considering what it represents!). Well the woman was sculpted by Frederic Marès. It must be said that the original statue (1936), by Josep Viladomat, was dedicated to the Republic, the lady was wearing no robe and instead of being on the present pedestal it was standing on top of the obelisk. Most of all, I enjoyed the combination with the beautiful face in the background, thanks to that the Lápiz looks less boring.

Barcelona Coat of Arms

Barcelona coat of arms can be appreciated on this lamp post located in Passeig de Lluis Companys near Arc de Triomf. The city coat of arms is a blend of the arms of the counts of Barcelona and the arms of Aragon. It was conceded to the city on July 4th 1345. The cross is that of St. George who is the patron saint of the city. In case you wonder what the lines mean (red on yellow in the flag and original coat of arms) you should know that the red ones stand for the blood that the French emperor Charles the Bald drew with the blood of the Count of Barcelona, Guifré el Pilós on the golden shield of the Count.

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The Castle of Cardona

Remember we talked about the Spanish War of Succession, well this picture was taken in the castle of Cardona, the last redoubt of Charles VI of Austria's supporters before being occupied by Philip V's bourbonic troops in 1714. High upon a hill of the Cardona valley, known by its salt mines and near the Cardoner river, this historical romanesque and gothic castle built in 886 by Guifré el Pilós, used to be the house of the Dukes of Cardona, one of the most powerful families in the Crown of Catalonia and Aragon. 

It is a real joy to stay up there on a bright day, sitting on the grass right next to the base of the surrounding walls to look over the neighboring village and the salt mines or to climb the ramparts and explore the ruins like this sort of firing hole from where the rampart was protected. There is even a wonderful place to stay inside the castle which recommend: El Parador de Cardona.