Carrer Argenteria In Barcelona, the importance of silversmithing is clearly reflected in the naming of a major street after this craft activity. This street was once known as carrer del Mar, 'the street of the Sea', but the name was changed on account of the great number of silversmiths who had set up shop there. The origins of the craft can be traced to the Ancient Egyptians, who were such masters of all that calls for a special ingenuity. In due course the various techniques developed by those early silversmiths were refined by other civilizations, such as the Cretans and Mycenaeans. (For further reference: 53 oficis de Barcelona, Plaza Janés; Dels bells oficis, Editorial Blume)

	Carrer Boters In olden times, when people went to work or if they had to go out of the city they would always take a bot or flagon of wine with them. In other words the bot, used as a receptacle for wine and other liquids, is the ancestor of the bottle. The making of those old leather flagons or wineskins was never absorbed by modern industry. As in the case of so many other handicrafts (embroidery, for example), what their manufacture demands above all is the skill of human hands and eyes.

	La Girafa Coqueta In 1972 the residents of the Rambla de Catalunya decided to commission the bronze figures of two animals, a bull and a giraffe, to be installed at the top and bottom of the boulevard. The name of the giraffe is Coqueta, and the bull is called Meditació, appellations borne out by the respective attitudes of the two sculptures by Josep Granyer.

	The Casa de les Punxes The Neo-Gothic architecture of the Can Terrades building (1905), more commonly known as the Casa de les Punxes, is by Josep Puig i Cadafalch. The building stands on the triangle formed by three streets - Bruc, Rosselló and the Diagonal. With its three volumes, constructed of brick and stone, this is one of the finest and most famous examples of Catalan Modernisme. Puig i Cadafalch stylized the use of traditional elements to the point of giving his apartment building the appearance of a little castle. The balconies are decorated with wrought iron and coloured ceramic tiles. The largest, which overlooks carrer Rosselló, features a figure of Sant Jordi and the inscription 'Sant patró de Catalunya, torneu-nos la llibertat' (Patron saint of Catalonia, restore to us our freedom).

	Ramon Berenguer el Gran The tail of the horse in the equestrian figure of Ramon Berenguer el Gran on the Via Laietana, sculpted by Josep Llimona in 1880, was broken when the statue was moved to its present site in front of Barcelona's Roman wall in 1950, and the sculptor Frederic Marès was commissioned to repair it. (J. M. Huertas, 50 vegades Barcelona) Ramon Berenguer III, Count of Barcelona, was known as el Gran ('the Great'). He was born in 1082, shortly before his father, Ramon Berenguer II, was murdered, and died in Barcelona in 1131. In spite of all the difficulties in the path of his accession, because of a testamentary edict by Ramon Berenguer I prohibiting an infant from assuming the title, he finally became Count of Barcelona in 1096. His marriage to Dolça of Provence and the fact that she ceded all her hereditary rights to him made it possible for Catalonia to play a crucial part in European politics, and contributed much to the signfificant flowering of Catalan culture in this period.

	Joan Maragall The residents have had a plaque mounted on the façade of this building on carrer Jaume Giralt, in commemoration of the poet's birth there. Joan Maragall wrote a short poem recalling the house in which he lived as a child: 'When I was small I lived all cramped in a dark street. The wall was damp but the sun was sweet.' (J.M.Huertas, 50 vegades Barcelona)

	Carrer Petons There are a number of legends about the origins of the name of this street in the Ribera district. According to one story, in the book 50 vegades Barcelona, by J.M. Huertas Claveria, those who were condemned to be executed in what was then the military fortress of the Ciutadella kissed their loved ones for the last time this street. It is also said that this once gloomy dead-end street was probably called 'the street of kisses' by the locals because 'it was conducive to the emotive effusions of lovers'. It is also possible that the name comes from one Joan Pontons, who lived in Portal Nou in 1651, whose contemporaries ironically altered his surname to Petons. (Jesús Portabella, Nomenclator de les vies públiques de Barcelona).

	Monestir de Pedralbes The convent of Santa Maria of Pedralbes, the convent of the Poor Clares, was founded in 1326 by Queen Elisenda of Montcada. The church and the convent were constructed under her patronage. A part of the convent has recently been ceded to the city of Barcelona, and a major refurbishment and restoration project has converted the historic building into a museum and a significant element of the city's artistic and cultural heritage. Even today there are still couples who honour the old tradition: to ensure fine weather for their wedding they give the nuns two dozen eggs.

	Josep Maria Sert The painter Josep Maria Sert i Badia was born in Barcelona in 1874 and died in the city in 1945. He created the mural paintings for one of the halls of the Barcelona City Hall (Saló de les Cròniques) and for Vic Cathedral. Sert also decorated the Sala dels Passos Perduts in the Palau de Justícia in Barcelona, and in 1910 he painted the murals in the music room of the Princesse de Polignac's house in Paris. In addition he carried out a number of other outstanding commissions, including murals for the Comtesse de Bearn and sets for the Diaghilev ballet La légende of Joseph in 1914. Sert painted murals in France, England and Madrid. Among other places, his work can be seen in New York, where he completed the decoration of the Rockefeller Center.

	The Cerdà Plan The Cerdà Plan for the extension and urban improvement of the city of Barcelona, conceived as a response to the problems generated by the Industrial Revolution, was not carried out according to the original scheme put forward by Ildefons Cerdà. In drawing up his plan, Cerdà analysed the impact of industrialization on the urban structure of Barcelona and the needs of the working population. Cerdà's progressive project was accepted by Barcelona City Council in 1855, but rejected by the new City Council in 1859. Nevertheless, Cerdà managed to have his plan approved by royal decree that same year. Cerdà's actuations, in opposition to the interests of influential landowners, and his failure to include political spaces in his new layout exposed the plan to tough criticisms, and in the course of its implementation it was subjected to substantial modifications and cuts as a consequence of successive shifts in the political climate.

	The Bell tower Clock Next to the Palau del Tinell is the chapel of Santa Àgata, where the old clock from Barcelona City Hall's bell tower is kept. Made in Flanders, the clock is the oldest of its kind in the world. The clock was in 'active service', telling the time for the city, from 1577 until 1864. The clock was restored in 1986, and can be seen by arranging a visit in advance.

	Avinguda Paral·lel The line of this city thoroughfare coincides with one of the Earth's parallels of latitude: 41° 22' 34" north. It was officially inaugurated with this name on the 3rd of October 1884.

	Avinguda Meridiana The avenue's north-south orientation coincides fairly closely with the meridian running 2° 10' 20" east of Greenwich. And just off the Avinguda Meridiana, in the Glòries district of Barcelona, there is a street that bears the name of Greenwich. The Greenwich astronomical observatory (in the London metropolitan area) was founded by Charles II in 1675. The 1948 the observatory's astronomical activities were moved to Herstmonceux, near Eastbourne in Sussex, because the air pollution and the lights of London interfered with observations. Nevertheless, rather than change the entire system for measuring longitude, the meridian is still calculated on the basis of the location of the original Royal Observatory in Greenwich.

	The figure of the Sagrat Cor In 1961 the figure of the Sacred Heart carved by the stonemason and sculptor Miret Llopart was hoisted into place on top of the dome of the church on the summit of Tibidabo. For 30 years the Heart was the highest point in the city of Barcelona. In 1991 the Collserola Telecommunications Tower relieved the Sagrat Cor of this unique honour. (Noticiari de Barcelona, Jaume Fabre and Josep Maria Huertas)

	Museu Picasso Jaume Sabartés was born in Barcelona in 1881 and died in Paris in 1968. A sculptor and painter, in both Barcelona and Paris he was a member of the intimate circle of Pablo Picasso, whom he first met in 1899, when both were regular participants in the artistic discussions of Els Quatre Gats. Sabartés was one of the most enthusiastic champions of Picasso's work, and towards the end of his life donated his collection of almost six hundred of the great Malaga-born painter's works to Barcelona City Council with a view to setting up the Museu Picasso, opened in 1963.