Montjuïc is, together with Tibidabo, one of the two mountains that give our city character, described in an old song as the “pearl of the Mediterranean”, surrounded by mountains and the sea, the “sentinels of its peace”.

The northern slope, which descends gently towards the city, is covered with gardens. The upper part, where an amusement park operated for many years (built in 1966), is to become an area free of leisure facilities, thus favouring the existence of the natural landscape.

If we want to make a tour of the hill, we will find, in addition to the exotic gardens, a rose garden, some of the city’s museums, various sculptures representative of traditional arts (The Lacemaker), historical figures (The Drummer Boy of El Bruc) and others dedicated to popular characters, writers and poets.


The Montjuïc that looks out to sea

Miramar: route from the top to the sea

‘Miramar’ is the name of the esplanade situated like an observation platform overlooking the harbour. It is dominated by a building which is now being restored and which formerly housed the first studios of Spanish Television. In the gardens of the esplanade we can see some very old ombu trees with fantastically-shaped trunks. There are also two sculptures, Fertility, by Josep Clarà, and Pomona, by Pau Gargallo. The cablecar that used to cross the harbour had one of its end stations here.


The Costa i Llobera Gardens

Beneath Miramar, on the gentlest slope of El Morrot, the cliff that closes off Montjuïc, one of the most important cactus gardens in Europe was installed in 1970, and dedicated to the priest and poet Miquel Costa i Llobera.

In these gardens we find plant species originating from Kenya, Ethiopia and Mexico.

There is also a sculpture by Josep Viladomat, The Lacemaker, and a monument dedicated to the Pine Tree of Formentor, the inspiration for Costa i Llobera’s most famous poem.


The Museums

In Montjuïc we can visit some of the city’s most significant museums: the Museum of Popular Arts and Industries, the Museum of Art of Catalonia, the Archaeological Museum, the Ethnological Museum and the Miró Foundation.


The sculptures

In the zone of the former amusement park we find several sculptures. Four are dedicated to popular figures: Carmen Amaya, by Josep Cañas (1966); Joaquim Blume (1966) and Charlie Rivel (1972), both by Ros Sabater, and Charlie Chaplin (1972), by Núria Tortras. The fifth, and the best-known due to being outside the park, is the monument to the sardana, the Catalan national dance, also by Josep Cañas (1966).


The Mayor’s Belvedere

From the so-called Mayor’s Belvedere (inaugurated by the mayor of the time, Josep Maria de Porcioles), we can enjoy a different view over the harbour of Barcelona.

The floor is an original collage of pottery and pieces of broken bottles, by the painter Joan J. Tharrats. The fountain was designed by Carles Buïgas, and in one of the corners of the belvedere there is the sculpture Homage to Barcelona by Josep Maria Subirats.


The Castle

The castle which crowns the hill of Montjuïc is an old watchtower. At its entrance there are two engraved stones bearing the dates 1679 and 1704. By the road up to the castle there is a winged victory sculpture on a pedestal, which commemorates the aviator Juan Manuel Durán, one of the heroes of the seaplane Plus Ultra which in 1926 made a non-stop Transatlantic flight from Spain to Argentina.

In 1751 the castle was enlarged by the engineer Juan Manuel Cermeño, giving it its present appearance. Interesting features are the parade ground, the well, and the bastions named San Carlos and Santa Amàlia in honour of King Carlos III and his wife.


The Military Museum

After 1940, and as a result of long negotiations, the state returned the castle to the city, and it now houses the Military Museum, which contains a collection of arms and armour, some of them exotic, and the portraits of the count-kings of Catalonia by Filippo Ariosto. The equestrian statue of General Franco, by Josep Viladomat, was removed from the courtyard with the restoration of democracy.


The Jacint Verdaguer Gardens

Walking down the road from the castle to the monument to the aviator Durán, we find a path which leads to the gardens dedicated to another priest and poet, Father ‘Cinto’ Verdaguer. The bulbous plants which are its main feature flower in the spring, when the garden is seen at its best. The play of water, formed by a series of terraces along which water gently flows, are also one of the attractions of the gardens. On the way to the pond there is a sculpture by Ramón Sabí, with verses by Verdaguer.


The Plaça de Dante

The square dedicated to Dante Alighieri has a number of sculptures, which are not all of the same level of interest. In 1921 a statue of Dante was installed on the esplanade in front of the entrance to the Verdaguer Gardens to commemorate the sixth centenary of the death of the author of The Divine Comedy. In the same square there is a splendid female nude, entitled Beauty, by Josep Llimona.

The Olympic swimming pool

Opposite the Plaça de Dante is the Olympic swimming pool, designed by Antoni de Moragas and built in 1992 on the same site as the old open-air pool. The construction of the new swimming pool signified the disappearance of the Trobada fountain, one of the historic fountains of 19th-century Montjuïc, which was situated inside a bar. (50 Times Barcelona, by Josep Maria Huertas Clavería).

The Forest School

Not far from the Olympic swimming pool stands the Forest School. This was the first large municipal school, opened in 1914 in the grounds of the Laribal estate. The neo-Arabic building which housed the school in its early years disappeared to give way to the new building, of indefinite style. At the entrance to the school, Josep Llimona installed a sculptural group entitled Love of Childhood. The first head of this school was Rosa Sensat, a teacher who carried out an important task in both the dissemination of the new currents in teaching and in the organisation of educational centres.

The Plaça del Sol

In this square situated beside the Forest School, in 1992, the City Council installed a garden of modern sculptures representing the various sculptural tendencies of the late 20th century, which surround the traditional sculpture of Manelic, the famous character from the play Terra Baixa by Àngel Guimerà. The sculpture was made by Josep Montserrat in 1909. Among the new sculptures, of special interest are the works by Tom Carr, Josep Plensa, Perejaume and Enric Pladevall.

The Miró Foundation

The Miró Foundation, built in 1975, is an extraordinary example of the creativity of Josep Lluís Sert. The building has subsequently been enlarged, following the philosophy of its creator. It houses a permanent collection of works by Joan Miró and also itinerant exhibitions. In the open-air spaces we find sculptures by Joan Miró, such as Bon Dia, Barcelona, which stands out against a panoramic view of the city.

At the entrance to the Foundation there is an orange bird, known as Four Wings, by the American sculptor Alexander Calder, which originally stood in the Avinguda Pau Casals but was finally transferred to the Foundation.

One of the great attractions of the Miró Foundation is the Mercury Fountain, also by Calder, made for the Pavilion of the Spanish Republic at the 1937 International Exposition in Paris. The Mercury Fountain is a mobile made of mercury from the mines of Almadén in homage to the Spanish Republicans. Calder, a close friend of Miró, donated it to the Foundation, where it now operates once again with its falling drops of mercury, as it was originally designed.

The Font del Gat

The path leading down from the Miró Foundation ends at the ‘cat fountain’, one of the best-known in Montjuïc. An old Catalan song, Baixant de la Font del Gat ("Coming down from the cat fountain"), contributed to its popularity. The fountain is at the entrance to what today is a restaurant, installed inside a building from 1925 designed by Josep Puig i Cadafalch.

The pond and the pergola

Opposite the Font del Gat there is a pond, surrounded by trees, with a cream-coloured pergola as a background. One of its notable features is a sculpture created by Antoni Alsina for the Exposition of 1929. This spot, known as the Jardins del Claustre (the Cloister Gardens), is one of the prettiest places in the whole of Montjuïc (50 Times Barcelona, J.M. Huertas Clavería).

The Greek Theatre

A little further down, on the right, is the Greek Theatre, also created for the 1929 Exposition, by the architect Ramon Reventós. The theatre was built on the site of an old quarry. At the entrance to the theatre there are gardens and a loggia with a sculpture by Josep Viladomat, The Girl with the Pony-Tail.

Every summer various performances (dance, theatre, concerts) are staged here during the well-known ‘Greek Season’. Performances also take place in other places in the city, such as the Picornell swimming pools (‘Cinema in the Pool’) , the Theatre Institute, the Mercat de les Flors, the Teatre Lliure, the Spanish Village, the Plaça del Rei, the Liceu Opera House, and so on.

The hill of Montjuïc has undergone two important transformations in modern times. The first was for the International Exposition of 1929, which is recalled especially in the lower part of the mountain, where we find the entrance to the Barcelona Trade Fair, the setting for a great many international commercial events. The second transformation, which is still fresh in the memory of all Barcelonans and which made itself felt practically everywhere in the city, was crowned by the Olympic Games of 1992, and created not only Olympic Montjuïc but also Olympic Barcelona.

The entrance to the Fair and the Plaça d’Espanya

Entry to the Barcelona Trade Fair is from the Plaça d’Espanya, which also conserves the appearance given it by the works of the 1929 Exposition.
In the centre of the Plaça d’Espanya stands the monumental fountain by the architect Josep Maria Jujol, a follower of Gaudí, and the sculptors Miquel Blay, Frederic Llobet i Llucià and Miquel Oslé. This fountain represents Spanish rivers and principles such as plenitude, health and heroism, and represents a homage to Spain. At the top of the fountain there is a censer where a flame is lit on special occasions.

Also in the Plaça d’Espanya there still stands the bullring of Les Arenes, inaugurated in 1900. Designed in neo-Arabic style by August Font i Carreras, the bullring, which is now closed, has long been the subject of dispute regarding the various plans to give it a different use. One of the most controversial projects involved demolishing it completely, while another plan involved conserving its façade as one of the popular symbols of the city.

The Venetian towers

The Venetian towers, of open brickwork, are known by this name because their creator, Ramon Reventós, designed them in the form of a Venetian belltower as an entrance gate to the enclosure of the International Exposition of 1929, now the Barcelona Trade Fair. They are 47 metres high and frame the Avinguda Maria Cristina, designed by Pere Domènech and restored by Lluís Cantallops in 1985. All along this avenue there are a succession of small fountains and columns of light. From the entrance to the Fair enclosure there is a spectacular view of the avenue and the cascades and steps forming the base of the National Palace.

The Magic Fountain

Owing its existence to the inspiration of the engineer Carles Buïgas, who conceived a new type of fountain where the artistic elements are the changing forms of water, the Magic Fountain was one of the last works constructed in the grounds of the 1929 Universal Exposition. The project was completed with the cascades and fountains installed in various places of the Avinguda Maria Cristina. The fundamental element, however, was the monumental fountain situated on a platform raised at the end of the avenue, with the view of the National Palace in the background.

The Pavilions of the Fair

The first Fair building we find to our left is the Communications Pavilion, by Fèlix de Azúa and Adolf Florensa. This building was restored with glass panels which create a mirror effect. Cypress trees were added to its decoration, as in the Metallurgy Pavilion, by Alexandre Soleri March and Amadeu Llopart. These two pavilions host the many trade fairs which are held here throughout the year.

At the back of the Plaça de l’Univers, where there is a sculpture by Josep Llimona entitled The Blacksmith, stands the Quinquagenary Pavilion, built in 1970 to commemorate the fiftieth anniversary of the first Trade Fair. The Congress Centre, by Ros de Ramis and other architects, was built in 1963 and enlarged in 1994.

The escalators take us up to the square of the Magic Fountain, where there are beds of tree saplings planted in earth brought from different countries, as a “symbol of peace and friendship of our youth” (50 Times Barcelona, J.M. Huertas Clavería).

In the Plaça del Marquès de Foronda stand the twin Palaces of Alfonso XIII and Victòria Eugènia, built in 1923 and dedicated to the then monarchs of Spain, the grandparents of the present-day King Juan Carlos I. The buildings, designed by Josep Puig i Cadafalch, have subsequently been restored.

The National Palace, built by Enric Catà, Pedro Cendoya and Pere Domènech in 1929, has housed since 1934 the National Art Museum of Catalonia, which displays an extraordinary collection of Romanesque art. The restoration of this palace began in 1987, under the direction of the Italian architect Gae Aulenti.

To the right of the National Palace stands a feminine nude sculpture by Arístides Maillol, the only work of him which is conserved in Barcelona. Close by is the Garden of the Botanical Institute, with an extraordinary variety of trees and plants. After this we have two possibilities for continuing our itinerary: if we choose the escalator closest to the Avinguda dels Montanyans, we will reach the spot known as the ‘pantà’ (reservoir), which is an ancient quarry with filtrations of water. The other steps take us to the small square which features the monument to the educationalist Francesc Ferrer i Guàrdia, the founder of the Modern School: the sculpture represents a man bearing a flame, and is an exact reproduction of the one in Brussels which is also dedicated to Ferrer i Guàrdia.

The Spanish Village and the Mies van der Rohe Foundation

Entering via the Avinguda de Maria Cristina, before visiting the various pavilions of the Trade Fair, we can also follow the Avinguda del Marquès de Comillas to the Spanish Village, passing in front of the Municipal Foundation of the Mies van der Rohe Pavilion.

The Joan Maragall Gardens and the Albéniz Mansion

Walking now towards the rear of the National Palace, we reach the entrance to the gardens dedicated to the poet Joan Maragall, where, between flower beds and ponds, there are statues by Frederic Marès, Enric Monjo, Ernest Maragall and others.

The Albéniz Mansion is an old royal pavilion which stands in the Joan Maragall Gardens. It was designed by Juan Moya for the 1929 Exposition. In 1970 it was enlarged and decorated with paintings by Salvador Dalí. The two lion sculptures standing at the entrance of the mansion originally stood outside the Palace of Pedralbes.

The Chapel of Santa Madrona and the monument to Mistral

If we continue walking around the back of the National Palace, we will find to the right a chapel dedicated to Santa Madrona, built in 1754 and restored in 1907. A nearby flight of steps takes us down to the monument to the Provençal writer Frederic Mistral, created by the architect Josep Puig i Cadafalch and the sculptor Eusebi Arnau.

The Archaeological Museum, the Agricultural Pavilion and the Mercat de les Flors

Continuing downhill, in the square known as Plaça de les Vídues (‘of the widows’) we find two more 1929 Exposition buildings. The Archaeological Museum, on the left, was designed by Raimon Duran Reynals and Pelai Martínez. Opposite it is the Agricultural Pavilion, by Josep Maria Ribas and Manuel M. Mayol. Behind this is the Mercat de les Flors, which since 1984 has been a municipal theatre; the inside of the dome was painted by Miquel Barceló.

The Agricultural Pavillion, that will contain soon the new "Teatre Lliure" (the old Teatre Lliure in Gràcia is conserved), the Mercat de les Flors and the Institut del Teatre, will soon become the "Ciutat del Teatre".

The Sports Pavilion and the last palaces

The Sports Pavilion, designed by Josep Soteras and Lorenzo García-Barbón, was built in 1955. At the end of this itinerary we find the last two ‘palaces’: the Press Pavilion, a neo-mudejar work by Pere Domènech, and City of Barcelona Pavilion in the Plaça de la Font Màgica, by Josep Goday. Both are now used by the Guàrdia Urbana (municipal police).