15 Fascinating Barcelona Fun Facts You Didn’t Know

Here are 15 Barcelona fun facts I learned about while living in the city for a month, speaking to locals and going on tours. It’s a truly fascinating place, and there’s so much I didn’t know before visiting. 

P.S. Thinking of visiting Barcelona? I have a few other posts that might help plan your vacation. Here are some ways to save money in Barcelona, plan a day visiting Montjuïc, or just a few cafés you should visit!

Psst! This blog post contains affiliate links in it which sends me a bit of extra money if you use them… at no extra cost to you!

Top 15 Fun Facts About Barcelona

1. Barcelona Facts: It’s A Bilingual City

Before even thinking about going to Barcelona, you have to know that it’s a bilingual city! There are two official languages in Barcelona because it’s in the Catalonian region of Spain. So in Barcelona, they speak both Spanish and Catalan. If you want to get in good with the locals, learn some Catalan words instead of Spanish before your trip!

Catalonia is a region in Spain (there are 17 in total), but until 1714 it was its own country. They’ve been fighting to regain their independence since the 1850’s. Any of this sound familiar, Québec…?

Catalonia is really like its own country, I mean they have their own language, flag, and even a national animal (the Catalonian donkey). It’s not uncommon to see the Catalonian flag hanging from most windows in Barcelona.

Read more about the history of Catalonia here. 

2. Interesting Facts About Barcelona: It Was Built On An Underground City

Before Barcelona was a part of Spain or even Catalonia, it was a part of Rome. Barcelona was in fact a Roman colony known as Barcino that dates to the 1st Century BC.

The craziest part is that you can actually visit ancient Barcino. It’s preserved underneath the Gothic Quarter in the City History Museum of Barcelona. Although the craziest part might actually be that it was only discovered in 1930.

It’s an entire city underground, though you can still see ruined frescoes, old city walls, and even giant basins for wine storage.

P.S. Need A Place To Stay In Barcelona?

3. Barcelona Fun Facts: It’s Home To Oldest Synagogue Europe

Speaking of the oldest city in Europe… and the underground, Barcelona is also home to one of the oldest synagogues Europe… which also happens to be somewhat underground. Dating back all the way to the 3rd and 4th Centuries, it was only discovered in 1990!

It was determined to be a synagogue so many years later because of the odd angle of the building, which was constructed to face Israel. It’s been restored so you can visit this ancient building today. 

I find it a very interesting contrast to the extravagant churches you typically see around the city as well – which sheds light on a dark part of their history.

Few people realize that Barcelona had a large Jewish population; well, it did until the Spanish Inquisition in the 1400’s. Barcelona was home to some 5000 Jews (about 15% of the population). In fact, the infamous Gothic Quarter was where the Jews lived and this why it’s where you’ll find the Ancient Synagogue of Barcelona.

4. The City Changed Forever (For The Better) In 1992

Here’s a Barcelona fun fact you probably didn’t know! Before 1992, Barcelona was a completely different city, and very unlike what it is today. In fact, the city was in such a bad state that tourism offices warned people against vacationing there.

So what happened in 1992? Barcelona hosted the Summer Olympic Games! Tons of money was poured into the city to build infrastructure to properly host the games. Barcelona was very smart about how they spent it though and it changed the city forever for the better!

Instead of using the Olympic money to build a new stadium, they revamped their city. They merely repainted an existing stadium and used the rest of the money elsewhere. The main changes came in the form of a beach (for beach volleyball of course), and an athletes village which was later rented out to locals.

5. The Barcelona Beach Is 100% Man Made

Barcelonetta, the beach that attracts millions of tourists every year, was man made for the 1992 Olympic games. Before the games, the coastline was the industrial part of the city.

The sand was imported from Egypt. Not even the palm trees are native to Barcelona! They imported 12 different species for the games!

6. Things About Barcelona: They Have Imported Green Birds!

You might also notice some cute green birds flying around Barcelona while you’re visiting. I was so mesmerized by them because I’d never seen a tropical bird in a city centre before.

As it turns out, these are Monk Parakeets and they’re not exactly native to Barcelona either. They’re from South America, but they’ve definitely made Barcelona their new home.

It’s all still a rumour as to how they ended up in the city, but they definitely didn’t fly all the way from South America by themselves. There are a few theories among locals; some say they escaped from the zoo or even right off the boat when they were brought over for the zoo. Another theory is that it all began with an escaped pet. 

7. Barcelona Was Inspired By Paris & New York

The Exiample neighbourhood in Barcelona is just outside the city centre. Exiample literally translates from Catalan to mean expansion.

When the city needed to grow, they looked at other cities to figure out the best way to achieve this. They examined two of the biggest cities for inspiration, Paris and New York.

So how was Barcelona inspired by these two major cities? Well, you may have noticed that the neighbourhood is quite grid-like which was taken from New York. The architecture, on the other hand, was inspired by none other than Paris!

8. The Passeig de Gràcia Homes Used To Be Identical!

As you walk down Passeig de Gràcia, there are some pretty extravagant homes on the street. But this wasn’t always the case…

The homes were originally designed to be all the same, to give a more structured look to the city (hence designing it after the grids of New York!).

It wasn’t taken into account that the aristocrats that moved in wouldn’t want to live in the same house as their neighbour. So as they couldn’t change anything else about the home, they hired architects to give the building a face lift! This led to the facades being redone to better represent the owner.

Now when you walk down Passeig de Gràcia, you’re met with no two buildings that look the same. From Gaudí classics like Casa Batllò and La Pedrera, to Casa Amatler and Casa Mulleras.

9. P.S. You’re Walking On Gaudí’s Work

The tiles all along Passeig de Gràcia are actually Gaudí’s original design! The tiles were originally designed for Casa Batllò (notice the underwater theme of the tiles, can you spot the octopus?).

When they weren’t ready in time for Casa Batllò, they were placed in Casa Mila’s service rooms (the original owner actually hated them!).

Then in 1997, as a tribute to Gaudí, the city molded them out of cement to pave the sidewalks of Passeig de Gràcia.

Extra Barcelona fun fact: there are actually 13 different tile designs throughout the city!

10.Casa Mila Almost Wasn’t Completed

As I mentioned, all the homes on Passeig de Gràcia are all the same size… well all EXCEPT for one: Casa Mila.

Casa Mila, also known as La Pedrera, extends onto the sidewalk. It’s hard not to notice when you walk by, since it’s quite a bit larger and taller than any other home on the street.

As I said, there was a reason why only the facades were renovated. It was illegal to change the size of the home. So how did Gaudí manage to make this home so much larger? 

Gaudí did not change the overall size of the home, he merely built on top of the original facade. But his changes did not come without backlash and a cost… 

There was an official complaint about the size being larger than the allowed volume. This caused the city of Barcelona to pause construction for 3 years from 1907 until 1910 while it went to court.

In the end, the owners had to pay 100 000 pesetas (which is about a whopping €392, 460 today!).

The roof and attic were almost demolished after completion because it was 4,000 cubic meters too big. Thankfully, the city decided at this point that it was a monument in nature so it didn’t have to strictly abide by building codes.

P.S. Here’s an extra Barcelona fun fact, it’s believed that George Lucas visited the rooftop of Casa Mila before the production of Star Wars. It isn’t confirmed, but many believe this is what inspire him for creating the look for his iconic storm troopers. I mean, you can’t lie, the resemblance is uncanny.

11. Park Güell Is A Failed Housing Project

Park Güell was originally intended as a new housing community, and it was never meant to be a park. They started construction, but only ever built two homes. One of the two was the model home in which Gaudí lived in with his sister and nephew (and you can visit it today!).

You can learn about the history of Park Güell in the second house at the main entrance (not the gift shop). This house is most famous for being blue inside. There’s usually a very long line to get in (heads up, it’s not worth the wait). It’s only worth visiting if there’s no line. So if you get there early in the morning, go there first before the line starts to build up.

12.Gaudí Was 30 When He Started Working on the Sagrada Familia

Talk about an impressive! I’m almost 30 and what have I done? By the time he took over the design of the Sagrada, he had already designed furniture and lamp posts. Not to mention he also assisted on the fountain in Ciutadella Park.

In fact, he took over the project from his old mentor, Francisco de Paula del Villar y Lozano (who was the lead on the Ciutadella fountain).

It’s even said that when Gaudí started the project, he knew that he’d never live to see it completed.

Since Gaudí and Fransisco worked on the Sagrada, there have been 8 other architects on the project. That’s a total of 10 architects working on one church!

13. Free Picasso Art In The Heart of Barcelona

Before I visited Barcelona, I had no idea that Picasso had any ties to Barcelona. 

But there’s actually an entire Picasso Museum in the center of town. It showcases some of his lesser known pieces too! Many don’t realize that Picasso moved to Barcelona when he was a child and spent quite a bit of time in the city.

You can also see some of his work for free right in the centre of town. Yup! That childish drawing you walk by in Plaça Nova (across the Cathedral) is none other than Picasso’s.

This is the School of Architecture, funnily enough, and the building is thought of as one of the ugliest in Barcelona! He also designed two other frescoes inside the school.

14. A 13 Year Old Girl Is Their Saint

Eulalia, a 13 year old girl, is the co-patron Saint of Barcelona (along with Merce). She is remembered for her martyrdom during the persecution of the Christians in the 3rd Century AD, during the reign of Diocleciano. She was sentenced to death, but it took 13 different tries before she was finally killed by decapitation.  

Her story is also why you will find 13 white geese in the Barcelona Cathedral. I think it’s safe to assume that this is the only Cathedral in the world where you’ll see that!

15. The Catalonian Castellers!

The castellers are a 200 year old Catalonian tradition. This is one of the best and most dangerous neighbourhood traditions I’ve ever heard of!

The different towns and cities take part in this tradition by building castells, a.k.a a human tower. There’s even castell season where you can see them perform at different festivals throughout the region. The season goes from April to November.

There’s actually a sculpture next to Plaça Nova that shows the tallest tower ever made ( in 1981). It had 9 levels of people stacked upon one another, which came to a total of 39 feet tall.

The icing on the cake is actually a child. To complete your castell, a child has to climb to the top! It was only recently that they made it a regulation for the (usually) young girl to wear a helmet. But no one else gets any protection.

Related Posts

• Souvenirs To Bring Back From Barcelona
• Where To Stay in Barcelona: Gràcia
• The Complete Guide To Gaudí’s Work In Barcelona
• The Best Cafés To Visit In Barcelona
• Should You Visit Casa Batlló?

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