Barcelona History Timeline 1888 to present day

In 1888……the Barcelona World Fair took place, and drew Europe’s eyes to the capital city of Catalunya. Incidentally, the Arc de Triunfo, located at the end of Passeig de Lluis Companys, was built specifically to be the entrance to the World Fair.Towards the end of the 19th Century......Barcelona began to evolve into the culturally avant-garde epicenter which we know it as today. The famous 'Els Quatre Gats' sprung to life in 1897, influenced by 'Le Chat Noir' in Paris. Offering affordable food and live piano music, the restaurant soon attracted a crowd of artists who obviously fell in love with the atmosphere of the place. Most notably, Pablo Picasso held his first exhibition there, in 1899.Located on Calle Montsio 3, 'Els Quatre Gats' still stands proud and is definitely a must see. It is also around this time that Gaudi started making his mark on the city; creating Sagrada Familia, La Pedrera and Park Guell.With the good comes the bad, and so......in 1906 occurred 'Tragic Week'......which was a rebellion against the calling up of troupes to fight in Morocco. Between 104 and 150 civilians were killed and 5 people were executed because of this week.In 1923......General Primo de Rivera came to power and brought Spain under a period of dictatorship. Generally supported by the Spanish public, General Rivera ruled with an iron fist, and once again, banned Catalan as a language. He ruled until 1931 when the first Catalan Republic was established, with Lluis Companys as president. Continuing with the up and down theme of Barcelona's history, in......1936......the Spanish civil war broke out, introducing a new dark period to Barcelona. With thousand fleeing into exile during this period, the war finally ended in 1939 when the Franco dictatorship rose to power. In this time, thousands of Catalans fled across the border to France, to avoid further repression. Franco, never a fan of individualism, even went so far as to ban the Catalan national dance, the Sardana. This, evidently, was a difficult time for the Catalan nation, until Franco finally......in 1975......died and Spain came to be a democracy. Barcelona reinstalled the Generalitat as it’s autonomous government, and Barcelona became again the capital of Catalunya.In 1981......the International Olympics Committee announced that Barcelona would be the host city for the Olympics in 1992. In preparation for the games, Barcelona got a new face lift; the sea front was pulled away from it’s industrial drudgery and created into the wonderful beaches that we know to exist here today. Barcelona developed architecturally and culturally and finally, when 1992 came, people saw Barcelona in all it’s glory and yearned to visit this city of Gaudi, beaches and passion.(Click on the following link to read more about Antonio Gaudi in Barcelona.)This relatively recent event has sculpted Barcelona into the culturally rich, burning with life, capital of Catalunya that we know it as. But we can see, quite clearly, that the turmoil and graces that Barcelona has experienced throughout the centuries are what really shaped it’s people. This is just the last section of the Barcelona History Timeline. Of course, Barcelona’s history encompasses so much more. Click the following link to read the whole history on “Barcelona History Timeline” at BarcelonaExplore.com.