Antony Pilley's poster of the Ramblas

Completed in the spring of 2002 after more than six years of work, this painting was started from the top of a step ladder in the middle of Barcelona’s most famous walkway, Las Ramblas. In infinite detail, it describes a world of romance, anarchy and illusion

In 1981 Anthony Pilley arrived in Barcelona to visit Gaudí’s Temple of the Sagrada Familia and to get to know the city which had patronised such an exotic construction. So very different from the small, austere churches of protestant Scotland, The Sagrada Familia seemed outrageously exuberant!
Between 1984 and 1986 he carried out a series of twelve paintings in locations around Barcelona. These included representations of two of the city's most emblematic landmarks: the temple of Sagrada Familia and the statue of Christopher Columbus.


In 1995, having lived next to Barcelona’s main pedestrian street, the Ramblas, for over ten years, Anthony Pilley began the meticulous process of creating an image of it. Theatre and fantasy meet with architectural precision. The resultant painting is called “The Ramblas and its living statues” and was finally finished in February, 2002.

Joan Miró and the Rambla

The city hall of Barcelona asked Joan Miró, a famous catalan painter, to carry out a big sculpture for Barcelona's airport (currently in Terminal 2). He accepted the offer but also agreed to carry out not only this one for those tourists coming by air, but also for those coming by boats or car/bus/trains. One of these works is located in the middle of the Ramblas, in a the famous "Pla de l'Òs" or currently "Pla de la Boqueria", where one of the big middle-age doors of the city was. The aim of this mosaic was to welcome tourists coming by boat and, even everyday thousands of tourists step on to it and sometimes don't realise, Miró was proud of offering a piece of art to the historical Ramblas, so closed to the street where he was born in1893, the "Passatge del Crèdit".

Raining? Let's go to visit an exhibition

Today is finally raining in the Rambla! So will take the chance to visit and exhibition in the CCCB where the famous Magnum agency photographer, Martin Parr, on tourist pictures and kitschabilia.
The typical image of tourists wearing sandals and socks, beaches full of sunbathers and countless attempts to take a photo of run-of-the-mill monuments simulating extreme emptiness are just some of the references you will run across every summer and which Parr has now turned into art.
Close to 300 pictures, 150 postcards and 500 banal objects purchased on trips but also true hidden gems of art make up an exhibition which, for all the kitsch forms, essentially questions our contemporary zeal for purchasing and appropriating.

Don't miss it! It's in Montalegre street, number 5, just a few minutes from the Rambla.

The wax museum

By the end of the Ramblas, close to the Columbus statue and the sea, you can visit the Wax Museum, which is an interesting place if coming with children and a beautiful neo-classical palace which worths a visit. The wax figures include Spanish famous people but also international celebrities.

Do not miss a coffee in the "Bosc de les Fades" café,  next to the museum!

Canelobres: Gaudi torch lanterns in Plaza Reial

In the middle of the Plaza Reial, close to the fountain, you can find the six-torch lanterns designed by Gaudi in 1876 as part of the modernization of the middle-age quartier. These, and the three-torch lanterns also by Gaudi that are in Pla de Palau were the first electric lanterns in Barcelona. The torches in Plaça Reial are headed by a helmet, symbolising the heroism of Catalan middle-age conquerors.

Film archive Barcelona

Since early 2011, the film archive of Catalonia is in the Raval neighbourhood, 10 minutes walk from the Ramblas taking St. Pau street. This centre offers exhibitions on cinema topics, at regional, national and international level. It's one of the main cinema halls in the city center and a reference for the people of the area who wants to enjoy good cinema!

For more info: Filmoteca's web

Chopin in the Ramblas

Frédéric Chopin visited Barcelona during some days in both occasions between 1838 and 1839 on his way to Mallorca and used to stay at the Hotel Cuatro Naciones, in the Ramblas nº 40. During the year 2010, several events took place to celebrate the 200 years of his birth and Barcelona also organised some activities and recognitions, as a small memorial that's placed in the entrance of the Hotel.

The photo is an old postcard of the square where the Hotel Cuatro Naciones is placed:

Antonio Gades dancing in the Ramblas

Antonio Gades, one of the best flamenco dancers in Spain, in the film "Los Tarantos" where he dances in the Ramblas late at night!

Good morning with street art!

Close to Felip Neri square, some street art corners.

Casa Bruno Cuadros or The Umbrella House

As you walk upwards the Ramblas along the right sidewalk you can find a curious building from 1858 called Casa Bruno Cuadros or best known as La Casa dels Paraigües. Its refurbishment dates from 1883, previous to the Great Exhibition, when the city was being transformed to receive this event. Josep Vilaseca was the architect in charge of the building's improvement and he magnificently altered it for its new purpose of holding an umbrella shop in its ground floor. Several molten metal umbrellas hang from the building's facade and a dragon also decorates its corner.







Much years later, in the 1980's, it was again refurbished to hold a Caixa Sabadell office. It's a great one-minute break to every tourist's walk around the Ramblas and it also offers a wide range of architectural styles to the Ramblas view.

Regulation for the human statues

Since the past 15^th April 2011, the famous human statues of the Ramblas have been regulated by the City Hall and now only 30 out of 82 applicants have been selected to occupy a number/location within this walking avenue. To apply for it, the artists had to demonstrate training in drama and the official certificate that demonstrates they have no debts with the local administration. According to this new regulation, all the human statues must be upheld with very strict measures (70cm width, 40cm high) that reduce the possibility of movement or even multi-representation.

Two timings have been agreed for the exhibition of the 30 human statues:

• 15 of them from 10am to 4pm
• 15 of them from 4pm to 10pm

All of them must be located between c/Ferran and Pla de la Boquería, and in the lower part of the Ramblas, close to the Santa Monica Artistic Center.