Culture
& Entertainment
Museums & Galleries
Music & Theatre
Nightlife
 Barcelona
is known throughout the world as a cultural city, with an important
heritage and a permanent and exciting range of activities on offer.
It is a city of renowned architectural interest, from its Roman walls
to the new urban planning schemes of the eighties. Particular highlights
are its modernista heritage and contemporary architecture. Over the
next five years the city will step up its range of cultural facilities
with pioneering initiatives, which are open to all and invite participation.
Each year will be dedicated to a particular theme -music, art, architecture,
sport- in a program which will culminate in 2004 with the Universal
Forum of Cultures. The year 2002 is the year of music, and Barcelona
has planned a very special series of events.
Numerous recreational spaces, cinemas, theatres, flamenco performances,
Europe's biggest aquarium, bullfights, art, music, dancing, popular
festivals ... endless possibilities to help you experience the city
to full.
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Museums
& Galleries
 Barcelona
affords countless possibilities for recreation.
Over 40 museums, monographic art collections such as the Museu
Picasso, the Fundacio Joan Miro
and the Fundacio Antoni Tapies, which
hold permanent exhibitions of works by the artists, as well as temporary
shows. The world's finest collection of Romanesque art at the Museu
Nacional d'Art de Catalunya, temporary exhibitions of contemporary
art at the Museu d'Art Contemporani de Barcelona
- MACBA and numerous art galleries.
Design is a characteristic of Barcelona. You can find design in its
streets, squares, bars and restaurants. In recent years, the city
has become a permanent showroom for design.
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Music
& Theatre
 Barcelona
is famed for the wide variety of its musical events. From classical
music, opera and ballet, through jazz, flamenco, pop and rock, to
the most innovative festivals. In 1999 the city regained its opera
house, the Gran Teatre del Liceu, and
opened the Auditori with a program featuring
the most diverse genres and musical styles. In addition to these musical
events we find those of the Palau de la Musica
Catalana, a jewel of modernista architecture.
Theatre companies of international standing - Els
Comediants,
La Fura dels Baus, Els Joglars, El Tricicle - and spectacular
local festivals pulsating with life and colour, such as the Merce.
Major events such as the Grec summer festival,
one of the most important culture feasts on the European calendar.
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Nightlife
 Barcelona
is increasingly gaining a reputation as one of Europe's real party
cities and deservedly so. Things may start slowly with some food and
a few drinks after siesta finishes (at about 1700), but they soon
gather pace and by 2300 the city is buzzing. Friday and Saturday nights
are when the city is at its liveliest, but the drinking and dancing
keeps going throughout the week. Bars are usually open until 0200
or 0300, while clubs and discos keep going until 0500 or 0600. Port
Olympic is particularly buzzing on summer nights, as is Port
Vell, where the Maremagnum shopping
complex bizarrely metamorphoses into a nefarious collage of cafes,
bars and nightclubs and even a mini-golf course open on the roof late
into the night. In the last few years, bars modernos with music and
designer decor have been popular with a young ultra-hip clientele
across the city. |
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