Introduction: the "Raval" or when the name speaks about the function

Today we will walk through the "Raval", located, since the eighteenth century, between Barcelona's port, the Rondas de "Sant Pau" and "Sant Antoni", as well as, the street "Pelai" and "Rambles" promenade.

To talk about this quarter is to do it about the Barcelona's 'Rambles' of course, but not only. As we will see in a size equivalent to two and a half times the Vatican City, the 'Raval' concentrates many 'musts'.  

Raval (slum in English) means: 'neighborhood placed on the outskirts of a population that houses economic activities that demand a lot of workers. From a global perspective, slums arise in all those cities where they combine: poor urban planning and great demographic pressure.

What is the Raval like from a socioeconomic point of view? The Barcelona City Council then answers us with three official data:

• 56% of the foreign population  (in Barcelona the average percentatge of foreigners is 20%).
• The population density is 43,370 inhabitants per square kilometer. This is almost three times the 15,992 of the Barcelona average.
• The disposable income per household, in 2019, was 0.55 (corresponding 1 to the Barcelona average). Too many social problems stem from inequity therefore, to reduce it is a city challenge.

Part One: 21st century Raval its four strengths!   

1. Be in the city centre and including 'Ramblas' promenade: without Barcelona medieval period walls, the Raval is in the city centre near the beach, therefore, it has the  Barcelona Ramblas - not to be confused with the Rambla del Raval.
2. To have eliminated polluting manufactures: there are no polluting smoke or volatile components (at least, there are none coming from the secondary sector).
3. Being the permanent home of 30% of Barcelona's cultural offer: since the eighties of the twentieth century, museums and cultural creation centers have been established in the neighborhood. Despite the large increase in attractions linked to art, the fact is that in 1847 the 'Gran Teatre del Liceu' was already there -we will talk about it when dealing with monuments-.

Museums located inside the district:

• Picasso Museum: in 2022 it was the most frequented municipal cultural facility in the city with 794,800 visitors, surpassing the 'Born Centre Cultural' 728,800 and the Caixaforum 518,809.
• Barcelona's Contemporary Art Museum (MACBA according Catalan acronym): another emblem surrounded by a square full of skaters, because modern urbanism is pedestrian-friendly.
•  Barcelona's City History Museum (MUHBA according Catalan acronym): learning about our past tells us about Barcelona's leading role in Catalonia, its late opening to the sea and its deep European tradition.
•  Barcelona's Center of Contemporary Culture (CCCB): contemporary art is an important vector of the cultural offer located in the 'Raval'
•  Maritime Museum: it is not one of the most visited, but it is the one that most clearly shows the union of the city with the Mediterranean.

Cultural creation facilities:  

• Arts Santa Mònica' Centre: the Arts Santa Mònica allows to observe and even participate in the sparkling creation process of various performing arts.
• 'Taller de músics del Raval': this is a school responsible for the most prominent artists formation. It was created by Lluís Cabrera, is a space with an international vocation, where, even so, important local artists have collaborated such as: Enrique and Estrella Morente or Tete Montoliu and others have emerged such as, for example, Sílvia Pérez Cruz.  
• 'Filmoteca del Raval': Do you like cinema? This is the place that best preserves the film memory of the city.

•  Catalonia National library: as in Feliu we remember every Sant Jordi, books are a treasure, here you have a library with a lot of background and collections that continues to make acquisitions.

4. To be Barcelona's 'melting pot': this fact, accelerated since 1995, enriches our walk and, if we are curious people, we can try foods from arround of the world. The most numerous foreigners in the Raval are from: Pakistan, Philippines and Bangladesh... 'the real potential of any neighborhood is its citizens'.

Part Two: the urban planning and monuments that make the Arrabal unique

The 'Rambla del Raval', with its 317 meters, vertebrates the neighborhood by joining Hospital and Sant Pau streets. This project originated in the 19th century and was approved in 1955. However, it was not inaugurated until Barcelona's. This promenade is much more hidden than the Ramblas of Barcelona.

As for monuments, in the Rambles there are three world famous and at least two of local interest.

World class buildings:

1. 'Palau Güell': this monument is a UNESCO's World Heritage Site, therefore, we name it first. It is a building with the unique Gaudí style it was completed in 1890 commissioned by his arts patron, Eusebi Güell.
2. 'Gran Teatre del Liceu': it is the Barcelona's opera temple -and one of the best in the world- was inaugurated in 1847 and was reopened in October 1999 -after the fire of 1994-, it has 2,292 seats, a depth of thirty-three meters and a height of twenty.
3. 'Boqueria' market: walking down the Ramblas we come across this construction, covered with metal and glass, since 1914. Make no mistake: the market has much more history. It has existed since 1200, although the first documents that confirm the existence of a market date back to 1727. This neoclassical building has been located in its current place since 1835. 

Local interest buildings:

1. 'Sant Pau del Camp monastery': it seems that it dates from the tenth century (by the date of the tombstone of Guifrè II) this indicates that before the modern neighborhood before the eighteenth century modern  'Raval', belonged to the church, however, its restoration is from 1906 (it is fair to say that the  1909 'Tragic Week' and the civil war led to the burning of many religious buildings).
2. The Royal Shipyards: it is a military monument that makes clear the strategic position of Barcelona in southern Europe.

We hope we have encouraged you to revisit, or to discover the 'Raval' for the first time.