El Paraigua — The Umbrella Bar
El Paraigua is a bar in Barcelona's Gothic Quarter constructed from the dismantled 1902 interior of a demolished umbrella shop. Set designer Josep Maria Espada salvaged the woodwork from the Gallés shop on Carrer dels Arcs and opened the bar on April 5, 1968. Inside, display cabinet doors form the ceiling and bar lower panels, while an 1980s basement expansion features medieval stone vaults hosting live music.
Barcelona · from the walk “Stones & Secrets: Hidden Courtyards of the Barri Gòtic” · audio ~3 min · Generated
Carrer del Pas de l'Ensenyança 2, Barcelona
- Set designer Josep Maria Espada bought the Gallés umbrella shop interior in 1966 before the original building was demolished.
- El Paraigua officially opened on April 5, 1968, near Plaça Sant Jaume in Barcelona's Gothic Quarter.
- In the 1980s, El Paraigua expanded into a medieval monastery cellar that now hosts live music performances.
- Sánchez from Cádiz became a worker at El Paraigua in 1969 and sole owner with his wife in 1995.
How was El Paraigua bar in Barcelona built from an old umbrella shop?
You're standing in front of a small, unassuming doorway on one of the Gothic Quarter's quietest lanes. But look closely at that entrance. Do you notice the carved wooden panels above the door? Those are not just decoration. They are the Original shop sign from an umbrella store called Gallés... and if you squint, you can still make out the old street number etched into the wood.......... Here's the story. The Gallés shop was founded in nineteen oh two, selling umbrellas and fans, and it stood at Carrer dels Arcs number five, just a short walk from here. For over sixty years it served the people of Barcelona. Then, in nineteen sixty-seven... the wrecking ball came. The building was condemned for demolition.......... But what happened next is Extraordinary. In nineteen sixty-six, the shop owner sold the entire interior to a decorator and theatrical set designer named Josep Maria Espada. Espada dismantled every ornamental element, piece by piece, and used them to create a completely new design, fitting it all into this smaller space near Plaça Sant Jaume. Like saving a soul from a dying body and giving it a new one.......... On the fifth of April, nineteen sixty-eight, El Paraigua was born.......... Now, look around you if you step inside. The lower part of the bar was made from the wooden panels that once topped the umbrella display cabinets. The ceiling? Decorated with the sliding doors that covered the display shelves for the fans. On the glass partitions, you'll see a repeated motif: two umbrellas and a fan, a quiet reminder of this place's origins.......... And there's more beneath your feet. In the nineteen eighties, the owners extended into a basement with medieval stone vaults... believed to be the old cellar of a former monastery. That underground space now hosts live music, from flamenco to blues and jazz, with sound bouncing off arches that are Centuries old.......... The bar eventually came under the sole ownership of a man named Sánchez, an Andalusian from Cádiz who had arrived in Barcelona just three years before the bar opened. He started as a worker here in nineteen sixty-nine, became a partner by seventy-two, and from nineteen ninety-five has been the sole owner, together with his wife sebastiAna Guerrero.......... So next time it rains in Barcelona... remember: the best place to shelter under an umbrella is not a shop that sells them, but a bar that was Built from one.