La Monumental: Barcelona's Last Bullring
Why is it significant?
Stand on Gran Via and look up at the towers of the round arena in front of you, each one topped by a little dome and, on top of that, a huge glazed egg. Yes, eggs. Blue and white ceramic eggs, perched on the skyline of a bullring as if a giant bird had nested there.
Key Facts
| Place | La Monumental: Barcelona's Last Bullring |
|---|---|
| Address | Gran Via de les Corts Catalanes 749, 08013 Barcelona, Spain |
| Geo Coordinates | 41.39980, 2.18150 |
| Part of Walk | Gaudí's Endless Temple to Domènech's Garden Hospital: Sagrada Família & Sant Pau, Barcelona |
| Generated | Generated |
Stand on Gran Via and look up at the towers of the round arena in front of you, each one topped by a little dome and, on top of that, a huge glazed egg. Yes, eggs. Blue and white ceramic eggs, perched on the skyline of a bullring as if a giant bird had nested there.
This is La Monumental, which opened in 1914 and was enlarged and redecorated a couple of years later by the architect Ignasi Mas i Morell. Its style is neo-Mudéjar, the brick-and-tile revival of Spain's Moorish past, but look closely and you will see the playful hand of Barcelona's modernisme in it: broken tile, curves, colour, and those eggs, which nobody has ever fully explained.
For most of the twentieth century this was the city's great arena, and not only for bulls. On the 3rd of July 1965 the Beatles played here, on their only tour of Spain, to a crowd that by many accounts was smaller than expected and more puzzled than hysterical. Tickets were expensive, police were nervous, and Franco's Spain was not quite ready for screaming.
Then came the decline of bullfighting in Catalonia. The regional Parliament voted to ban it in 2010, and on the 25th of September 2011 the last corrida took place here, with the star matador José Tomás on the bill. The ban was later overturned in court, but the gates of La Monumental have stayed shut to the bulls, and the city keeps arguing about what this great empty drum should become.
Now turn to face the mountains and look up Carrer de la Marina. At the end of the street, above the rooftops, you can already see them: the spires of the Sagrada Família, rising out of the grid like something that grew rather than something that was built. Walk up Carrer de la Marina towards them, and stop at the crossing with Carrer d'Aragó.