Passeig del Born: The Old Tournament Ground
Why is it significant?
Walk out onto the long, tree-lined promenade, with the iron and glass hall of the old Born market at one end and the stone apse of Santa Maria del Mar at the other. Today it is benches, terraces and children on scooters. For about four hundred years, it was the most exciting open space in Barcelona.
Key Facts
| Place | Passeig del Born: The Old Tournament Ground |
|---|---|
| Address | Passeig del Born, 08003 Barcelona, Spain |
| Geo Coordinates | 41.38530, 2.18340 |
| Part of Walk | Young Picasso's Barcelona: Els Quatre Gats, La Llotja & the Merchant Streets of La Ribera |
| Generated | Generated |
Walk out onto the long, tree-lined promenade, with the iron and glass hall of the old Born market at one end and the stone apse of Santa Maria del Mar at the other. Today it is benches, terraces and children on scooters. For about four hundred years, it was the most exciting open space in Barcelona.
The word born meant a tournament ground. From around the thirteenth century this was where knights jousted, where the city held its carnivals, fairs and processions, and where crowds packed the balconies to watch. Look at the oldest houses along the sides and imagine every window rented out on a festival day, with tapestries hanging from the balconies. When Barcelona wanted to show off, it came here.
Now read the street names around you, because they are a medieval trade directory. Carrer de l'Argenteria for the silversmiths, Carrer dels Sombrerers for the hat makers, Carrer dels Flassaders for the blanket makers, the Vidrieria for the glass sellers. La Ribera was the working and trading heart of a sea power, and each craft had its own street, its own guild, its own patron saint.
The great market hall at the end was built in 1876, and when it was refurbished in our own century, workers found beneath it entire streets of houses from around 1700. They are the homes demolished after the siege of 1714, when the victorious Bourbon king had a large part of this neighbourhood levelled to build a fortress. The ruins are now protected inside the El Born cultural centre... a whole lost street, frozen in the moment its people were forced out.
Picasso knew a poorer Born than you see now: a wholesale market, porters, carts, fishmongers' cries at dawn. The cafés and boutiques are recent; the stones are not. Walk to the end of the passeig, towards the apse of Santa Maria del Mar, and turn left along its side to a small square with a red arch and a flame that never goes out.