Itineraries

A little farther down, the street widens at the Pla de la Boquería. The Pavement of the central portion was decorated with a design by Joan Miró in 1970. The jewel of this sector was the Gran Teatre del Liceu(50) (Liceu Theater) with its simple façade shrounding one of the most opulent and largest halls in the world. Destroyed by fire in 1994, it is actually renewed. Next we come to the section called the Rambla dels Caputxins. Further down on the right is the Hotel Oriente which occupies the 17th century building of the former Sant Bonaventura School and preserves the convent structure with its cloister.
Shortly, on the right we come to the street of Nou de la Rambla, where we find the Palau Güell(51) (Güell Palace) a building designed by Antoni Gaudí with a façade of stone and wrought iron, and parabolic arches in the entrance hall, declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO. To our right we see the Plaça Reial(52), an arcaded square built in the mid-19th century flanked by identical buildings. The elaborate six torch lamp-posts are the work of young Antoni Gaudí. Some of the shops on the square seem to have been frozen in time; the most unique of them is the L'Herbolari del Rei, an herbalist's shop adorned with neogothic-style windows with all the ambience of the Romantic age. On Sundays a stamp and coin market is held in the square.

The Pla del Teatre is the next stretch and owes its name to the first theater in the city built here in the 16th century. In the square, there is a monument to Frederic Soler, the founder of modern Catalonian theater. On the left-hand side of the street, we find the Teatre Principal(53) (Principal Theater), a Baroque building recovered as a theater.

The lower section is known as the Rambla de Santa Mònica, a wide avenue with no trees. To the right is the large 17th century Church of Santa Mònica(54), its remarkable Baroque cloister shrouded by an insignificant exterior, now the Center d'Art Santa Mònica(55), an art and cultural center pertaining to the Generalitat. To the left is the Palau March(56), a handsome 18th century building, seat of the Department of Culture of the Generalitat and exhibition center. On weekends a handcraft market is held in this area.
Metro: Line 1 (Catalunya) and Line 3 (Catalunya, Drassanes Liceu).



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