Barcelona History, Culture, and Arts Concentration

I'm not going to have time to introduce the history of Catalonia effectively, nor am I the right person to do so, for so many reasons. So I'm farming it out.  Here are a few sources I recommend:  Useful Websites quick facts and images from the BBC Very rich interactive site at the Museu d'Historia de Catalunya from UNCSA library-- ebooks available if you're signed in at the library:  Michael Eaude,  A people's history of Catalonia, 2022  Andrew Dowling, Catalonia, a New History, 2023 Brian A. Catlos. The victors and the vanquished : Christians and Muslims of Catalonia and Aragon, 1050-1300, 2004 (history of the battle for religious dominance in the Iberian peninsula over several hundred years) Video intros-- all good, different length commitment:  3 Minutes! Very informative: covers Catalunyan politics and government very clearly 8 minutes S uper fast, informal,  Shows the balance of Spanish and Catalan nfluence in Catalunya 30 minutes on Catalan cul...

Rambling Several in our Group mentioned that their favorite way to get to know a city is just to ramble. That's certainly true for you. Don't forget your favorite walking shoes. I'm happy that our full schedule does make room for that!   This post is not much of my original work. I've borrowed nearly everything from two tourist sites, Barcelona Life and Barcelona Tourist Guide. I've included their sublinks in many places. Barcelona Life includes much more detail. I made a google map with pins on the major places we will live , work, and play while in the city. I'll be curious to hear how helpful this is-- I didn't spend much time, but thought something like this might be helpful and was worth testing. Let me know what you think.  Map Source.   First, Barcelona ranges over 39 square miles. In summer, we can expect pretty much everything to be crowded, most particularly the tourist areas of La Rambla and Ciutat Vella/Barrio Gótic (Old City/Gothic Quarter). I...

We call the Middle Ages that because they are a time of flux between the powerful Roman Empire and the relatively stable kingdoms that emerged in the 13th century that look not too different from today's map.  In Spain, as elsewhere in Europe, the centuries after the fall of the Roman Empire were marked by change-- migration, religious wars (including the crusades), civil wars, invasion and conquest.   Just a note on language--  historians use the  terms Medieval Period and Middle Ages interchangably; they replace the outdated language of the Dark Ages, and they align with Global Language  of Prehistory, Classical Antiquity, Medieval Period, [Renaissance, in some places] Early Modernism, Modernism and Contemporary Period.   The Medieval Period is the middle epoch of the three traditional divisions of Western history: classical antiquity, the medieval period, and the modern period. The medieval period is itself subdivided into the Early, High, and ...

As I wrote last time, the Romans began their invasion of the Iberian Penisula, which the Romans knew as Hispania, in 218 BCE* . The Iberian Peninsula served Spain as a training ground for their many imperial actions, including those against the Carthaginians , the Iberians , the Lusitanians , the Gallaecians, and other Celts. By 117ce , the Romans had conquered more and more of the areas of Europe, North Africa, and the Middle East until they essentially ruled huge territories all the way around the Mediterranean Sea.  * ( BCE= b efore the c ommon e ra; 218 bce equals 2044 years ago. In dates bce, smaller numbers = more recent.  In C ommon Era dates, larger numbers are more recent. Some sources use AD rather than CE, to designate anno domini, because in the USA we use a Gregorian Calendar that resets at zero for the time of Jesus. If this leaves you confused this source might be helpful.  )   Roman territory at it's greatest extent.  Rome managed this influenc...

Buenos Tardes (well, it was late afternoon when I wrote, but didn't proofread til this mornin'.) Welcome to my second post about the history and culture of Spain. Today I'll finish out the long period of human prehistory, that is, the time when humans did not yet write.   I think this will prove the hardest era to tie meaningfully to our time in Spain, nonetheless I wanted to take the time to highlight the Neolithic Revolution for reasons that will become clear a few posts from now, as well as give some context to the leap in human society and culture from the hunter-gatherers of the Paleolithic, whose history I outlined yesterday, to the high-tech Romans, whose marks we'll actually see in Barcelona. Left, Female Figure from Willendorf, Austria,   30,000 years old, limestone, 4",  probably the most famous paleolithic figurine, middle,  female figurine from Gava Mines , Neolithic, made of aluminum alloy, from ~5500 years ago, 6", from Gava, about 30 minutes ...