The Born District (La Ribera Quarter)

Today, Xavi took our class to the Born District. This was an area that I have never been to before. While walking around through the narrow streets we visited the area where "Els Gremis"used to live. Through out tour of the Born Distrct, Xavi pointed out that there are many streets that are dedicated to the craftsmanship. There are 5 streets that I thought were interesting which are, plaza de la llana (wool), career de les candeles (candles), career del corders (ropes), career del les cotoners (cotton) and lastly career dels mirallers (mirror). I found this to be very interesting because this all started in the 1300's and that that signs are all in tacts till this day. Its very fascinating that all of these streets are dedicated to the craftsmanship and traders in those days.

While walking through the narrow streets, Xavi pointed out an example of "La casa-taller" which was a typical craftsmanship family house. It was the same place where the family lived and worked. The spaces inside "La casa-taller" were very small. Xavi told us that the owners of the building always lived on the bottom floor. The next floor was where the nobles lived and the top floor was where the servants lived. The stairwells were very narrow inside. You could barley fit furniture inside and most the life was in the streets.

While continuing to walk through the narrow streets of the Born District I was observing this area of Barcelona. The architectural aspects distinguished the craftsmanship buildings to the industrial production ones. The streets are very narrow and you can barley fit a car down the street. The buildings were very close together. The architecture of these building are from the 1300's. You cannot fit new furniture into these building because of the size of the doors. The stairs are narrow and most of the buildings do not have elevators. While Xavi was explaining that you can only spend 100-200 euros for rent per month in these apartments, I found that to be rather interesting. Who would ever know that living in these streets could be very inexpensive. 


We past the market called El Mercat del Born where the roof was just recently put on top. It is very modern compared to the rest of the district. At the end of the field trip we ended up at Santa Maria del Mar which a famous church many by the guilds. They were workers for the church in 1329. This is an example of Catalan Gothic Architecture were the floors are covered in tiles. We also saw El Fossa de les Morres which is located right next to the church. This is a park that is built over a cemetery. This park is a square that commemorates the Catalans fall in 1714, as part of the war of the Spanish Succession. 

El Consolat de Mar is as the body of law maritime Catalan and other areas in the sea of the Kingdom of Aragon , to discuss maritime issues and trade and exert criminal jurisdiction.
I have recently been back to the the Born District and have walked around and found many cute shops. It reminds me of "Soho" in New York City. I love to walk around in this area because of all of the unique boutiques that are located in this area. This is an area that I will have to tell my friends to come to when they visit Barcelona.