Eixample

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Eixample (Catalan for "extension", Spanish: el Ensanche) is a district of Barcelona between the old city (Ciutat Vella) and what were once surrounding small towns (Sants, Gràcia, Sant Andreu etc.). Constructed in the 19th and early 20th centuries, some parts of the Eixample were heavily influenced by Modernista architects, chief among whom was Antoni Gaudí. His work in the Eixample includes the Casa Milà (nicknamed La Pedrera) and the Casa Batlló, both of which are on the wide Passeig de Gràcia, as well as the Sagrada Família. Its population was 262,485 at the last census (2005)^{[citation needed]}.

[edit] Architecture and design

The Eixample is characterized by long straight streets, a strict grid pattern crossed by wide avenues, and square blocks with chamfered corners (named illes in Catalan, manzanas in Spanish). This was a visionary, pioneering design by Ildefons Cerdà, who considered traffic and transport along with sunlight and ventilation in coming up with his characteristic octagonal blocks, where the streets broaden at every intersection making for greater visibility, better ventilation and (today) some short-stay parking space. The grid pattern remains as a hallmark of Barcelona, but many of his other provisions were unfortunately ignored: the four sides of the blocks and the inner space were built instead of the planned two or three sides around a garden; the streets were narrower; only one of the two diagonal avenues was carried out; the inhabitants were of a higher class than the mixed composition dreamed of by Cerdà. The important needs of the inhabitants were incorporated into his plan, which called for markets, schools, hospitals every so many blocks. Today, most of the markets remain open in the spots they have been from the beginning^{[citation needed]}.

The Casa Terrades, better known as Casa de les Punxes, is a spectacular building replete with Mediaeval allusions that stands at the junction of Av. Diagonal with Carrer Rosselló. It was built in 1903-5 by the Modernista architect Josep Puig i Cadafalch, who used Nordic Gothic and Spanish Plateresque resources side by side, along with traditional Catalan motifs ^[1].

The Casa Batlló is part of a block called the Illa de la Discòrdia, along with two other notable Modernista works, Lluís Domènech i Montaner's Casa Lleó Morera and Josep Puig i Cadafalch's Casa Amatller. The block is so named due to the visual clash between the buildings; its Spanish name, Manzana de la Discordia, is also a pun on Eris's Apple of Discord - manzana means both "apple" and "city block".

[edit] Neighbourhoods

The district is often divided for practical purposes in two: Esquerra de l'Eixample and Dreta de l'Eixample (left and right sides of Eixample, respectively). Traditionally and officially it's divided in five neighbourhoods. They are, in addition to the aforementioned areas, Sant Antoni, Sagrada Família and Fort Pienc, also known as Fort Pius. The latter has become recently notable for its amount of Asian, chiefly Chinese residents and proliferation of Asian shops.

Some parts of Eixample are rather well-to-do neighbourhoods, especially around the central Passeig de Gràcia and Rambla de Catalunya, but it also contains many decaying buildings inhabited by lonely aged tenants on the verge of poverty, especially in the fringe areas. It also has a large proportion of immigrant population^{[citation needed]}.

[edit] Main thoroughfares

The most important avenues in the Eixample are Passeig de Gràcia (that links centric Plaça Catalunya with the old town of Gràcia), Avinguda Diagonal (that cuts the grid diagonally), and Gran Via de les Corts Catalanes (that crosses all Barcelona from southwest to northeast). Other wide avenues in the area include Carrer d'Aragó, Carrer de Balmes and Passeig de Sant Joan.

Eixample contains one of Barcelona's gay villages, nicknamed the Gaixample.

[edit] Gallery

[edit] See also

• List of streets and squares in Eixample
• Districts of Barcelona

[edit] References

ca:Eixample de Barcelona de:Eixample es:Distrito del Ensanche eo:Eixample eu:Eixample fr:Eixample it:Eixample he:אישמפלה nl:Eixample no:Eixample pt:Distrito de Eixample ro:Eixample sv:Eixample