Barcelona Montjuïc and Magic Fountain

Montjuic has been a special place -even magical- for all the civilizations that have lived in Barcelona. In addition to providing a magnificent view of both the sea and the surrounding terrain, early civilizations also benefited from the natural wealth of Montjuïc. The stone of the mountain served to raise the Roman city of Barcino and, later, part of the medieval city and the church of Santa María del Mar. It is in this period that the site is named as Jew Mount (Montjuïc in medieval Catalan), being a land of the Sephardic Jews of Barcelona.

However, the image we have of Montjuïc is not medieval but rather it dates back to the early twentieth century. Montjuïc experienced a radical change during the Universal Exposition of 1929. The industrial development and the enrichment of the bourgeoisie propelled Catalonia, specially Barcarcelona and its surroundings, and it gave rise to social, cultural and political phenomena at a pure European level. The success of the 1888 Universal Exposition is a proof of the modernisation of the country, as more than 22 states participated in the exposition. Because of this impulse, Barcelona built the Zoo, the Triumph Arch, the Columbus Statue and the Ciutadella Park. 

The context of the 1929 Exposition is much more complex and interesting, as the very architecture and traces of the exposition attest. Although the organisation of this edition started in 1905, the World War I and the dictatorship of Primo de Rivera in Spain prevented its happening before 1929. This edition bore witness the phenomenon of the Mancomunitat. The Commonwealth was the first political and territorial grouping of Catalonia: the result of an industrial and cultural condition.

Montjuïc, thus, lived its best moment when, as a result of illusion, a humongous urban compound started sprouting. In 1911 Puig i Cadafalch, one of the most important architects of the time, finished the Casaramona factory, which was then joined by the Spain Square, the Fair palaces and the National Palace (now the National Museum of Catalan Art).

The traces of the Exposition are paradigmatic of this period, as there aren’t only gems of the Noucentismo movement and the Catalan neo-Romanticism, but also avant garde modernism can be found. In this very same year, the Mies van Der Rohe Pavillion or the Magic Fountain were built. 

The Magic Fountain is the result of modern engineering and the electrical development that the city attested during the first years of the century. The engineer Carles Buigas, working with light, water and color, turned an architectonic element in a machine that created dynamic water sculptures. 

Everyday, the Magic Fountain summons a great number of people that can’t leave the city without experiencing one of the most beautiful shows in Barcelona.