A timeline of Barcelona

1996

• Johan Cruyff is fired as head coach of Barça
• EasyJet is launched and offers cheap flights to Barcelona from Luton, UK
• The International Brigades are honoured in events commemorating the Spanish Civil War's 60th anniversary

 1997

• The Palau de la Música Catalana and Hospital de Sant Pau are declared UNESCO World Heritage Sites
• Joan Clos takes over as Mayor of Barcelona from Pasqual Maragall
• One million people rally for peace after the ETA killing of Miguel Ángel Blanco

1998

• Catalan poet Joan Brossa dies in Barcelona at age 79
• The Triangle shopping centre is inaugurated and is home to Desigual's first shop in the city
• The amusement park on Montjuïc closes its doors after 30 years. The space it occupied is now where the Jardins de Joan Brossa are located

1999

• The Auditori concert hall opens
• To commemorate the centennial of FC Barcelona, the city hosts its first Champions League final between Bayern Munich and Manchester United
• The Gran Teatre del Liceu, Barcelona's opera house, opens after a three-year, $120 million renovation due to a fire in 1994

2000

• Plans are approved for a 22@Barcelona district—an urban renewal area in Barcelona's formerly industrial area of Poblenou—and Razzmatazz opens as a result
• Refurbishment of the Palau de la Música Catalana finishes
• The new Rambla del Raval is inaugurated

 2001

• The first edition of Primavera Sound takes place in Poble Espanyol
• Santa Maria del Pi provides shelter to immigrants who go on hunger strike against the new Ley de Extranjería
• Las Arenas bullring is reborn as a new shopping centre

2002

• The euro is introduced to replace the peseta
• The CaixaForum opens its doors in the Puig i Cadalfalch's Modernist textile factory, Casaramona on Montjuïc
• The city celebrates Any Gaudí commemorating 150 years since the architect's birth

2003

• More than 7,000 people gathered at dawn on the Avinguda de la Reina Maria Cristina and shed their clothes for artist Spencer Tunick's largest work featuring a sea of nude bodies
• Barcelona-born writer Manuel Vázquez Montalbán dies

2004

• The city council condemns bullfighting and is Spain's first city to come out against the centuries-old sport
• The Barcelona Fòrum Universal de les Cultures takes place at the Fòrum, receiving over three million visitors

 2005

• The Torre Agbar by Jean Nouvel is completed at the Plaça de les Glòries
• The Museu de la Ciencia reopens its doors as the CosmoCaixa
• Lionel Messi scores his first ever goal for FC Barcelona

2006

• The Barcelona Biomedical Research Park opens in the Vila Olímpica, creating one of the largest hubs of biomedical research in southern Europe
• Legislation is passed that makes the selling of birds and animals on the Ramblas illegal

2007

• Bicing is launched and within four months it has over 84,000 users
• The Mobile World Congress takes place in Barcelona for the first time
• The Mercat de Sant Antoni celebrates its 125th anniversary and closes for refurbishment

2008

• The AVE rail link finally connects Barcelona and Madrid
• The World Conservation Congress ends in Barcelona. The meeting was awash in gloomy forecasts
• Vicky Cristina Barcelona comes out

2009

• U2 starts their 360° Tour at Camp Nou
• The W hotel opens
• A new study reveals the air in Barcelona is laced with at least five drugs, including trace amounts of amphetamines, opiates, cannabinoids and lysergic acid

2010

• The Sagrada Família temple is consecrated as a place of worship by Pope Benedict XVI
• San Francisco welcomes Barcelona as its newest sister city
• Line 10 of the metro opens

2011

• A new law tightens anti-smoking restrictions introduced in 2006. The ban—one of the strictest in Europe—outlaws smoking in all bars and restaurants
• Plaça George Orwell in Ciutat Vella undergoes a much-needed facelift

2012

• Generalitat President Artur Mas i Gavarró leads the campaign for Catalan independence, aiming for a referendum in 2014
• The Apple Store opens on Passeig de Gràcia
• Thirteen new luxury hotels open in the city

2013

• Barcelona begins charging admission to Park Güell
• Els Encants market moves into its new building
• 170-year-old Jugueteria Monforte in Plaça Sant Josep Oriol closes down, following the steps of many of the city´s oldest and most emblematic businesses

2014

• The Generalitat fines Airbnb €30,000 for infringement of local tourism laws
• Okupas of 17-year-old squat Can Vies in Sants are evicted
• The first Palo Alto market is held

2015

• The Museu del Disseny de Barcelona on the Plaça de les Glòries opens
• Ada Colau of Barcelona en Comú becomes Barcelona´s first female mayor
• Barcelona is named Global Smart City of 2015