Barcelona's Creepiest Corners
Over the centuries, the city has seen plagues, riots, famines, bombardments and gun battles on Las Ramblas. Monuments throughout the city tell some of the story, like the flame that burns at Fossar de les Moreres beside Santa Maria del Mar to commemorate those who perished during the city’s year-long siege in 1714. Elsewhere, the clue is in the name, like the street Baixada de Santa Eulàlia, which marks where a supposed young martyr Santa Eulàlia was rolled down a slope in a barrel filled with nails and broken glass as part of her punishment for enraging Emperor Diocletian in 303 CE.
If you know where to look, there are many corners of the city with a decidedly morbid glint to them. And what better time than Halloween to pay them a visit?
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Cementiri de Montjuïc
The modern cemetery is a huge site, with a density that more or less matches that of the city itself. It even has its own bus service, winding its way up the steep seaward side of the hill through the calm, sun-bleached avenues flanked with cypress trees. There are avenues of opulent, ornate crypts built for rich families, and walls of simpler urn compartments that bear an unsettling resemblance to the L’Hospitalet apartment blocks that can be seen from the hilltop.
The specter of the Spanish Civil War also looms over the cemetery, as it’s located just beneath the castell, where thousands of Catalans were executed. Many of the victims of Franco’s firing squads are buried here as well, some in unmarked graves, and there is a memorial park, Fossar de la Pedrera, commemorating the Catalan victims of the Civil War and members of the International Brigades who lost their lives.
Montjuïc Cemetery is best approached from the port side on the 21 bus and is open daily 8:00-18:00.
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Museo de Carrozas Fúnebres
Hidden in the basement of the municipal funeral service building is a deliciously grim collection of carriages, hearses and cars that claims to be the biggest of its kind in the world. Some of the huge, ornate carriages in the collection are over 200 years old. The white ones (used for virgins and children) have a warped fairy tale feel to them, while the black ones are more reminiscent of Dracula. Perhaps unsurprisingly, though, this museum is so far off the tourist trail that visitors are a rarity, and 20 minutes with the mannequins is enough to send most lone thrill-seekers scurrying back to the sunlight. Located at Carrer de la Mare de Déu de Port, 56–58. Open weekends10:00-14:00. Free entry.
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Plaça de Sant Felip Neri
Off a narrow street near the cathedral is Plaça de Sant Felip Neri, a tiny, shady square that’s popular with practicing buskers and the occasional guided tour. However, the church’s pockmarked façade hints at a darker past.
There’s a cruel and bloody rumor that the square was used for executions by firing squads during the Spanish Civil War. One version has anarchists lining up the clergy and shooting them in the square, while another version has Franco’s troops executing Republicans there. In reality, the holes and dents on the wall are from when Savoia 79 Italian bombers dropped a 250 kg bomb that opened up a crater five meters wide and two deep in the middle of the plaza.
Despite its bloody history, these days Plaça de Sant Felip Neri is peaceful again, with only its scars and a certain melancholic feeling remaining.