History
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Recinte Modernista de Sant Pau courtesy of Ajuntament de Barcelona (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0).
Hospital de la Santa Creu i Sant Pau: A Modernist Jewel
Often referred to as a “city within a city,” the sprawling hospital complex of the Hospital de la Santa Creu i Sant Pau is considered to be one of the jewels of Modernism.
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What Is La Puríssima, and Why Is It a Holiday in Spain?
December 8th is a national holiday on Spain celebrating La Puríssima. But if you ask just about anyone what it is and why it’s a holiday, you’ll quickly learn that many people aren’t really sure. So, why is it a public holiday?
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Paseo de la Constitución in Zaragoza, Spain. Photo by Willtron (CC BY-SA 3.0) via Wikimedia Commons.
What Is Constitution Day in Spain?
For those of us who moved to Spain within the past decade or two (or three), it’s easy to forget that less than 50 years ago, the country was under the thumb of a dictatorship. In terms of Western democracy, Spain is still very young.
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The Patronato de Protección a la Mujer (Women's Protection Board) was a mechanism used during the Franco dictatorship to exert iron-fisted patriarchal control over young women who dared to challenge the ideal of the “good woman.” Image from archive of the regional government of Andalucía.
50 Years After Franco’s Death, Giving a Voice to Spanish Dictator’s Imprisoned Mothers
Among the multitudes of Francoism’s victims were women and children who endured psychological and physical abuse in prisons, orphanages and asylums. Yet for decades their experiences have remained marginal in the public narrative.
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This print titled "The Plague in Barcelona in 1821" depicts the city in the the grips of the 1821 yellow fever epidemic. Lithograph by N.E. Maurin, Public domain, courtesy of the Wellcome Collection.
Barcelona’s Deadly Bout with Yellow Fever
The 1821 yellow fever outbreak in Barcelona wasn’t the first epidemic that the city had experienced, but this one had a particular effect on public health legislation in both France and Spain.
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From "A Most Certain, Strange and true Discovery of a Witch" (1643) John Hammond, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.
They Were Not Witches, They Were Women
The witch hunt is a clear example of the attacks and discrimination that women have been subjected to throughout history. Here in Catalunya, more women were tried, convicted and executed than anywhere else in the Iberian Peninsula.
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Painting of the market in El Born at the end of the 18th century. Unknown author.
Have You Heard of Barcelona’s Bread Riots?
These days the news is increasingly filled with articles about the rising cost of living, and the fluctuating price of eggs in particular seems to be a flashpoint. But in 18th-century Barcelona, it was the price of bread that was making headlines.
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What Happened to Writer and Journalist Elvira Lewi?
What does it mean when someone appears in the history books, and then vanishes without a trace?
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Photo courtesy of Centre d’Estudis Ignasi Iglésias.
A Thousand Battles: Sant Andreu
Sant Andreu is today a peaceful area of Barcelona, but its past is filled with conflict and rebellion.
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Dolors Aleu i Riera, image courtesy of the Cuyàs Robinson family.
Doctor Dolors Aleu: Spain’s First Woman Doctor
The courage and tenacity of women like Dolors Aleu in the face of overwhelming odds would help spark what historians now refer to as “first-wave” feminism in 19th-century Europe.
