Poble Espanyol

The Poble Espanyol (literally, Spanish town) is an open-air architectural museum in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain, approximately 400 metres (1,300 ft) away from the Fountains of Montjuïc. Built for the 1929 Barcelona International Exposition, the museum consists of 117 full-scale buildings replicated from different places in Spain, joined forming a small town recreating urban atmospheres of disparate places with different architectures. It also contains a theater, restaurants, artisan workshops, and a museum of contemporary art.

Poble Espanyol

Gate of Avila replica
Established	1929 (1929)
Location	Avda. Francesc Ferrer i Guardia, 13, Barcelona, Spain
Coordinates	41.3687°N 2.1483°E / 41.3687; 2.1483
Type	Architectural Museum
Director	Anton Vidal
Architect	Francesc Folguera (architect) Ramon Reventós (architect) Miquel Utrillo (art critic) Xavier Nogués (painter)
Website	www.poble-espanyol.com

History

The museum was built for the 1929 Barcelona International Exposition as an exhibit of the architecture and townscapes found in different places in Spain. The idea was promoted by the Catalan architect Puig i Cadafalch and the project was realized by architects Francesc Folguera [ca] and Ramon Reventós [ca], art critic and painter Miquel Utrillo and painter Xavier Nogués [ca].

The four professionals visited over 600,000 sites to collect examples in an attempt to synthesize characteristics that might be attributed to the Spanish traditional architecture.^[1] In reality, though, this sort of patched-up ensemble is proof of the wide variety, and therefore the utmost impossibility, to fulfill its claim to be a ‘Spanish’ town, because there is not a unified style or solid common traits shared among the different regions and cultures that form Spain.