There are plenty of vintage photos of Barcelona. We actually start our tour next to where the first photograph on the Iberian peninsula was taken, from a terrace of Pla de Palau, about 180 years ago.
Throughout our walk, you will discover that the Medieval Old Town Gothic Quarter of Barcelona is undeniably full of magic highlights. Each narrow alley, every winding street and all its charming square are in the end all great photo opportunities. Understandably, you won’t be the first one who has felt this. Ever since the Frenchman Niépce in 1826 took a photo, heliograph or sun print as they were called, of his estate we have been taken pictures of our surroundings. The possibly multiday-long exposure time needed by the camera obscura wasn’t very practical though… It wasn’t until 1900 and Kodak’s Brownie, a low-priced, point-and-shoot, hand-held camera, that the snapshot was introduced to the masses.
As mentioned, since then Barcelona is reasonably well documented. Here, as an illustration, we share some of the photos from the past 150 years as proof of that. As you will discover, a lot has changed here in a relatively short period of time. For your convenience, we have also created an album with contemporary photos of where our tour is taking place if you feel like comparing.
Vintage photo of the location of our Barcelona Free Walking Meeting Point. As you can see, earlier there used to be a monastery called Convent de Sant Sebastià standing there.
About 50 years ago you could still exit the Metro at a stop called Correos across the street from our Free Walking Tour Meeting Point. As can be seen, the tunnels are located underneath Via Laietana. After Via Laietana and the metro was built the Old Town became divided into two parts, the Gothic Quarter and El Born.
As you can see, 150 years ago the seafront of Barcelona looked very different. This is the Sea Wall, Muralla de Mar close to where the Free Walking Tour begins. We start our tour by walking here, standing more or less where this photo was taken.
This is how the entrance of the Barcelona cathedral actually used to look. As can be seen, its original style was very different. Of course, you'll find out why it changed on our Free Walking Tour.
A lot of things have been moved around over the years, both in Barcelona and in Spain. This famous square has been around since the Middle Ages, but not all of the buildings that today is surrounding it. We will be talking about this.
Throughout time Barcelona has transformed itself into the modern city it is today. This new square, that is not yet a square on this photo, has consequently seen some of it's biggest and most important changes. In fact, many of the buildings on this photo does not exist anymore.
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