Mac Rating: 5.00 | Votes: 1 | Date: 16/06/2026 00:07:00

Built in just over a year for the 1929 Barcelona International Exposition, El Poble Espanyol (the 'Spanish Village') is an open-air architectural museum on the slopes of Montjuic, a short distance from the Magic Fountain and the MNAC. It was conceived by the architect Josep Puig i Cadafalch and realised by Francesc Folguera and Ramon Reventos with the artists Miquel Utrillo and Xavier Nogues, who toured some 1,600 towns across Spain to study regional building styles. The result is a walkable town of 117 full-scale replica buildings -- streets, squares, houses, a town hall and a monastery -- representing architecture from Andalusia, Castile, Galicia, the Basque Country, Catalonia and beyond, gathered onto a single site of around 42,000 square metres. Intended for demolition after the exhibition, it proved so popular with visitors and locals that it was kept. Today the complex blends heritage with activity: artisan workshops, shops and restaurants occupy many of the buildings, and it houses the Fran Daurel collection of modern art, with works by the likes of Picasso, Dali and Miro. Flamenco shows, concerts and seasonal events run in the evenings, and it remains one of the city's most visited cultural attractions, listed as a Cultural Asset of Local Interest.