The Museu de Barcelona (MUHBA) has just launched an exciting new online tool visually mapping how the Catalan capital has evolved over almost 22 centuries. This historical map of Barcelona shows how the city has grown, from the foundation of Roman Barcino, up until today.
By scrolling through a timeline of the major dates in the city’s growth, the user can observe the progressive expansion of the city walls of Barcelona from Roman to medieval times, the gradual emergence of villages outside the city walls, the construction of the Ciutadella fortress (built to prevent insurrection against the occupying Spanish forces), the expansion of the coastline and the creation of the Barceloneta on land reclaimed from the sea, and then from the rapid creation of the Eixample in the 19th to the sudden urbanisation of the suburbs and the gradual merging with Sant Adrià and L’Hospitalet de Llobregat.
The journey through is accompanied by explanatory notes and markers indicating famous and important buildings of the time.
This is a wonderful tool for visitors to Barcelona, an aid to making the most of a visit to the city; an easy and condensed way to understand the city’s history, architecture, culture and how it became the magnificent capital it is today.
View the map for yourself here http://cartahistorica.muhba.cat/
