Everyone who comes here to Barcelona knows about Las Ramblas, La Pedrera and the Sagrada Familia.
However, there are over 3,000 other sites of interest that are missed by tourists as well as locals. Now, thanks to interactive map Big Time BCN, you can discover 2,000 years of history of the city online.
The website, created by the group of architects http://www.300000kms.net includes a complete virtual map of Barcelona’s historical heritage. Everything from monuments to ancient walls to convents to residential and industrial buildings, street furniture and sculptural elements etc are located on the map of the city with dates, names of architects or builders and other background information. It creates a fascinating overview of Barcelona’s long and diverse history.
Architects and authors Santamaría Mar, Oriol Hostench and Pablo Martínez commented that “in a database this information is useless, we had to make it visible”. The tool was designed initially for historians, designers and students, but then also for locals and tourists who want to discover more about Barcelona’s architectural heritage.
On the map buildings and monuments are classified according to their level of protection: A (the maximum degree of protection that would include buildings such as the Palau de la Generalitat or La Pedrera) ; B (local interest located mostly in the Eixample and Ciutat Vella) and category C (urban interest, for example blocks of houses).
No wonder that the creators of the project teach a Masters in the ‘Restoration of Architectural Monuments’ at the Polytechnic University of Barcelona.
The tool is available both online and through a mobile application for Android.
