Barcelona Gothic Quarter

A stroll through Barcelona’s Gothic Quarter brings to light the early Roman city of Barcino and the medieval town with its palazzos, mansions and Gothic churches. This is the style that defines “the heart of Barcelona”: a neighbourhood where the splendour of the historic past coexists with the vibrancy of the present.

The centre of the Roman city, today’s Gothic Quarter, was marked by the point where the two main streets, the Cardo and Decumanus, converged. Today the Carrer del Bisbe and Carrer Llibreteria stand on this site. Nearby, we can still see the remains of the Roman temple of Augustus. In fact, the original centre of Roman and medieval Barcelona still forms the core of 21st-century Barcelona. Its maze of narrow streets and squares is steeped in the city’s past and present.

Here, in the Gothic Quarter, we find the City Hall and the seat of the Catalan Government, the Palau de la Generalitat, the Cathedral and other Gothic churches, including Santa Maria del Pi and Sants Just i Pastor. Very near the Plaça de Sant Jaume, right in the middle of this Barcelona neighbourhood, is the old Jewish Quarter, the Call Jueu, with its endless narrow streets, where some remains of the ancient synagogue still survive.

In the Gothic Quarter, the Plaça del Rei proudly showcases the architectural ensemble made up of the royal residences of the Catalan-Aragonese monarchs. Below the square, you can visit the impressive archaeological remains of Roman Barcino. Behind the Cathedral stands the beautiful Plaça de Sant Felip Neri, with its baroque church. The square is surrounded by narrow streets in a Barcelona neighbourhood suffused with history which comes to life when you go there.