Great cities and great public art collections share one crucial characteristic: Neither is created by accident. Barcelona is a successful city in part because of its innovative planning and high design expectations. As a result, its streets, squares, parks and open spaces hold one of Europe's finest art collections.
Visitors to the city can't miss the Modernist buildings in the 19th-century Eixample district. Adorning the streets of the Quadrat d'Or (Golden Square) are curved building façades, glittering with colourful stained glass and ceramics, then layered with ornamental ironwork.
One of the best-known modernists, Antoni Gaudi, created wonderful structures, including Casa Mila (1910), with its sculptural rooftops, detailed tile mosaics, painted surfaces and organic metal shapes.
The Passeig de Gracia, a street that intersects the area, has beautifully designed benches and ornate lighting fixtures. As a tribute to Gaudi, the city lays paving stones based on his signature curves and swirls.
But there's more to Barcelona's public art than Gaudi's masterpieces. Halfway down Las Ramblas -- the mile-long pedestrian walkway in the heart of the Old City -- is the Place de la Boqueria, the centre of which sports a large circular mosaic inlay by Joan Miro, one of Barelona's most famous modern painters and sculptors. Commissioned in 1976 after the opening of the Fundcio Joan Miro Museum, the pavement is an abstract painting of bold red, blue and yellow tiles.
Christopher Columbus stepped ashore at the foot of Las Ramblas in 1493, a year after reaching America. The Monument a Colum, a magnificent bronze, stone and cast-iron sculpture, was created for the 1888 World Exhibition. About 60 metres high, it is a landmark tribute, with Columbus pointing to the Port Valle (the Old Port) and the Mediterranean Sea.
Until recently, Barcelona did little to enhance its waterfront. Winning the 1992 Summer Olympics, however, meant infrastructure funding that would dramatically improve access to the Mediterranean.
The city's ambitious redevelopment program returned the long stretch of coast to a place for public enjoyment. More than 50 Olympic sculptures were commissioned, and many were integrated with new developments and public spaces.
Beyond the Monument a Colum, there is a wave-like swing bridge called Rambla del Mar, which steers crowds across the harbour to the Maremagnun, a popular commercial complex. It houses Europe's largest aquarium, an IMAX theatre, shops and, of course, a tapas bar.
Past the Marmagnum, toward the end of the brightly painted Moll de Fusta (Timber Wharf), is Roy Lichtenstein's 20-metre-tall Cap de Barcelona (Barcelona Head).
Lichtenstein, an American pop artist who passed away in 1997, was known for his large-scale paintings inspired by 1940s and 1950s comic strips. With his painted benday dots applied to a towering abstract head, this work was Lichtenstein's first outdoor ceramic-tile sculpture, and acknowledges Gaudi and Barcelona's affinity for mosaics.
Farther along the waterfront is Palau de Mar and the Museu d'Historia de Catalunya. In the plaza at the front of this popular museum of local history are large bronze letters laid into the pavement. Rosa de los Vientos describes all of the winds that buffet the Catalan coast. Lothar Baumgarten, an internationally known German sculptor, produced this elegant text work.
The next waterfront district is called La Barconeta. Once the sailors' quarter, the area has been modernized with public facilities and new housing. At the terminus of a narrow street, situated near the water in the sand, is a tall, tilted tower dubbed L'estel Ferit (The Wounded Star).
German-born Rebecca Horn, a multimedia artist known for her kinetic sculptures and experimental films, referenced the area's seafaring past with the sculpture's four steel cubes, stacked 2.4 metres high.
Inside the bottom cube are old nautical instruments that are lit up at night. This rusty beacon evokes an old lighthouse that is no longer functional or needed.
Barcelona's waterfront continues into the heart of the Vila Olympic, a new commercial and residential section. Rows of mature palm trees form majestic canopies. In the heart of the Vila Olympic is Frank Gehry's Peix (Fish), a distinctive wave of metal gauze. This monumental pergola was a private commission, sited at the podium base of the 44-storey tower of the Hotel des les Arts.
Away from the beachfront in the residential area at the Parc Litoral is a huge sculpture set 15 metres above the ground. This kite-like structure looks like a large rectangular piece of paper, with eyes, nose and mouth roughly torn out. David i Goliat (David and Goliath) is actually an aluminum sheet supported by three steel tubes. Catalan artist Antoni Llena, who often works with paper, created this charming sculpture in 1994.
Of course, other districts throughout Barcelona offer brilliant public art installations. American artist Beverly Pepper's beautifully sculpted ceramic waves in shades of blue are totally integrated into the landscape of Parc de L'Estacio del Nord, east of the Arc de Triomf.
A visit to the Vall d'Hebron will reveal Mistos (Matches), a huge matchbox with one lit match raised nearly 15 metres off the ground. This delightful sculpture by the U.S.-based team of Claes Oldenberg and Cossje van Bruggen may allude to the Olympic flame.
Recently, Catalan artist Francesc Torres installed La Linia de la Verneda (The Verneda Line) in a central pedestrian walkway along the Rambla de Guipuscoa in the Sant Marti district. A broken line of concrete and stainless steel is engraved with sentences commemorating 1,000 years of regional history.
Now, Barcelona is planning Culture Forum 2004, an event that aims to change the city once again. Billed as a celebration of cultural diversity, this ambitious forum will take place next year from May 9 to Sept. 26, and is set to rejuvenate more districts with new parks and facilities.
No doubt, new public art will be commissioned and added to the already outstanding inventory.
For more information on civic initiatives in Barcelona, including public sculpture, architecture and the upcoming Culture Forum 2004, visit http://www.bcn.es.
Jane Perdue is the public art co-ordinator for the City of Toronto's urban design section of urban development services.