In 1999 the painter Joan Vila-Grau received a commission to design and make the stained glass for the great window on the Western facade.

After several months engaged in studying the church of La Sagrada Família and especially the concept and function of the stained glass in the different works by this great architect, Vila-Grau undertook the project and the making of the Resurrection window, which was installed in mid 2001.
The Construction Board of La Sagrada Família then commissioned him to design and make all the stained glass for the church, a task on which he has been working since.

Stained Glass of La Sagrada Familia

Vila-Grau’s purpose is to develop an authentic, total and suggestive symphony of colour and light to create, in his personal style, the atmosphere that pervades the whole church and make the wish expressed in Gaudí’s words come true: «The church of La Sagrada Família will be luminous…, it will be the church of harmonious light.»

The exhibition includes also the entry to visit the Temple.
More information on the website: www.sagradafamilia.cat

Ryanair lands in Barcelona

Ryanair will be connecting El Prat to airports at Brussels (Charleroi), Cagliari, Dublin, Düsseldorf (Weeze), Edinburgh, Oslo (Rygge), Paris (Beauvais), Rome (Ciampino), Venice (Treviso) and Milan (Bergamo).

The Spanish airports Ryanair will be linking to Barcelona are Palma, Gran Canaria, Ibiza, Lanzarote, Malaga, Santander, Santiago, Seville, Tenerife and Valencia.

Ryanair expects to carry some two million passengers to El Prat by the end of the first year, creating some 2.000 jobs. Barcelona airport, where it will use the T-2 terminal, will be its 42nd base in the world and the sixth in Spain.

To celebrate the announcement of its El Prat base, Ryanair offered over a million tickets for sale at 5 euros to travel on over 500 European routes.

And the location is also good. About 7 min to walk to Las Ramblas and close to the harbour.
Right next to a metro stop as well, which is very convenient.
The hotell staff was very (!)friendly and helpful! Best service ever!

Experience posted by trobro, August 2010.

José Luis Rodriguez Zapatero & Jordi Hereu

A little over a month before the Universal Expo in Shanghai closes its doors, the Mayor of Barcelona, Jordi Hereu, has travelled to the Chinese city to promote Barcelona within the framework of this international event.

The aim of this official visit is to provide a boost to economic initiatives which seek to do business in China and to strengthen ties with the city of Shanghai.

On his first day in the Chinese city, the Mayor made an initial visit to the Universal Expo complex and attended a show by Fura dels Baus. This Monday, accompanied by Spanish PM José Luís Rodríguez Zapatero, the Mayor will visit the Barcelona pavilion.

Expo Shangai 2010

This Thursday is Barcelona Day, which will include a symbolic act, awarding the Mayor of Shanghai, Han Zheng, a replica of Gaudi’s lizard. There will also be a show which includes the participation of the first group of Castellers in China, the Xiquets de Hangzhou.

To round off this official trip, the Mayor will visit Singapore where he will deliver an honorary citizen of Barcelona medal to Lee Kuan Yew, the country’s prime minister until 1990.

Musical September in Barcelona

You could start by sampling the programme at the Palau de la Música, which has a “Mozart in jazz” concert on 1 September, with Llibert Fortuny on sax and Manel Camp on piano. Also awaiting you will be the Orquestra Simfònica del Vallès (18 September) and the guitarists Xavier Coll (8 and 17 September) and Pedro Javier González (24 September).

If you visit the Liceu between 4 and 7 September, you can enjoy an opera in four acts, Tanztheater Wuppertal Pina Bausch, with music by Christoph Willibald Gluck and a libretto by François Guillard. It opened in Paris in 1779. This is the second version of Iphigenie auf Tauris, which marked the end of the composer’s Paris period and is one of his truly brilliant operas.

Iphigenie auf Tauris

On 27 and 30 September you will find Marc Piollet and Calixto Bieito directing the comic opera Carmen, with music by Georges Bizet, a libretto by Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halévy and based on the novel by Proper Mérimée. It opened in Paris in 1875 and in Barcelona in 1881, coming to the Liceu in 1888.

As regards symphonies, the OBC will be at the Auditori (24-26 September), conducted by Pablo González and playing compositions by Ramon Humet, Debussy and Shostakhovich.

Nous vous le recommandons pour son accueil la sympathie de tout le monde, la propreté, le confort, la proximite avec le metro et tous les acces.

Experience posted by Patrick Attal, August 2010.

B-Hotel sur Place Espanya - Barcelona

B-Hôtel se trouve au cœur de la ville. Idéalement situé face à la Place Espanya et à la gare ferroviaire de Barcelona Sants, il se trouve à une distance de dix minutes de métro de la Place Catalunya, des Ramblas, du Passeig de Gracia, des plages de Barcelone et du Camp Nou. Il est aussi facilement accessible depuis l’aéroport international Barcelona El Prat (BCN).

Speakers Panel

‘Understanding key issues of SSC in a changing economy’
‘Innovative back office strategies to lower total business operating cost’
‘Constantly re-adjusting BPO to perform ROI and cash flow’

A two-days conference held at Hotel 1898 where you will learn and share experience with Schindler, Lafarge, BNP Paribas, Vodafone, Alcatel-Lucent, UPS or Nordea Bank, among many other real Case Studies and Round Tables.

Ajuntament de Barcelona will be offering the End of Conferece Exclusive Cocktail, with Jordi William Carnes, Deputy Mayor for the Treasury and Economic Promotion of the city.

Detailed information can be found at Axiom Groupe website.

The whole hotel was recently redecorated and it is very comfortable, and beautiful.
I applaud the interior designer for her vision to create, with very dark colors, a comfortable contemporary design that welcomes you.

The service was also extremely nice, helpful, and prompt.

It should be noted that if you are looking for a “happening’ place, this is not the place to stay. There is no evening restaurant or well supplied, bar to spend time at. That, you can find all over Barcelona any time of the day.

I hope my comment is helpful to people trying to decide about their stay.

Ruti, August 2010.

U232 Hotel

Fusta rascada i pintada. Antoni Tàpies

It aims to show the importance of materials used in the works of Tàpies. This interest could be noted in his first works from the mid to late 1940’s. Rope, rice, newspaper and toilet paper came to play an important part in his visual discourse.

In fact, Tàpies used this to demonstrate his support of introspective, reflexive and austere art that reflected a critical attitude towards mass culture and the emerging world of advertising.

The selection, open to the public this summer, follows a chronological tour from the 1940s to the present day, with works like Capsa de cordills (Box of Strings), Collage del paper moneda (Collage of paper coin) and Ratlles i empremtes (Lines and imprints), among others.

Antoni Tàpies. Collection | From 13/08/2010 to 26/09/2010
Aragó Street, 255 - Eixample

The views from the roof are great, especially after a cocktail from the bar up there, and the breakfast is great.

Terrace at Hotel 1898 Barcelona

Experience posted by Ian Tysh, August 2010.