Barcelona could host the Grand Départ of the Tour de France in 2014

The Barcelona World Sailing Race, the European Athletics Championships, the World Swimming Championships and even the organisation of the Winter Olympic Games. These are among the many top events that have been establishing Barcelona as one of the world’s main sports capitals, though the new host bid is for a cycling event.

Having successfully hosted the sixth leg of the most iconic race in international cycling, the Tour de France, in 2009, Barcelona is now presenting its firm bid to host the epicentre of the race, that is, the Grand Départ or official start to the 2014 event.

Barcelona has no wish to have to wait another 44 years to see the world’s best cyclists passing through its streets again, and that is why it has now presented its bid to the director of the Tour, Christian Prudhomme, which he considers “magnificent“.

This is a bid about which the Mayor, Jordi Hereu, has insisted he feels “very hopeful“, a hope he aimed to justify through the Catalan tradition of cycling, the facilities the city enjoys and the multinational goodwill involved.

The decision will not be taken, however, until 2013, and Barcelona will have to compete with other European capitals such as Florence, Utrecht and Salzburg and, even big international capitals like Qatar.

Barcelona Three Kings of Orient Parade

Magic and surprise will be with the procession from start to finish. Melchior, Gaspar and Balthasar are getting new floats and outfits for their visit to Barcelona.

The new floats will include the “bed-time” float, the Carrossa de L’Hora d’anar a dormir, which will tell children they need to go to bed early. There will also be a brand new float with African musicians and others with toys.

As they do every year Melchior, Gaspar and Baltasar are coming to Barcelona by sea. They will arrive on board the Schooner Santa Eulàlia, though they will have also covered some distance beforehand on board an Imoca yacht, like the ones competing in the Barcelona World Race.

At 5 pm on Wednesday 5 January, Their Majesties are expected to reach the Moll de la Fusta wharf, where they will be received by the Mayor of Barcelona, Jordi Hereu, who will hand them bread and salt, as a symbol of welcome and hospitality, as well as the key to the city that opens all the city’s gates.

The Kings will set off on their tour of the city at 6.30 pm, from Avinguda del Marquès de l’Argentera, making for the Montjuïc Fountain, on Avinguda de la Reina Maria Cristina, where they will arrive at around 9.20 pm.

Their Majesties will go up Via Laietana (around 7.15 pm), Plaça d’Urquinaona and Carrer de Fontanella (7.35 pm), Plaça de Catalunya and Carrer Pelai (7.45 pm), Plaça de la Universitat and Ronda de Sant Antoni (8.05 pm), Carrer de Sepúlveda (8.30 pm) and Avinguda de Paral·lel (9.00 pm).

More than 1,200 people will make the procession possible , among them artists, theatre and dance-school students, volunteers and city residents.

Barcelona dedicates a monument to Castellers (human tower makers)

Plaça de Sant Miquel, in the Ciutat Vella district, is expected to have a new architectural feature soon: the monument Barcelona is dedicating to castellers or “human tower makers“.

It is a stainless-steel-tube sculpture, approximately 30 metres high, by the sculptor Antoni Llena. Its lightness and the fact it is supported by the ground make it easy for visitors to walk inside it, without affecting how the square is normally used.

The monument, work on which is expected to start this January and last four or five months, will be supported by a 12×12-metre concrete slab.

The Mayor of Barcelona, Jordi Hereu, remarked: “This work is a symbol of how to build Barcelona: Castellers and Barcelona share a philosophy and certain values: cohesion, strength, teamwork, inclusion and commitment”.

The monument, approved by the Sculpture Advisory Board before UNESCO declared castells to be part of our Intangible World Heritage, the monument will cost roughly 600.000 euros.

New Barcelona Public Library in 2015

By 2015 Barcelona will have the biggest library in Spain. It will be situated in the Born neighbourhood, next to the França station, on the green walkway that will connect the Ciutadella with the sea, over the Ronda Litoral ring road.

Construction of the project will get underway in early 2012 and is expected to take thirty-six months. It will cost around 37.4 million euros, which will be covered by the Ministry of Culture. The library will be built on land donated by Barcelona City Council and it will be managed by the Generalitat.

The project, headed by the architect Josep Maria Miró i Gellida, includes a glass building in three modules on different levels. It will have a total surface area of 18,000 square metres and will be located in unbeatable surroundings, due to its position on the green walkway that will connect the Arc de Triomf and the Ciutadella Park with the sea and the França station.

On opening, the library will house 200.000 volumes although it is hoped that this figure will increase to 600.000.

Its spaces are designed to be flexible, so that the uses of all areas can change according to the timeslot.

On the terraces there will be reading zones which open outdoors. Inside the building there will be multi-use areas, a space for teenagers, another for press and magazines, one for music and film, a large children’s area, and exhibition room, a cafeteria and a number of logistical spaces for storing material, among others. The spaces will be connected by escalators.

Source: BCN.es

Barcelona will host the 2012 World Junior Athletics Championships

The International Association of Athletics Federations Council has agreed that Barcelona will host the 14th IAAF World Junior Athletics Championships in 2012.

The decision was taken the last Monday 15th March 2010, in the city of Doha (Qatar), where Barcelona was also chosen as the venue for its centenary celebrations.

Barcelona’s Mayor, Jordi Hereu, announced that “thanks to this new nomination, Barcelona is continuing to consolidate its status as an international sports event capital, showing once again its organisational capacities and the popular enthusiasm such events arouse“.

The junior athletics championships feature athletes under the age of 20 (born on or after 1993 in the case of the 2012 championships) and have been held biennially since the first in Athens in 1986.

Over 2.000 athletes will be taking part in the teams making up the delegations from over 180 IAAF members. There are 44 events with medals.

Furthermore, next July will see Barcelona play host to the European Athletics Championship.

Football: host cities and respect – the first UEFA Seminar

Barcelona is organising the first UEFA seminar on receiving followers of international football matches. On 1 and 2 February, a number of cities and representatives of football clubs from all over Europe will share their experiences of staging international matches based around hospitality and respect for the host cities.

During this meeting, Barcelona’s Mayor, Jordi Hereu; the UEFA President, Michael Platini and the other participants will sign a memorandum of understanding to promote respect and fair play in cities where international competitions are staged.

Under this commitment from the cities, clubs and fans, the aim is to highlight the desire to combat the violence and acts of vandalism which surround international football events. At the same time the signatories will demonstrate their commitment to improving communication channels and information exchanges, to improve how fans are received during European competitions.

Source: www.bcn.es

Barcelona awaits the Three Kings of the Orient Parade

The arrival of Their Royal Majesties, the Three Kings of the Orient will be arriving in Barcelona thomorrow Tuesday, 5th of January, with various street theatre groups and choreographers helping to create a great big moving spectacular that will pass through the city’s streets for nearly three hours.

With over 1.200 participants and almost one kilometre of floats, the Kings’ Parade will start off this year around 5 pm when the Kings arrive on the schooner Santa Eulàlia and the Mayor, Jordi Hereu, gives them the key to open all the doors of the city so they can leave presents for everyone who’s been well-behaved this year.

This is the biggest street show ever held in Barcelona so, as a novelty this year, each King wanted to include a street theatre company with its own choreography on his float, making this five-kilometre procession a veritable moving stage

What’s more, the 2010 Kings’ Parade will have six newly created floats, three brand new mobile elements and more pages collecting dummies because the youngest onlookers will have to hand over their dummies if they want sweets.

This year’s Three Kings’ Parade, which will be setting off from Avinguda del Marquès de l’Argentera, next to Ciutadella Park, at 6.30 pm, has opted more than ever for artistic creation in the city, with the participation of professional companies, scenographers and choreographers who will be recreating the native lands of the Three Kings during the parade.

It will be broadcast live on Barcelona Televisió and go on to Via Laietana (7 pm), then Plaça Urquinaona and Carrer Fontanella (7.20 pm), to reach Plaça de Catalunya and Carrer Pelai at around 7.30 pm.

It will then continue on along Plaça Universitat and Ronda de Sant Antoni (7.45 pm), Carrer de Sepúlveda (8.00 pm), Carrer de Vilamarí and Carrer de Lleida until it reaches Avinguda de Rius i Taulet, which is expected at around 9.00 pm.

Source: www.bcn.es

Replica of Gaudí’s dragon will be in Shangai

Last Sunday, 20th December, Barcelona’s Mayor, Jordi Hereu, presided over the send-off ceremony of an exact replica of Gaudí’s dragon that Barcelona is giving to Shanghai for the Expo being held there next year.

“This dragon forms part of Barcelona’s culture and is a clear expression of our universal vocation”, said Hereu, who also admitted he was “proud” that a dragon that “identifies” the city and has been offered to Shanghai as a “symbol of friendship and respect would be present in this sister city of ours”.

For the first time at any Expo, cities will have their own area in Shanghai, independent of their countries, namely in the area devoted to best urban practice.

The replica of the Park Güell dragon measures 3.28 metres long, 1.65 metres wide and 1.82 high, and it weighs 12 tonnes. Many Barcelona residents visited the Rambla de Santa Mònica to take a farewell photo with the dragon. They were also able to write and send their best wishes to Shanghai in the dozens of balloons that were released into the air at the end of the send-off ceremony.

The exact reproduction of the Gaudí dragon was sponsored by “La Caixa“, who see it as a way of establishing even stronger links between the Catalan and Chines communities.

If you want to discover the complet Art Nouveau information in Barcelona, do not hesitate to visit our Art Nouveau Route.

Barcelona will host 20 official meetings during Spain’s presidency of the EU

Barcelona’s Mayor, Jordi Hereu, announced that the city would be playing host to 20 official meetings during Spain’s presidency of the EU, two of them ministerial.

Barcelona’s Mayor, Jordi Hereu and Spain’s Minister for Foreign Affairs, Miguel Ángel Moratinos, agreed today in Madrid to give a new boost to regenerating Sant Pau’s historic grounds as the seat for international institutions, territorial networks and bodies that work for the Union for the Mediterranean, peace and development.

The Mayor showed Minister Moratinos the project for regenerating Sant Pau’s historic grounds, containing the most important Modernista set of buildings in Europe, with a surface area of 13.5 hectares including 45,280 m² built up, 45,189 m² of external space, 15,760 m² of landscaped areas and 1 km of underground galleries that connect all the pavilions.

The first international headquarters to be located at Sant Pau will be the United Nations University Institute that will be devoted to the Alliance of Civilisations. In addition, there is an ongoing dialogue with the World Tourism Organisation, among other bodies. The first stage in the redevelopment of the site is expected to be completed in 2014 with the recovery of 13 pavilions and an investment of 150 million euros.

Source: www.bcn.es  |  NN Hotels: www.nnhotels.com

The Liceu Conservatory has officially inaugurated

Queen Sofia, the Liceu Conservatory’s honorary president since 1983, has officially inaugurated the Conservatory’s new facilities, which have already been in service for several months.

Barcelona’s Mayor, Jordi Hereu, also attended the inauguration of the building, located at Carrer Nou de la Rambla 88.

The new facilities of the Higher Conservatory of Music, with 10,000 m2 in surface area and an investment of twenty million euros, are located in the Raval neighbourhood, next to the Sant Pau Gardens and very close to the historic building on the Rambla.

The new building has five floors given over to academic activities, with 90 classrooms for each instrumental speciality, for classical, modern and jazz music alike.

The top floor houses the library, which is equipped with multimedia resources. The underground floors house professional cultural amenities, such as the auditorium.

Conservatori del Liceu -> Nou de la Rambla, 88 – Ciutat Vella

Source: www.bcn.es  |  NN Hotels: www.nnhotels.com