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