The physical invention of historical Barcelona

And how to sell it to tourists.

1920s neo-Gothic bridge connecting the Canons' House with the Generality. CC Xavier Caballé. More.

Here's an excellent piece by Agustín Cócola Gant on the creation in the mid-20th century of Barcelona's so-called Barrio Gótico by Catalan nationalist entrepreneurs: a Disneyland avant la lettre to erase the memory of 400-odd years of failure following the city's eclipse by Valencia, and serve as a marketable brand for plebeian Grand Tour-ism.

At the end he fails to land a punch on capitalism - socialists, Shahs and sundry indulged in even more shameless themeparkisation, and no other economic system has produced serious history of comparable quality or quantity - but he makes the interesting suggestion (without mentioning Umberto Eco's splendid and seminal Travels in hyperreality!) that, like the Americans, we should acknowledge to punters that the palaces, synagogues, etc etc are 20th century fantasies, and that they will be pay for this.

That strikes me as bit unworldy - like Donald Rumsfeld, he doesn't appreciate that for the happy snapper, which is just about everyone, brand Old Europe is all Europe - and it runs against our experience taking folks around.

I virtually never do the "old town" for the same reason I don't go to EuroDisney or Venice - boring buildings, boring people - but evolved standard practice is to figure out how smart clients are by throwing them post-modern bait of some nature.

If they bite - which is by no means that often - then you can deliver a happier pitch: you pretend it's not a film set, and the group pretends to believe you.

Only in about 5% of cases - so not those who buy the Glorious Medieval Past, nor those who believe copycat silliness like the Glorious Anarchist Past or the Glorious Second Republic, etc etc - does it make any sense to get cultural-critical. And I'm not sure all that cynicism is all that much fun either.

So, from the horse's mouth, a big nay.

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1. Candide says:

   September 9 2011 at 08:25

   In the centre of Banyoles there are lots of new old façades and windows. Really cute, really funny when the stones are placed upside down. Sorry I can't offer a foto.

   Reply
2. Mr Baldie says:

   September 9 2011 at 10:38

   They should have stuck with Dr Darder (who still has a street named after him in Barcelona) and his bushman.

   Reply
3. santcugat says:

   September 11 2011 at 18:41

   I like the fake history in Barcelona. I thought Poble Espanyol was kind of cool.

   At the monastery in Sant Cugat they started naming stuff after Emperor Augustus in the middle ages to make it sound more historically important, despite the fact that there's no evidence of there ever having been any connection.

   Reply
   • Mr Baldie says:

     September 11 2011 at 21:43

     I'm waiting for someone to come along and say, Hey, stop pretending to be humans.

     Reply
4. A Nun says:

   September 28 2011 at 14:15

   Looks like your competition believes the lie.

   Reply