La rambla dels estudis

Ever since the 14th century the old city walls had closed off the upper section of this part of the Rambla, which is named after the 16th-century Estudi General or University sited here. After the War of Succession in the 18th century, King Philip V of Spain moved the University to Cervera and had the building converted into barracks. In 1843 the building was demolished to make way for the Isabel II Gate in the city walls. The current layout did not appear until all the old fortifications, still standing on the left-hand side in the 19th century, were finally demolished.

If you start by going down the right-hand side of the Rambla, you will come to the Poliorama Theatre, which, since 1912, has occupied the ground floor of the Royal Academy of Sciences and Art, built in 1883 in an avant-garde style that anticipated the Modernista, or Catalan Art Nouveau, that appeared later. An electric clock on its façade has, since 1891, marked the official time in Barcelona. Inside the building there is another clock, dating back to 1869, which shows the time in 24 cities around the world, as well as the hour of sunrise and sunset. It has a perpetual calendar and a planetarium with the signs of the zodiac.

Continuing down towards Carrer de la Portaferrissa — the one that gets the most sunshine — for many years there has been a bird market. Because of this, and also the number of sparrows nesting in the trees nearest the cages of the market, some writers refer to the Rambla dels Estudis as the Rambla dels Ocells, literally the Rambla of the Birds.

Further down, on the right, past the street named after the painter Fortuny, you will find the old Jesuit church, esglèsia de Betlem (Bethlehem Church), destroyed by fire in 1671. Work on the present building, which stands on the corner of the Rambla and Carrer de la Carme, started in 1680. The main façade is on Carrer de la Carme and inside there is a large, single nave with side chapels in Catalan Gothic style.

Before 1936 it was decorated with coloured marble inlays and brown-coated Italian stuccos, had a reredos, and two large screens in the galleries were adorned with gilded, polychrome figures. All this was destroyed by fire. The building itself was also damaged, but has since been restored to its previous condition. There is now an exhibition room at the church too.

On the left-hand side of the Rambla, on the corner of Carrer de la Portaferrissa, is Palau Moia, also known as the palace of the Marquis of Comillas, a title given to its last owner, Antonio López i López, founder of the Transatlantic Company, the Hispanic Colonial Bank and the General Tobacco Company of the Philippines. When it was built in 1702 by Pere de Cartellà, the building abutted onto the old city walls along the side of the Rambla and it was one of the first buildings permitted to have windows cut through the city wall itself. The facade on the Rambla was altered in 1934 and the porticos of the ground floor were opened up to widen the pavement. Since 1981 the premises have been used by the Department of Culture of the Catalan government, the Generalitat. The upper floor, with the room used by the priest and poet Cinto Verdaguer, is preserved intact, as it was when he worked as the almoner of the Marquis de Comillas, under whose patronage he wrote the epic poem L'Atlàntida (Atlantis).