barcelona

Opening today, photography exhibition ‘Barcelona. The Metropolis in the Age of Photography 1860-2004’ tells the story of the Catalan capital with 1,000 works. The collection of photographs, magazines, documentaries and films is provided by 58 lenders which are primarily in Catalonia but also to be found in Madrid, Pamplona, Salamanca, Paris, Lausanne, London and even New York. The history of the city of Barcelona is separated into six major moments, within which one can observe the metropolis change with the World Fair, the expansion of the city, the opening of new streets, the rhetoric of new artistic movements, social struggles, the Civil War and the subsequent photographical documentation of the transition to democracy. Ending in 2004, this chronological exhibition represents curator Jorge Ribalta’s many years of intensive work exploring the relation between photographs and a city. 

Barcelona representatives aimed to make the Catalan capital a “veg-friendly” city this Tuesday in an unexpected proposal. The proposal launched by the city’s economy commission received support across almost all of the city council parties, and hopes that Barcelona can become a “friend of vegan and vegetarian culture”. With this, the proposal includes plans to support more businesses and individuals looking to benefit from including more “veg-friendly” options. Additionally, the commission’s proposal includes plans to publish a list of stores and restaurants in Barcelona that are helping people who are vegan, vegetarian, or just want to reduce the amount of meat and animal products they consume. To make it a reality, Barcelona will establish a BCN VEGPoint which will serve as a support and networking centre for businesses looking to become more veg-friendly.

Barça top Arsenal 3–1 (5–1 aggregate) to sew up a berth in the UEFA Champions League quarter-finals for the ninth straight season. Goals from Neymar, Luis Suárez and Lionel Messi were more than enough to knock Arsenal out of the UEFA Champions League on a wet and chilly Wednesday night at Camp Nou. This is the third time FC Barcelona have bounced Arsenal from Europe’s top competition, after previously doing so in 2010 and 2011. The triumph qualifies Barça for the tournament’s quarter-final round for the ninth consecutive season. It is also their ninth straight victory across all competitions, and it brings their overall unbeaten streak to 38 games.

In 2015, Barcelona saw 740 million euros from American home-sharing website Airbnb, through which over 800,000 guests connected with over 9,000 hosts. This number marks an increase in guests, in amount earned, and in overnight stays. This year also saw a shift in lodging location as the rented spaces are no longer primarily centred in the historic ‘Ciutat Vella’ neighbourhood. By the website´s data, Barcelona is now the fourth most important destination, preceded by Paris, London, and New York. CNA spoke to CEO of Airbnb in Spain and Portugal Arnaldo Muñoz, who explains the negotiations in progress between the company and the Catalan and Barcelona authorities. 

The Catalan capital reached an agreement with Athens to host 100 refugees from those living in camps in the Greek capital. This compromise is the first stage of a collaboration programme between both cities, which may be enhanced by the respective mayors in the near future. Since the competences regarding the refugees’ hosting depend on the Spanish State, Barcelona’s mayor, Ada Colau, will send a letter to the current Spanish Prime Minister, Mariano Rajoy, so that the necessary procedures can be started as soon as possible. In the same vein, Colau criticised Spain’s inactivity on this matter, pointing out that the Spanish government “took the compromise to relocate 16,000 people and have only relocated 18”, she stated.

The Barcelona airport at El Prat de Llobregat registered an increase in almost all aspects in the month of February. Thanks to the Mobile World Congress (MWC), international passengers registered an increase of 22% while the number of domestic passengers rose by 16.9%. These numbers contributed to the 20.4% overall growth in total passengers for the month, along with a 13.3% growth in the number of operations. Compared to the same period in 2015, the amount of cargo and merchandise transported also grew, registering an increase of 18.3% and 18.6% respectively. The Catalan airport also saw an increase in annual terms, with 17.4% more passengers and 9.4% more operations than before.

The Zurich Insurance group will establish its new global data centre in Barcelona, as was divulged by the company CEO Vincente Cancio last Thursday. The opening of the global data centre, which is a two-year project, will establish 200 jobs. These positions will add to the existing 250 which the Zurich Group has already created in Barcelona. The company has over 2,000 employees and more than 130 years of presence in Spain.

Picasso, Manet, Degas, Van Gogh, Cézanne, Courbet and other outstanding names within the Impressionist and Modern Art movement are amongst the prestigious art collection assembled by American collector Duncan Phillips. Now, for the first time, some of their masterpieces will be displayed in Barcelona. ‘Conversations: Impressionist and Modern Masterworks from The Phillips Collection’, which includes around sixty referential works from the 19th century, will be shown at the CaixaForum museum until the 19th of June.

Festival Cruïlla Barcelona has unveiled more artists that will perform at the seventh edition of the celebration, which is to be held on the 8^th, 9^th, and 10^th of July. The newly confirmed artists in the festival´s line-up are Robert Plant, along with The Sensational Space Shifters, Crystal Fighters, Cat Power, Skunk Anansie and Esperanza Spalding, amongst many others. However, one of the most outstanding artists confirmed is Robert Plant, the iconic voice of Led Zeppelin. He will perform the album ‘Lullaby…and the Ceaseless Roar’ for the first time in Spain with the accompaniment of The Sensational Space Shifters. The festival has also announced its daily concert schedule, and that it is keeping its pass price at 90 euros. 

The number of patent applications submitted in Barcelona exceeded those of Madrid, leading Spain in number of applications filed, and registering an increase from 2014. Within the EU, Spain is “at the tail end of the main group”, while Catalonia shows a “certain innovation that possibly doesn’t exist yet in other Spanish regions”. In Barcelona, the Esteve pharmaceutical laboratory is the Catalan business which has submitted the most patent applications, followed by the Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona and the pharmaceutical company Almirall. Spain has not yet decided to join the EU Unitary Patent, which would give it access to the standardised patent system but exclude it from having “any influential capacity” in its regulatory bodies.

Leo Messi scores twice in a scintillating Champions League encounter, including the 10,000th goal in FC Barcelona history, setting things up perfectly for the return leg at the Camp Nou on March 16. The game was intense from the very first second, with football of the kind of quality that one would expect from two sides like this. In the last minute of the half, things finally started to click but it wasn’t until minute 71 that the game finally got the only thing it was lacking. A goal. Neymar charged through on the Arsenal area and laid the ball off to Messi, who scored his first goal against Cech. The goal inspired the trident to unleash its full potential, and all three were involved in a lightning move that ended with Suárez slamming the ball onto the post. But Barça were now firing on all cylinders, and in the 83rd minute the lead was extended.

Messi (2) and Suárez on target as Barça get all three points from their game in hand and go a mighty six clear at the top of the Liga table. The Argentinian put Barça ahead with a goal which wasn’t ordinary; It made him the first player to ever score 300 times in La Liga. With the goal, the game flashed into life. Just moments later, Carlos Castro got on the end of a nicely-worked move to get Gijón back level and a smoothly worked move between Suárez and Messi ended with the latter beating Cuéllar for the second time in six minutes. The Uruguayan skipped through the Sporting defence and lofted a fine left-footer into the net. Barça 3-1 up with 23 minutes left to play.

It's finally time to play that game in hand, which offers the chance to move six points clear at the top of the Liga table. FC Barcelona travel to Gijón to play the game originally postponed due to their participation at the Club World Cup in Japan. It’s now thirty games that Barça have strung together without losing, the longest unbeaten run in the history of Spanish football. We need to go all the way back to October 1994 to find the last case of a Sporting victory over Barça. Gijón is the town where Barça’s coach Luis Enrique grew up and Sporting is a club that shall forever be close to his heart. “Whenever I go back to El Molinón, it's special” he said on Tuesday. “But tomorrow I'm going back as a coach and I want to win” he stated. The Barça boss and Sporting’s coach, Abelardo Fernández have known each other since school, and the latter also spent part of his playing career at FC Barcelona.

The first European date on ‘The River Tour 2016’ will be in Barcelona. The Boss will visit the Catalan capital on the 14^th of May to commemorate the 35^th anniversary of the release of his album ‘The River’ with a concert at Camp Nou. ‘The River Tour 2016’ started in Pittsburgh on the 16^th of January and The Boss performed the whole album, one of his most iconic works. Together with the E Street Band, Springsteen will offer two other shows in Spain; one in San Sebastian and the other in Madrid. Tickets for the Barcelona show will go on sale on the 1^st of March, with prices ranging from 80 euros to 115 euros for reserved seats. The last time The Boss visited Barcelona was in 2012, when he offered a double show during ‘The Wrecking ball’ tour.

FC Barcelona stretch their unbeaten run to an amazing 29 games on their way to a sixth Copa del Rey Final in eight years. With a seven-goal head start, the Catalans were effectively  through to final before a ball had been kicked at Mestalla, so it was little surprise that Luis Enrique opted to rest players for more decisive matches, including all three of the famous trident. Barça provided most of the early football, with Munirand Rakitic coming closest to scoring, but at the 39th minute Valencia player Negredo was put through one-on-one with Ter Stegen. Douglas,Cámara and Kaptoum were involved in Barça’s equaliser after 84 minutes, the Cameroonian converting Cámara’s cross with practically his first touch of the ball. The goal meant meant that they have now gone for a staggering 29 official matches without defeat, an all-time record in Spanish football.