Casa de la Ciutat-Ajuntament de Barcelona

Casa de la Ciutat-Ajuntament de Barcelona Review

The 15th-century city hall on Plaça Sant Jaume faces the Palau de la Generalitat, with its mid-18th-century neoclassical facade, across what was once the Roman Forum. Any opportunity to spend time inside the city hall should be taken, as it is a rich repository for sensual sculptures, paintings, and historic sites. Around the corner to the left is a surprise: the early-15th-century Flamboyant Gothic facade with part of an arch superglued to the abutting neoclassical part (look carefully in the right corner). Inside is the famous Saló de Cent, from which the proto-democratic Council of 100 governed Barcelona between 1249 and 1714. The Saló de les Croniques is filled with Josep Maria Sert's immense black-and-burnished-gold mural (1928) depicting the early-14th-century Catalan campaign in Byzantium and Greece under the command of Roger de Flor. Check out Sert's changing perspective technique that makes his paintings seem to follow you around the room. Adorned with art and sculptures by the great Catalan masters from Marès to Gargallo to Clarà to Subirachs, the interior of the city hall is open to visitors on Sunday and for occasional concerts or events held in the Saló de Cent.