Spain

Arc de Triomf

The Arc de Triomf or Arco de Triunfo in Spanish, is a triumphal arch in the city of Barcelona in Catalonia, Spain. It was built by architect Josep Vilaseca i Casanovas as the main access gate for the 1888 Barcelona World Fair. The arch crosses over the wide central promenade of the Passeig de Lluís Companys, leading to the Ciutadella Park that now occupies the site of the world fair. It is located at the northern end of the promenade, facing the Passeig de Sant Joan. The arch is built in reddish brickwork in the Neo-Mudéjar style. The front frieze contains the stone sculpture Barcelona rep les nacions (Catalan for 'Barcelona welcomes the nations') by Josep Reynés. The opposite frieze contains a stone carving entitled Recompensa ('Recompense'), a work from Josep Llimona's earliest period, representing the granting of awards to the participants in the World Exposition. The friezes along the sides of the arch include allegories of agriculture and industry by Antoni Vilanova and of trade and art by Torquat Tassó. The two pillars of the arch feature bats carved in stone, which were the emblem of King Jaume I, who ruled over a period of prosperity in Barcelona.

Casa Batlló

Casa Batlló is a building in the center of Barcelona. It was designed by Antoni Gaudí, and is considered one of his masterpieces. A remodel of a previously built house, it was redesigned in 1904 by Gaudí and has been refurbished several times after that. Gaudí's assistants Domènec Sugrañes i Gras, Josep Canaleta and Joan Rubió also contributed to the renovation project. The local name for the building is Casa dels ossos (House of Bones), as it has a visceral, skeletal organic quality. It is located on the Passeig de Gràcia in the Eixample district, and forms part of a row of houses known as the Illa de la Discòrdia (or Mansana de la Discòrdia, the 'Block of Discord'), which consists of four buildings by noted Modernista architects of Barcelona. Like everything Gaudí designed, Casa Batlló is only identifiable as Modernisme or Art Nouveau in the broadest sense. The ground floor, in particular, has unusual tracery, irregular oval windows and flowing sculpted stone work. There are few straight lines, and much of the façade is decorated with a colorful mosaic made of broken ceramic tiles (trencadís). The roof is arched and was likened to the back of a dragon or dinosaur. A common theory about the building is that the rounded feature to the left of centre, terminating at the top in a turret and cross, represents the lance of Saint George (patron saint of Catalonia, Gaudí's home), which has been plunged into the back of the dragon.

Cathedral of Barcelona

The Cathedral of the Holy Cross and Saint Eulalia (Catalan: Catedral de la Santa Creu i Santa Eulàlia), also known as Barcelona Cathedral, is the Gothic cathedral and seat of the Archbishop of Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain.The cathedral was constructed from the thirteenth to fifteenth centuries, with the principal work done in the fourteenth century. The cloister, which encloses the Well of the Geese (Font de les Oques) was completed in 1448. In the late nineteenth century, the neo-Gothic façade was constructed over the nondescript exterior that was common to Catalan churches. The roof is notable for its gargoyles, featuring a wide range of animals, both domestic and mythical. Its form is pseudo-basilica, vaulted over five aisles, the outer two divided into chapels. The transept is truncated. The east end is a chevet of nine radiating chapels connected by an ambulatory. The high altar is raised, allowing a clear view into the crypt. View of the cathedral interior The cathedral is dedicated to Eulalia of Barcelona, co-patron saint of Barcelona, a young virgin who, according to Catholic tradition, suffered martyrdom during Roman times in the city. One story says that she was exposed naked in the public square and a miraculous snowfall in mid-spring covered her nudity. The enraged Romans put her into a barrel with knives stuck into it and rolled it down a street (according to tradition, the one now called Baixada de Santa Eulàlia). The body of Saint Eulalia is entombed in the cathedral's crypt. The choir stalls retain the coats-of-arms of the knights of the Order of the Golden Fleece. In his first trip into Spain, Charles, the future Holy Roman Emperor, selected Barcelona as the site of a chapter of his Order. The king had arrived for his investiture as Count of Barcelona, and the city, as a Mediterranean port, offered the closest communication with other far-flung Habsburg dominions, while the large proportions of the cathedral would accommodate required grand ceremonies. In 1518 the Order's herald, Thomas Isaac, and its treasurer, Jean Micault, were commissioned to prepare the sanctuary for the first sitting of the chapter in 1519. Juan de Borgonya executed the painted decoration of the sanctuary. 'The church was named after Barcelona's patron saint Eulalia; its official name - Catedral de la Santa Creu i Santa Eulalia - is Catalan for 'Cathedral of the Holy Cross and Saint Eulalia'. The commonly used name La Seu refers to the status of the church as the seat of the diocese.' The side Chapel of the Holy Sacrament and of the Holy Christ of Lepanto contains a cross said to date from the time of the Battle of Lepanto (1571). In addition to Saints Eulàlia and Olegarius, the cathedral contains the tombs of Saint Raymond of Penyafort, Count Ramon Berenguer I and his third wife Almodis de la Marche, and bishops Berenguer de Palou II, Salvador Casañas y Pagés, and Arnau de Gurb, who is buried in the Chapel of Santa Llúcia, which he had constructed. The cathedral has a secluded Gothic cloister where 13 white geese are kept, the number explained by the assertion that Eulalia was 13 when she was martyred. A program of cleaning and restoration of the cathedral was carried out from 1968–72.

Generalife Gardens

As an inseparable part of the Alhambra and Generalife palaces and enclosures, the gardens and cultivated spaces, elements of adornment, perfection, symbolism, follow each other in every corner of the monument, providing a transcendent component, in the territory and in time, to the landscape of this place. The trace that the passage of the centuries has left in the Red Hill has multiplied and enriched the variety of the gardens with diverse forms and gardener tastes, at the same time a reflection of epochs and different sensibilities. The medieval gardens, created in the Nasrid stage, are the ones with the greatest fame and importance, due to their remote origin, the refined character with which they integrate the vegetation, the water and the buildings that frame them, and because of the close relationship they awoke in their conception with the desired Quranic paradise. Thus the Alhambra has medieval gardens (Patio Arrayanes, Lions and Patio de la Acequia), Renaissance XVI – XVII (patios of the Reja or Lindaraja, modified this one in the 19th century), from the 17th century (Garden of the Adarves, in the Alcazaba), 19th century (from the XIX High Gardens of the Generalife) and Contemporary Gardens of the 20th century (Jardines del Partal and Nuevos del Generalife) or even 21st century (Theater environment). Among those used in medieval times, showy flower plants acquire a special and habitual presence in the Hispanic-Islamic gardens, many of them also fragrant, such as roses (Rosa sp.), Carnations (Dianthussp.), Violets (Viola odorata ), wallflower (Erysimumcheiri and Mathiolaincana), lilies (Iris germanica), oleanders (Neriumoleander) or water lilies (Nymphaea alba). Other plants lacking flowers were selected exclusively for their aroma, such as basil (Ocimumbasilicum), oregano (Origanumsp.), Melissa (Melissa officinalis), mints (Menthasp.), Thyme (Thymussp.), Rosemary ( Rosmarinusofficinalis) or lavender (Lavandulasp.). Among them, jasmine (Jasminumsp.), Citrus fruits (Citrus sp.), or cypresses (Cupressussempervirens) played a leading role in the medieval Islamic gardening tradition. The vegetation of the Monument has been modified over the centuries, not only in terms of the number and variety of species, but also in terms of cultivation and maintenance techniques and styles. To the traditionally used species in the Nasrid era, such as wallflower, lily, jasmine, cypress, bitter orange or lily; many others from different regions and continents have been incorporated and are now considered fully rooted in Granada’s gardening, such as boxwood, macassar, geranium, aspidistra, wisteria or pitimini rose. Among all of them, if any species could represent these gardens, the myrtle would be the chosen one without a doubt. This shrub, considered in the Arab world as a plant with “báraka” (with blessing, hidden and invisible), of dense and fragrant foliage, used as an isolated specimen and trimmed in hedges, has been used at all times and in almost all Alhambra gardens. The name comes from the Arabic al-rayhan, “the aromatic one”, due to the smell that its leaves give off when rubbed, due to its fine texture, its relatively rapid growth, its delicate and scented whitish flowers, and its ability to accept pruning for the formation of hedges and other topiary forms (the art of the Topiaria is a gardening practice that consists of giving artistic forms to the plants by trimming with pruning shears).

Manchego Cheese

Manchego is a cheese made in the La Mancha region of Spain from the milk of sheep of the Manchega breed. It is aged between 60 days and 2 years. Manchego has a firm and compact consistency and a buttery texture, and often contains small, unevenly distributed air pockets. The colour of the cheese varies from white to ivory-yellow, and the inedible rind from yellow to brownish-beige. The cheese has a distinctive flavour, well developed but not too strong, creamy with a slight piquancy, and leaves an aftertaste that is characteristic of sheep's milk

Museu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya

The Museu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya, abbreviated as MNAC, is the national museum of Catalan visual art located in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. Situated on Montjuïc hill at the end of Avinguda de la Reina Maria Cristina, near Pl Espanya, the museum is especially notable for its outstanding collection of romanesque church paintings, and for Catalan art and design from the late 19th and early 20th centuries, including modernisme and noucentisme. The museum is housed in the Palau Nacional, a huge, Italian-style building dating to 1929. The Palau Nacional, which has housed the Museu d'Art de Catalunya since 1934, was declared a national museum in 1990 under the Museums Law passed by the Catalan Government. That same year, a thorough renovation process was launched to refurbish the site, based on plans drawn up by the architects Gae Aulenti and Enric Steegmann, who were later joined in the undertaking by Josep Benedito. The Oval Hall was reopened in 1992 on the occasion of the Olympic Games, and the various collections were installed and opened over the period from 1995 (when the Romanesque Art section was reopened) to 2004. The Museu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya (Museu Nacional) was officially inaugurated on 16 December 2004. It is one of the largest museums in Spain.

Oviedo Cathedral

The Metropolitan Cathedral Basilica of the Holy Saviour or Cathedral of San Salvador is a Roman Catholic church and minor basilica in the centre of Oviedo, in the Asturias region of northern Spain. The Cathedral of San Salvador of Oviedo today displays an array of architectural styles, from Pre-Romanesque to Baroque, including Romanesque, Gothic and Renaissance parts. It began as a large Pre-Romanesque basilica in the present location of the Gothic cathedral, but nothing more is known about that first building, built by order of King Alfonso II of Asturias.

Puente de Triana

The Puente de Isabel II, Puente de Triana or Triana Bridge, is a metal arch bridge in Seville, Spain, that connects the Triana neighbourhood with the centre of the city. It crosses the Canal de Alfonso XIII, one of the arms of the River Guadalquivir that isolate Triana as an almost-island. It was built during the reign of Isabella II of Spain and completed in 1852 as the first solid bridge in Seville, replacing an earlier floating bridge consisting of boats (a pontoon bridge). First built by the Moors in the 12th century, the pontoon bridge managed to exist for seven centuries due to later repairs.