There are hundreds of blogs and specific websites that speak of Barcelona as one of the most interesting cities in the world because of the enormous number of architectural landmarks, both classic and contemporary that are scattered around the city, and that make of each neighborhood something special.
The relationship between Barcelona and architecture comes from the classical age, and an expample of it are the columns of the temple of Augustus, in the office of the Excursionist Center of Catalonia, one of the surprises that Barcelona hides to the usual tourist.
Although is true that from the Roman period few testimonies are preserved, if we talk about the Middle Ages, everything changes.
From this time there are many Gothic buildings in the city, with the consequent controversy of whether the Gothic that we see today is the true Gothic style of that time.
Buildings such as the Cathedral of "Santa Cruz" and "Santa Eulalia" in Barcelona, and the Basilica of "Santa María del Mar", are exponents of religious buildings of the time that witness the best of Catalan Gothic.
Among other medieval monuments, the city has the church of "Santa María del Pino" or the "Atarazanas Reales" the latter being a tremendous example of a Gothic ship for civil use in Europe.
Among the civil buildings of the medieval period of the city, we find "El saló del Tinell", "El Palau del Lloctinent", or "El Palau de la Generalitat de Catalunya".
With the impossibility of continuing to grow due to the walls, Barcelona remains behind medieval times without space for new constructions, a situation that is resolved by the confiscation of the church, which allowed the construction of new iron structures such as "El Mercat de la Boqueria".
With the arrival of a splendid period of commerce, the city abandons the walls and starts to build all type of unique buildings, such as the "Palau de la Música Catalana", designed in amodernist style by Lluís Domènech i Montaner and inaugurated in 1908.
This trend that the 2Palau de la Música Catalana" inaugurates, is followed by eminent buildings such as the "Hospital de la Santa Creu" and "San Pau", the "Casa Macaya" by Josep Puig i Cadafalch; but without a doubt the most known and recognized modernist architect is Antoni Gaudí.
The most important work of this architect is the Expiatory Temple of the "Sagrada Família", an extremely complex work that was not completed at the death of the architect and that today is built and financed by the visitor´s tickets, and is planned to be finished in 2020.
-. Others of Gaudí's most well-known works are the "Parc Güell", "Casa Milà", also called "La Pedrera", and "Casa Batlló".
When we look for landmarks of contemporary architecture, the city of Barcelona also has a lot to say. Above all, it is interesting to highlight the German Pavilion of Mies Van der Rohe, the Joan Miró Foundation or all the works that were developed for the 1992 Olympic Games, at which time the city once again underwent major transformations at an urban level and acquired such buildings. notanles such as the "Palau Sant Jordi", "La torre de Collserola", by Norman Foster and the Montjuïc telecommunications tower of Santiago Calatrava.
After that Olympic stage, the city incorporates buildings such as the Museum of Contemporary Art of Barcelona (MACBA) by Richard Meier, the Agbar Tower by Jean Nouvel and the Forum Building by Jacques Herzog and Pierre de Meuron.
Finally, to finish this review of interesting architectural landmarks in the city, it should be noted that in 1999 there was a remarkable milestone and that Barcelona was awarded by the Royal Institute of British Architects with the RIBA Gold Medal, an award that was awarded to architects for the whole of his work, and that for the first time and for the moment, has been granted to a city and not to an individual architect.
In any case, the city of Barcelona has always shown a long career in urban design and design, which has permeated all neighborhoods of the city and makes each neighborhood has its uniqueness, which makes it a very interesting city for the investor , since there is the possibility of having real estate in a multitude of very interesting locations.