Assignment 2: The Guilds

1. "Els gremis", the guilds, were at the center of the economy in medieval times in Barcelona.  Each guild was an organized group of craftsmen and artisans who practiced a trade, and the guilds regulated workers' rights, quality control, prices and exerted other types of influence even outside of this work sphere.  Several of the streets and plazas in the area of old Barcelona are named after these guilds.  For example:

Carrer de Semoleres - the "cous cous" vendors (as Xavi calls them), this was one of the first streets dedicated to the guilds!
Placa de la Llana - named after the wool vendors
Carrer dels Escudellers - where shields were made and sold
Carrer dels Carders - where rope was made and sold
Carrer dels Cotoners - where the cotton weavers were located

Placa de la Llana

2.  The casa-taller was a house and workshop set-up.  The bottom floor, called "principal", was where the workshop was located, usually with 1 single door.  The corner casa-tallers had 2 doorways, and were the bigger workshops.  The master/owner of the shop lived on the first floor, right above the workshop.  Those who lived in the apartments above him were lower class, and the lowest lived at the top where the smallest windows were (i.e. skilled workers would be above the owner, then servants above that level).  It is very interesting that all of these social classes lived together in the same neighborhoods!

This one was a corner workshop with 2 doors

3. There are many architectural aspects that distinguish these older buildings from the more recent buildings in this area.  The most obvious one to see is the materials that the buildings are made of.  Today, most new buildings are created using steel, glass, plastic and other modern materials, but in the Middle Ages stone and iron were mainly used.  Before the Middle Ages, iron wasn't used, so the buildings with only stone were most likely built even earlier.  One good example of a strange mix between super contemporary and old architecture is the Mercat de Santa Caterina, with its crazy wavy roof and its mainly iron structure (will explain more later, in 4B). 

4. Find the cultural relation of these 5 places to Catalan culture:

A. Santa Maria del Mar is a grand church in El Born that was built from 1329 - 1383.  It was built primarily by the Catalan working citizens of the neighborhood, not by royalty or the wealthy.  The craftsmen, artisans and guilds paid for the construction of this church all on their own, without the help of the king or government, so it is a very important and emblematic symbol of the middle class. In fact, even today many middle-class Catalans enter onto a waiting list to get married inside the beautiful church.  Additionally, there are many funeral stones inside below which people are buried (generally the families of those who worked on the church).

This plaque on the door shows a Catalan man carrying heavy stones from Montjuic on his back to help build the church

B. El Mercat del Born, or El Mercat de Santa Caterina, is the neighborhood's market.  It was built in 1878 and has been used as one type of market or another since then.  It's structure is a very good example of 19th century Catalan modernist architecture - iron was a really important material during that time and very important to the region.  The roof on top of the market was added in 2005.

 
C. El Fossa de les Moreres is located just next to the Santa Maria del Mar.  It is a plaza with an ever-burning flame, trees, and a large red statue.  The plaza is a memorial to the people who lost their lives in the fight for Catalonian independence up until 1714.  "Fossa" means "hole" and "moreres" refers to the trees in the square.

D. Ciutadella Park is where the Citadel built by Felipe V to keep the city very controlled was located.  This Citadel was obviously a very sore point for Catalans, who did not want to be controlled at all by Madrid, much less have a gigantic war-related structure overlooking their city.  Eventually, the Citadel was demolished and the space was used for the Universal Exhibit and the World's Fair, which highlighted Catalan culture.  Today, this space is used as a green park, with lots of people running, doing yoga, walking their dogs and participating in many other outdoor activities.  The Barcelona Zoo is also located here.

Castle of Three Dragons in Ciutadella

Pathways near an entrance to Ciutadella Park filled with people during La Diada de Catalunya

Zebras in the Barcelona Zoo

Giraffes in the Barcelona Zoo

A baby chimp in the Barcelona Zoo

5. After September 11, 1714, the decrees of Nova Planta were proclaimed in Catalonia by Felipe V.  These decrees suppressed the people previously ruled under the Aragon crown by demolishing their institutions and taking away all of their privileges.  They specifically imposed a new tax system on the Catalan people, repressed the Catalan culture and language, and abolished the Diputacio and Council of One Hundred.  With these decrees, Spain was supposed to become a unified and centralized nation, but it was essentially a punishment to the Catalan people and caused a huge fury.

6. El Consolat de Mar, or La Llotja, was the last stop on our field trip today. In the Middle Ages time period, this space was used as a crossing point between merchants coming from the sea to buy and sell goods and the people in the city. It was here that people could buy permits to sell their goods in the city and could exchange their currency into Catalan money.  The organization in this building was also responsible for making many of the laws that governed the sea and port.  Also, if big disputes arose between merchants/artisans/etc. they could be tried and judged here instead of getting the government in Madrid involved.