Cool Sculptures in Barcelona

I wanted to add this post as there are hundreds of popular monuments in Barcelona, but some of them take all the glory (understandably so). However, when I was an English teacher, I used to work on Rambla Catalunya, in the Barcelona neighbourhood of Eixample which is a very central, tree-lined avenue parallel to Paseo de Gracia - probably the city's most famous street aside from Las Ramblas.

Rambla Catalunya, like Paseo de Gracia, has many terraces from some great bars, cafes and restaurants, and is a top place for shopping. But I'm not going to talk about either of those aspects on this post, rather the head and foot of the mediterranean boulevard. This is about 2 of the coolest sculptures in the city.

The Asociacio d'Amics de Rambla Catalunya presented two sculptures to "the city of Barcelona" in 1972 - one at the top and one very near to the bottom.

At the top, which is where Rambla Catalunya meets Avinguda Diagonal, there's a great sculpture of a giraffe which you can see from the image here, is lying down, coyly swinging it's tail around one leg. I think it's really cool, and is a great contrast to the serious street that it tops.



At the bottom, just touching Gran Via, is another sculpture of a bull, but in the pose of Rodin's The Thinker. Again, this makes me smile every time I see it (and it was a lot when I used to work there) and is something I always point out to friends or family if we happen to be passing by there.

I have no idea as to why two animals have been used at either end of the street, and especially a bull, which is traditionally a Spanish emblem, and pertains to bull fighting in Spain, something which is frowned upon in Barcelona. Maybe that's the point? That we should think about the use of bulls for spectator sports? Either way... I love them both and wanted to share them here, so I hope you like them too!


Thinking of coming to Barcelona? Why not consider renting Barcelona Apartments for your next trip - you can be closer to many cool local sights such as the Bull and Giraffe sculptures featured here today!