Journalism

Lluís Permanyer, beloved chronicler of the vanishing Barcelona, dies.

The journalist suffered a heart attack at the age of 86.

BarcelonaHe wanted to be a diplomat to escape the Barcelona oppressed by Franco and ended up becoming its most illustrious chronicler. Lluís Permanyer died this Wednesday, victim of a heart attack, at the age of 86. Author of more than eighty books on the Catalan capital, he leaves behind an immense legacy of research and dissemination, as well as the fond memory of his characteristic figure – always elegant – strolling with an attentive gaze through squares and streets. His bushy mustache, which he began to comb looking upwards after the dictator's death, was part of the Barcelona landscape.

After gaining experience in Destination, where he popularized the Proust Questionnaire in his interviews, he joined the editorial staff of The Vanguard in 1966. However, he did so not in the local section, but in the international section. "I stayed for 22 years. It was the best section, because there was no censorship," he explained a few years ago in an interview with ARA. "You could write extremely violent articles about the Americans and Vietnam and nothing would happen. On the other hand, here you would review a street and I'd immediately call the City Hall. You could also travel, buy banned books, interview people from the democracies... It was a way of breathing space."

Cargando
No hay anuncios

With the end of Franco's regime, he came to the conviction that he could be more useful—the profession as a service—chronicling Barcelona than talking about remote conflicts. He became a voracious reader of books about the city, several hundred of them, which he feverishly emptied onto index cards so he could speak not only from personal convictions but from knowledge and data. However, his style was never devoured by erudition: throughout thousands of chronicles he always sought the didactic part, the value of the anecdote that explains the category and that ironic trickle that allowed him to let them go.

Among his books, the monograph stands out Passeig de Gràcia: 200 Years of a Bourgeois Space, The disappeared Eixample, Barcelona at night, Private lives of bourgeois Barcelona and volumes dedicated to artists such as Miró: story of a passion, Memories of Brossa by Brossa either Dalí spokenOne of the most celebrated, and most painfully funny, volumes was Barcelona does, which featured some of the city's most eye-catching buildings. He was known to have been the driving force behind more than one renovation, and some even asked him what color they should paint the new façade. His dedication to Barcelona was also captured in a series of eight documentaries on TV3, in addition to other audiovisual productions.

Cargando
No hay anuncios

Permanyer also received numerous awards, including the National Journalism Award of Catalonia (2008), the National Cultural Journalism Award from the ministry (2022), the Luca de Tena Award (1969), and the City of Barcelona Journalism Award (1987). There will be no wake or funeral, as he has maintained his vocation for service even after his death: Permanyer has given his body to science.