In 1888, during the World Expo, the people of Barcelona had to look up. On the one hand, the monument to Columbus was built, a project by the architect Gaietà Buïgas y Monravà, and, on the other, a hot air balloon was tethered to the Parc de la Ciutadella, which allowed one of the first aerial photographs of the city to be taken. What most impressed those who strolled through the Portal de la Pau about Columbus was the scaffolding, and the press made fun of it: "Finally, Columbus has reached the top of his pedestal. But, as they have not yet removed the scaffolding, it does not give the impression wanted. A stranger exclaims at the sight of him: "Poor Mr. Christopher, they have him in a cage!"', L'Esquetlla de la Torratxa wrote. The photographer Antoni Esplugas dedicated photographic series to the two attractions, with dozens of images. Esplugas' view of this Barcelona in full urban, social and political transformation is intertwined with that of other photographers of the second half of the 19th century in the exhibition La ciutat davant la càmera. Imaginaris urbans al segle XIX, which can be seen at the Barcelona's Photographic Archive (AFB) until October 23. In 1888 the increase in the number of photographs taken of the city was brutal and left testimonies of some ephemeral buildings, such as the spectacular Hotel Internacional, which can be seen at the AFB

With the rise of Nazism, the photographer of Jewish and Polish origin Margaret Michaelis (Dziedzice, Poland, 1902 - Melbourne, Australia, 1985) left Berlin and decided to go into exile in the Barcelona of the Second Republic. Three months later the Grup d'Arquitectes i Tècnics Catalans per al Progrés de l'Arquitectura Contemporània (GATCPAC) hired her to make a photoreport of Barcelona's Barri Xino (red-light district). She had to photograph the bowels of the neighbourhood and show the insalubrity, the lack of infrastructures, the worn out pipes... For an exhibition that was held in the basement of Plaça Catalunya to justify the need to carry out the Macià plan, also known as the Nova Barcelona plan. Michaelis, however, went further. "She approached people, gained their trust and photographed them in these spaces", says Dolors Rodríguez Roig, art historian and curator of the exhibition Margaret Michaelis. Cinc dies pel Barri Xino, which can be seen at the Photographic Archive of Barcelona (AFB) until 31 October. The Nova Barcelona plan was never executed but the intimacy of the houses in those narrow streets has been able to reach us thanks to the snapshots of this woman with a curious gaze.