Barcelona's monument to Europeanism falls to pieces

BarcelonaIf Barcelona's commitment to Europe were to be measured by the state of its tribute to the founding fathers of the European Union, one might think that Euroscepticism reigns in the Catalan capital. This would be corroborated, at the very least, by the decay of the main monument in Plaza Europa, in the Olympic Ring of Montjuïc. A semicircular waterfall crowned by a 110-meter frieze that pays tribute to 25 pro-European politicians and intellectuals has long been accumulating signs of neglect and abandonment.

Finding out who the 25 honored figures are is today an impossible mission. Over time, the stone pieces of the frieze have fallen to pieces, rendering many of the names and dates that appeared illegible. In this type of tribute to the And Then There Were None Of Agatha Christie's works, only Konrad Adenauer, Antón Cañellas, Antonio Gutiérrez, Umberto Serafini, Joan Reventós, and Jean Monnet remain intact. The rest have either disappeared completely or have lost their birth and death dates or fragments of their names.

Among those affected are Willy Brandt, Winston Churchill, John Maynard Keynes, Rosa Luxemburg, François Mitterrand, Josep Tarradellas, Robert Schuman and Carles Pi y Sunyer. It's been a while, as he explained. The Newspaper, rest stacked haphazardly on a plot of land that acts as a kind of open-air warehouse next to what used to be the old Rivière wire factory, in Can Tunis.

A waterfall closed for six years

Beyond the frieze with the names, the waterfall is also in desperate need of a thorough restoration, with many pieces of broken stone and structural problems since 2019, when it had to be closed due to water leaks. The wall at the beginning of the frieze, designed by Enric Satué, contains a fragment of Article 1 of the EU Treaty, which reads: "An ever closer union between the peoples of Europe, with decisions taken as closely as possible to the citizens."

Inaugurated on May 9, 1998, this tribute to the European Union completed the layout of the esplanade built for the 1992 Olympic Games around the Olympic Stadium and the Palau Sant Jordi. The project was designed by architects Federico Correa, Alfonso Milà, Carles Buxadé, and Joan Margarit. Despite the monument's condition, this space at the bottom of the Olympic Ring—a large round plaza just below the Calatrava Tower with an impressive balcony overlooking the Zona Franca—remains imposing.

In February, Barcelona Mayor Jaume Collboni announced that, as part of its plan to transform Montjuïc, the City Council plans to update the Olympic Ring and some of its facilities. With a budget of €370 million, the project includes the expansion of the Sant Jordi Club to host concerts for up to 8,000 spectators; the renovation of the Palau Sant Jordi; the modernization of the stadium; and the transformation of the esplanade. According to Collboni, the idea is to plant cherry trees and create recreational and dining areas to transform it into a "new space for citizen use."