Catalan and Spanish. Main festitivity. La MercPatron saint. Eulalia of Barcelona. Websitewww. barcelona. Barcelona, Catalan bslon, Spanish baelona is a city in Spain. It is the capital and largest city of Catalonia, and the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1. Province of Barcelona and is home to around 4. European Union after Paris, London, Madrid, the Ruhr area and Milan. It is the largest metropolis on the Mediterranean Sea, located on the coast between the mouths of the rivers Llobregat and Bess, and bounded to the west by the Serra de Collserola mountain range, the tallest peak of which is 5. Founded as a Roman city, in the Middle Ages Barcelona became the capital of the County of Barcelona. After merging with the Kingdom of Aragon, Barcelona continued to be an important city in the Crown of Aragon as an economic and administrative centre of this Crown and the capital of the Principality of Catalonia. Barcelona has a rich cultural heritage and is today an important cultural centre and a major tourist destination. Gothic Ii Gold Edition Google HomepageParticularly renowned are the architectural works of Antoni Gaud and Llus Domnech i Montaner, which have been designated UNESCO World Heritage Sites. The headquarters of the Union for the Mediterranean is located in Barcelona. The city is known for hosting the 1. Summer Olympics as well as world class conferences and expositions and also many international sport tournaments. Barcelona is one of the worlds leading tourist, economic, trade fair and cultural centres, and its influence in commerce, education, entertainment, media, fashion, science, and the arts all contribute to its status as one of the worlds major global cities. It is a major cultural and economic centre in southwestern Europe, 2. Zrich, after Frankfurt8 and a financial centre. In 2. 00. 8 it was the fourth most economically powerful city by GDP in the European Union and 3. GDP amounting to 1. In 2. 01. 2 Barcelona had a GDP of 1. Spain in employment rate in that moment. In 2. 00. 9 the city was ranked Europes third and one of the worlds most successful as a city brand. In the same year the city was ranked Europes fourth best city for business and fastest improving European city, with growth improved by 1. Since 2. 01. 1 Barcelona has been a leading smart city in Europe. Barcelona is a transport hub, with the Port of Barcelona being one of Europes principal seaports and busiest European passenger port,1. BarcelonaEl Prat Airport, which handles over 4. France and the rest of Europe. The name Barcelona comes from the ancient Iberian Barkeno, attested in an ancient coin inscription found on the right side of the coin in Iberian script as ,1. Greek sources as, Barkinn 1. Latin as Barcino,2. Barcilonum2. 1 and Barcenona. Some older sources suggest that the city may have been named after the Carthaginian general Hamilcar Barca, who was supposed to have founded the city in the 3rd century BC,2. Barcelona was ever a Carthaginian settlement, or that its name in antiquity, Barcino, had any connection with the Barcid family of Hamilcar. During the Middle Ages, the city was variously known as Barchinona, Baralona, Barchelonaa, and Barchenona. Internationally, Barcelonas name is wrongly abbreviated to Bara. However, this name refers only to FC Barcelona, the football club. The common abbreviated form used by locals is Barna. Another common abbreviation is BCN, which is also the IATA airport code of the Barcelona El Prat Airport. The city is also referred to as the Ciutat Comtal in Catalan, and Ciudad Condal in Spanish, owing to its past as the seat of the Count of Barcelona. Historyedit. A marble plaque in the Museu dHistria de la Ciutat de Barcelona, dated from around 1. AD and dedicated to the Roman colony of Barcino. Pre historyeditThe origin of the earliest settlement at the site of present day Barcelona is unclear. The ruins of an early settlement have been found, including different tombs and dwellings dating to earlier than 5. BC. 2. 72. 8 The founding of Barcelona is the subject of two different legends. The first attributes the founding of the city to the mythological Hercules. The second legend attributes the foundation of the city directly to the historical Carthaginian general, Hamilcar Barca, father of Hannibal, who supposedly named the city Barcino after his family in the 3rd century BC,2. Roman BarcelonaeditIn about 1. BC, the Romans redrew the town as a castrum Roman military camp centred on the Mons Taber, a little hill near the contemporary city hall Plaa de Sant Jaume. Under the Romans, it was a colony with the surname of Faventia,3. Card Compact Flash Reader Software Usb View. Colonia Faventia Julia Augusta Pia Barcino3. Colonia Julia Augusta Faventia Paterna Barcino. Pomponius Mela3. Tarraco modern Tarragona, but it may be gathered from later writers that it gradually grew in wealth and consequence, favoured as it was with a beautiful situation and an excellent harbour. It enjoyed immunity from imperial burdens. The city minted its own coins some from the era of Galba survive. Important Roman vestiges are displayed in Plaa del Rei underground, as a part of the Barcelona City History Museum MUHBA the typically Roman grid plan is still visible today in the layout of the historical centre, the Barri Gtic Gothic Quarter. Some remaining fragments of the Roman walls have been incorporated into the cathedral. The cathedral, also known as the Basilica La Seu, is said to have been founded in 3. Medieval BarcelonaeditThe city was conquered by the Visigoths in the early 5th century, becoming for a few years the capital of all Hispania. After being conquered by the Arabs in the early 8th century, it was conquered in 8. Charlemagnes son Louis, who made Barcelona the seat of the Carolingian Hispanic March Marca Hispanica, a buffer zone ruled by the Count of Barcelona. The Counts of Barcelona became increasingly independent and expanded their territory to include all of Catalonia, although on 6 July 9. Barcelona was sacked by the army of Almanzor. The sack was so traumatic that most of Barcelonas population was either killed or enslaved. In 1. 13. 7, Aragon and the County of Barcelona merged in dynastic union3. Ramon Berenguer IV and Petronilla of Aragon, their titles finally borne by only one person when their son Alfonso II of Aragon ascended to the throne in 1. Gothic Ii Gold Edition Google© 2017