Fira de Barcelona

The Venetian Towers (in Catalan: Torres Venecianes) is the popular name for a pair of towers on Avinguda de la Reina Maria Cristina at its junction with Plaça d'Espanya in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. There is one tower on either side of the street. The towers are 47m high, with a 7.2 metres square cross-section. The bottom section of each is built of artificial stone, the main section of red brick, and the top section is a colonnaded viewing gallery built of artificial stone, and topped by a pyramidal copper roof. They were modelled on the campanile of St. Mark's Basilica in Venice.They were originally envisaged in Léon Jaussely's city expansion plan of 1907, and designed by architect Ramon Reventós and built in the period 1927 to 1929, as part of the redevelopment of the area for the 1929 Barcelona International Exposition. Reventós was also involved in a number of other projects featured in the exhibition, such as the Greek Theatre (Teatre Grec), the Spanish Village (Poble Espanyol), and the buildings of the Montjuïc Funicular on the nearby hill of Montjuïc. They serve an ornamental function, to mark the entrance to the exhibition district, now known as Fira de Barcelona, and the start of the grand avenue leading up to the Palau Nacional on Montjuïc, which houses the National Art Museum of Catalonia. Originally, the towers were open to the public, who could climb the internal stairs to the viewing galleries, but they are now normally closed. In later years, the western tower housed equipment for controlling the illumination of the Magic Fountain of Montjuïc, 350m away at the far end of Avinguda Maria Cristina, and the gallery of the eastern tower housed sirens for signalling possible emergencies; the disused equipment was removed during the 2013/14 restoration work.The towers are registered as protected structures by Barcelona city council, with a protection level of B:B, a structure of local interest.Following restoration work, the towers opened to the public for the first time since 1929, for a two-day period during October 2014.

Avinguda de la Reina Maria Cristina (Catalan pronunciation: [əβiŋˈɡuðə ðə lə ˈrejnə məˈɾi.ə kɾisˈtinə]) is an avenue in the Sants-Montjuïc district of Barcelona linking Plaça d'Espanya with Museu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya on Montjuïc hill. It is named after Maria Christina of the Two Sicilies, queen consort and regent of Spain. Part of the Fira de Barcelona is based here, with a number of yearly trade, technology and fashion fairs and festivals being held in this location. It's also the starting point of the Barcelona Marathon. The twin Venetian Towers are a major landmark at the junction of this avenue with Plaça d'Espanya.

The Palau de la Metal·lúrgia (English: Metallurgical place) is a venue located in Barcelona. Constructed for the 1929 International Exposition, it hosted the fencing and the fencing part of the modern pentathlon events for the 1992 Summer Olympics.

Plaça d'Espanya, also simply known as Espanya, is an interchange complex underneath Plaça d'Espanya, in the Barcelona district of Sants-Montjuïc, in Catalonia, Spain. It comprises the Barcelona terminus of the Llobregat–Anoia Line and a Barcelona Metro station complex served by lines 1 (L1) and 3 (L3). On the L1, the station is between Hostafrancs and Rocafort, and on the L3 it is between Poble Sec and Tarragona. The Llobregat–Anoia Line station is served by Barcelona Metro line 8 (L8), Baix Llobregat Metro lines S33, S4 and S8, and commuter rail lines R5, R6, R50 and R60. The services on the Llobregat–Anoia Line (including the L8) are operated by Ferrocarrils de la Generalitat de Catalunya (FGC), whilst the L1 and L3 are operated by Transports Metropolitans de Barcelona (TMB).

— Line 8, coloured pink (termini: Plaça Espanya – Molí Nou-Ciutat Cooperativa) and operated by FGC, is part of the Barcelona Metro network, and therefore of the larger ATM fare-integrated transport system. It joins Plaça Espanya, in the Sants-Montjuïc district of Barcelona with metropolitan area municipalities of L'Hospitalet de Llobregat, Cornellà de Llobregat and Sant Boi de Llobregat.

Plaça d'Espanya (Catalan pronunciation: [ˈplasə ðəsˈpaɲə]; English: Place of Spain) is one of Barcelona's most important squares, built on the occasion of the 1929 Barcelona International Exposition, held at the foot of Montjuïc, in the Sants-Montjuïc district.

The Magic Fountain of Montjuïc (Catalan: Font màgica de Montjuïc, Spanish: Fuente mágica de Montjuic) is a fountain located at the head of Avinguda Maria Cristina in the Montjuïc neighborhood of Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. The fountain is situated below the Palau Nacional on the Montjuïc mountain and near the Plaça d'Espanya and Poble Espanyol de Barcelona. The fountain, like most of the surrounding developments, was constructed for the 1929 Barcelona International Exposition.The fountain sprays 700 gallons of water a second through 3620 jets to create its effect. The highest water spout is 170 feet.

CaixaForum Barcelona is an art gallery in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. It is sponsored by Barcelona bank "la Caixa", and opened in 2002 in a former factory. CaixaForum is located in the Montjuïc area, on Avinguda de Francesc Ferrer i Guàrdia. The museum houses art exhibits.

The Four Columns ("Les Quatre Columnes" in Catalan) are four Ionic columns originally created by Josep Puig i Cadafalch in Barcelona, Spain. They were erected in 1919, where the Magic Fountain of Montjuïc now stands. They symbolized the four stripes of the Catalan senyera, and they were intended to become one of the main icons of Catalanism. Because of this, they were demolished in 1928 during Primo de Rivera's dictatorship, when all public Catalanist symbols were systematically removed in order to avoid their being noticed during the 1929 Universal Exposition, which was to take place on Montjuïc. Moreover, for these same political motives, Poble Espanyol (Spanish Village in Catalan), on the same hill, was the name given to the open-air museum formerly to be named Iberona – in homage to the Iberians, the first inhabitants of what is now Catalonia, Spain. Analogously for the nearby Plaça d'Espanya. In 1999, the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB) commissioned the renowned Valencian sculptor Andreu Alfaro to create four similar columns for its Bellaterra Campus. In contrast to the original columns which were 20m high, these spiral up, 25 to 40 metres (82 to 131 ft) in height, in red granite.

The Barcelona Pavilion (Catalan: Pavelló alemany; Spanish: Pabellón alemán; "German Pavilion"), designed by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe and Lilly Reich, was the German Pavilion for the 1929 International Exposition in Barcelona, Spain. This building was used for the official opening of the German section of the exhibition. It is an important building in the history of modern architecture, known for its simple form and its spectacular use of extravagant materials, such as marble, red onyx and travertine. The same features of minimalism and spectacular can be applied to the furniture specifically designed for the building, including the Barcelona chair. It has inspired many important modernist buildings.

Edificio Allianz (Torre Allianz) is a skyscraper in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. Completed in 1993, it has 20 floors and rises 77 meters. It is the 41st tallest building in Barcelona. The building belongs to the Allianz Company. It lies on Carrer de Tarragona street 103, near Plaça d'Espanya and three other skyscrapers: Edificio Tarragona, Hotel Torre Catalunya, Torre Núñez y Navarro.

The Palau dels Esports de Barcelona (Barcelona Sports Palace) is a multi-purpose indoor arena in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. It is on Lleida Street on the slopes of Montjuïc, a hill to the south east of the city centre. The arena is able to host competitions of any indoor sport. In 2000 it was adapted to better accommodate theatre and musical shows and given a new name: Barcelona Teatre Musical. The seating capacity was reduced from 8,000 to 3,500, but comfort and the acoustic quality were enhanced.