Basilica of Saints Justus and Pastor

Barcelona City Hall (Catalan: Casa de la Ciutat de Barcelona, Spanish: Casa de la Ciudad de Barcelona) is the seat of Barcelona City Council. It is situated in the Plaça Sant Jaume in the Gothic Quarter, opposite the Palau de la Generalitat de Catalunya housing the regional government. The building maintains the Saló de Cent, where the Consell de Cent which governed the city met in the Middle Ages. The architect Arnau Bargués designed its Gothic facade, which was built between 1399 and 1402.Josep Mas i Vila designed the current neoclassical facade, built between 1830 and 1847. When the church that is the namesake of the square was demolished in 1823, Mas was tasked with making a facade worthy of facing the Renaissance-era Generalitat building. The previous facade was to be sacrificed until a campaign by the Reial Acadèmia de Bones Lletres de Barcelona and the Reial Acadèmia Catalana de Belles Arts de Sant Jordi. The medieval door remains, with a notable mutilation.In 2008, routine work on the city hall found Gothic and Renaissance paintings on the ceiling, underneath more modern paintings. In 2017, the council put €2.4 million towards the study and conservation of these paintings.

The Casa Padellàs (English: Padellàs's House) is a Gothic palace, originally located at number 25, Carrer Mercaders, in Barcelona. Due to the construction of the Via Laietana in the early 20th century—which otherwise would have destroyed it—the building was disassembled in 1931 and relocated to the Plaça del Rei, in Barcelona's Gothic Quarter. Since 1943, it has been home to the Barcelona City History Museum, and it is catalogued since 1962 as a Bé Cultural d’Interès Nacional (Cultural Good of National Interest) with B grade, and its urban qualification is 7a(p).

The Gothic Quarter (Catalan: Barri Gòtic IPA: [ˈbari ˈɣɔtik] or El Gòtic, Spanish: Barrio Gótico) is the historic centre of the old city of Barcelona. It stretches from La Rambla to Via Laietana, and from the Mediterranean seafront to the Ronda de Sant Pere. It is a part of Ciutat Vella district. The quarter encompasses the oldest parts of the city of Barcelona, and includes the remains of the city's Roman wall and several notable medieval landmarks. Much of the present-day fabric of the quarter, however, dates to the 19th and early 20th centuries. El Call, the medieval Jewish quarter, is located within this area, along with the former Sinagoga Major.The Barri Gòtic retains a labyrinthine street plan, with many small streets opening out into squares. Most of the quarter is closed to regular traffic although open to service vehicles and taxis.

The 1855 Catalan general strike was a general strike that took place in 1855 after the execution of Josep Barceló Cassadó. It was the first general strike in Spanish history, resulting in mass demonstrations and the death of a factory manager in Sants, Barcelona.

The Plaça de Sant Jaume (Catalan pronunciation: [ˈplasə ˈsaɲ ˈʒawmə], in English "Saint James's Square") is a square at the center of the Old City of Barcelona and the administrative heart of both the city and surrounding Catalonia. This is because the Palace of the Generalitat of Catalonia and the City Hall are located here across from one another. This square's origin stems from the early-19th century, when the new main façade of City Hall was built and the former church of Sant Jaume was demolished.

The Museum of the History of Barcelona (Catalan: Museu d'Història de Barcelona, MUHBA) is a history museum that conserves, researches, communicates and exhibits the historical heritage of the city of Barcelona, from its origins in Roman times until the present day. The museum's headquarters are located on Plaça del Rei, in the Barcelona Gothic Quarter (Barri Gòtic). It also manages several historic sites all around the city, most of them archaeological sites displaying remains of the ancient Roman city, called Barcino in Latin. Some others date to medieval times, including the Jewish quarter and the medieval royal palace called the Palau Reial Major. The rest are contemporary, among them old industrial buildings and sites related to Antoni Gaudí and the Spanish Civil War. The museum was inaugurated on 14 April 1943; its principal promoter and first director was the historian Agustí Duran i Sanpere. It belongs to the City Council of Barcelona, as part of the Culture Institute.

Topos V, or simply Topos, is a sculpture by the Basque artist Eduardo Chillida, standing at Plaça del Rei in the Gothic Quarter of Barcelona. Purchased by Barcelona municipality when it was exhibited at Joan Miró Foundation in 1986, the artist itself suggested that the best placement for this sculpture would be Plaça del Rei, where its geometrical shapes, scale, brown color and textures could dialogue with the sober mediaeval architecture surrounding the square, including historical buildings such as Palau Real Major, the Royal chapel of Saint Agatha and Padellàs's House. Topos V is cast in iron. Its geometrical shape reproduces a Dihedral angle, closed on two of its sides. The two open sides face the square. In addition, some round shaped forms that could evoke the B, for "Barcelona", and medieval arches or windows as well, complete the elements allowing a perfect complementarity between contemporary sculpture and medieval architecture. Its dimensions are 2.10 × 2.37 × 1.70 metres.

Jaume I is a station in the Barcelona Metro network, located under Via Laietana, an important avenue in Ciutat Vella, right between Plaça de Ramon Berenguer el Gran and Plaça d'Emili Vilanova. It can be accessed from Plaça de l'Àngel and Carrer d'Argenteria, on the other side of Via Laietana. It currently serves Transports Metropolitans de Barcelona-operated L4, but was originally designed in 1926 as one of the stations of the first L3 service, a section of which became L4. The other L3 stations (Correos and Banco) located in Via Laietana are all closed nowadays. Its two platforms, unusually for a downtown Barcelona metro station, are both located on the same level, with a wall between them dividing the station in two parts. They are each 94 m (308 ft) long. On December 28, 2018, the station became accessible for wheelchair users.

The Palau de la Generalitat de Catalunya is a historic palace in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. It houses the offices of the Presidency of the Generalitat de Catalunya. It is one of the few buildings of medieval origin in Europe that still functions as a seat of government and houses the institution that originally built it. The palace is located in the district of Ciutat Vella in Barcelona. It is bounded by the Carrer del Bisbe, Carrer de Sant Sever and Carrer de Sant Honorat. Its principal façade gives onto the Plaça de Sant Jaume, across from the City Hall of Barcelona. The original building was purchased in 1400 by then-president Alfons de Tous. It was located on the Carrer de Sant Honorat, in the former Jewish Quarter, or Call. The first extension (in the year 1416) faced the street and was carried out by Bishop Marc Safont, who also built the chapel of St. George, in 1434. In 1596, Pere Blai designed the current principal façade on the Plaça de Sant Jaume, in the Renaissance style. This is the first grand façade of this architectural style in Catalonia. Thereafter, several other houses were purchased and integrated into the palace.

The Principality of Catalonia (Catalan: Principat de Catalunya, Latin: Principatus Cathaloniæ, Occitan: Principat de Catalonha, Spanish: Principado de Cataluña) was a medieval and early modern state in the northeastern Iberian Peninsula. During most of its history it was in dynastic union with the Kingdom of Aragon, constituting together the Crown of Aragon. Between the 13th and the 18th centuries, it was bordered by the Kingdom of Aragon to the west, the Kingdom of Valencia to the south, the Kingdom of France and the feudal lordship of Andorra to the north and by the Mediterranean Sea to the east. The term Principality of Catalonia remained in use until the Second Spanish Republic, when its use declined because of its historical relation to the monarchy. Today, the term Principat (Principality) is used primarily to refer to the autonomous community of Catalonia in Spain, as distinct from the other Catalan Countries, and usually including the historical region of Roussillon in Southern France. The first reference to Catalonia and the Catalans appears in the Liber maiolichinus de gestis Pisanorum illustribus, a Pisan chronicle (written between 1117 and 1125) of the conquest of Majorca by a joint force of Italians, Catalans, and Occitans. At the time, Catalonia did not yet exist as a political entity, though the use of this term seems to acknowledge Catalonia as a cultural or geographical entity. The counties that eventually made up the Principality of Catalonia were gradually unified under the rule of the count of Barcelona. In 1137, the County of Barcelona and the Kingdom of Aragon were unified under a single dynasty, creating what modern historians call the Crown of Aragon; however, Aragon and Catalonia retained their own political structure and legal traditions, developing separate political communities along the next centuries. Under Alfons I the Troubador (reigned 1164–1196), Catalonia was regarded as a legal entity for the first time. Still, the term Principality of Catalonia was not used legally until the 14th century, when it was applied to the territories ruled by the Courts of Catalonia. Its institutional system evolved over the centuries, establishing political bodies analogous to the ones of the other kingdoms of the Crown (such as the Courts, the Generalitat or the Consell de Cent) and legislation (constitutions, derived from the Usages of Barcelona) which largely limited the royal power and secured the political model of pactism. Catalonia contributed to further develop the Crown trade and military, most significantly their navy. Catalan language flourished and expanded as more territories were added to the Crown, including Valencia, the Balearic Islands, Sardinia, Sicily, Naples and Athens, constituting a thalassocracy across the Mediterranean. The crisis of the 14th century, the end of the rule of House of Barcelona (1410) and a civil war (1462–1472) weakened the role of the Principality in Crown and international affairs. The marriage of Ferdinand II of Aragon and Isabella I of Castile in 1469 laid the foundations of the Monarchy of Spain. In 1492 the Spanish colonization of the Americas began, and political power began to shift away towards Castile. Tensions between Catalan institutions and the Monarchy, alongside the peasants' revolts, provoked the Reapers' War (1640–1659). By the Treaty of the Pyrenees the Roussillon was ceded to France. During the War of the Spanish Succession (1701–1714), the Crown of Aragon supported the Archduke Charles of Habsburg. After the surrender of Barcelona in 1714, king Philip V of Bourbon, inspired by the French model, imposed absolutism and a unifying administration across Spain, and enacted the Nueva Planta decrees for every realm of the Crown of Aragon, which suppressed the main Catalan, Aragonese, Valencian and Majorcan political institutions and rights and merged them into the Crown of Castile as provinces. However, the Principality of Catalonia remained as an administrative unit until the establishment of the Spanish provincial division of 1833, which divided Catalonia into four provinces.

Plaça del Rei (meaning "King's Square" in Catalan, in Spanish: Plaza del Rey) is a 14th-century medieval public square in the Barri Gòtic of Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain.The square is surrounded by the Palau Reial Major including the Saló del Tinell, the Palau del Lloctinent ("Lieutenant's Palace"), the 15th-century tower Mirador del Rei Martí ("King Martin's Watchtower"), and the Capella Reial de Santa Àgata ("Royal Chapel of St Agatha"). On its southern side stands Casa Padellàs (Padellàs's House) a 15th–16th century palazzo moved here stone by stone from Mercaders Street in 1931 and since 1943, has housed the Barcelona City History Museum (MUHBA). Topos V, a work by Eduardo Chillida, underlines one of the corners of the square.

The Palau Reial Major (Catalan pronunciation: [pəˈlaw rəˈjal məˈʒo]; "Grand Royal Palace") is a complex of historic buildings located in Plaça del Rei, Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. It was a residence of the counts of Barcelona and kings of Aragon. It is composed of three distinct edifices: the Saló del Tinell, built by King Peter IV in 1359–1362 the Palatine Chapel of St. Agatha (1302), built under King James II the Palau del Lloctinent (1549), built by Generalitat of Catalonia under Charles VThe Saló del Tinell was built in the 14th century under the direction of architect Guillem Carbonell. Its gothic round arches are founded over 11th-century vaults (built themselves over a pre-existing monumental structure dating to the Visigoth age). The Chapel of St. Agatha was designed by architect Bertran Riquer to act as the royal chapel, replacing a previous oratory. It has an octagonal tower from the early 14th century, and it consists of a single aisle with a roof ceiling and ends with a polygonal apse. The sacristy is built within the ancient Roman walls. By commission of Peter V of Aragon (1463–1466) painter Jaume Huguet made the chapel altarpiece dedicated to the Epiphany. Both Saló del Tinell and St. Agatha Chapel are valuated as Catalan Gothic architecture masterpieces. The Epiphany altarpiece is also an outstanding gothic painting. They can be visited as a part of the Barcelona City History Museum MUHBA. Temporary exhibitions are held in them. After the 16th century, the edifice was no longer used as a royal residence and was divided between the Inquisition and the royal administration. In this period, the door leading to the Royal Audience Hall was built, with a triangular tympanum (currently at the entrance of the Museu Frederic Marès). The Palau de Lloctinent was built in 1549–1557 by Antoni Carbonell, in late Gothic-Renaissance style as the residence of the Viceroy (Lloctinent) of Catalonia. Also from this period is the so-called Mirador of King Martin, a five-storey tower on a rectangular plan (1555).