El Carmel : Its story

   
          The neighbourhood of El Carmel is not well defined, but you will surely recognize it by its mountain: It is a peak of 267 meters high in the actual centre of Barcelona, and it was one of the famous spot for barracas installations. Its territory of rough topography has determinate a process of urbanization very specific : a motley and disorganized landscape that was considered as an area of the city impossible to build, as a uninhabitable land. You can see the vestiges of what is called “anarcourbanismo” and the little houses surviving in the hills.

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- “ Caramba mi amigo, a donde se va?

- A Monte Carmelo

- Eso donde esta?

- En España

- No lo sabia, porque la geografía no lo dice.

- Tampoco dice Monte Alegre, Monte Meda, ni Montefrio, y sin embargo existen en Albacete, Lugo y granada.

- Y dígame, ese Monte Carmelo a que demarcación pertenece?

- A Horta

- Caramba amigazo, y tampoco esta indicado en la geografía de este capital! [..] Rendiré viaje mi amigo, por conocer tal maravilla, y dígame el amigo : quien gobierna en ese departamento de Horta y monte Carmelo?

- Nos gobernamos nosotros mismos

- que dice?

- Lo cierto senior; allí no disponemos ni de guardia civiles, ni de municipalidades, ni de policía publica ni privada. Con dos alcaldes de barriada, cuatros vigilantes y dos serenos de noche tenemos suficiente”

[El Fomento, Boletín oficial de la Sociedad el Fomento de la barriada del Monte Carmelo, defensor de los intereses de la dicha localidad, nim.122, maig de 1924, article titulat “ RADIO-TELEFONIA”, signat per F.Fernandez Ramos ]

 

In the 1910's the process of urbanization had already started and the speculative system was ruling the land of El Carmel. The expansion of this neighbourhood could be considered a consequence of the market of properties at the time. Organizations such as the Federracion de proprietarios de la barriada del Carmelo or the Agrupacion de Proprietarios del Monte Carmelo allowed to have official laws on the properties and organized the dwelling market. A another example of the speculative system is Anselm de Riv, who created a company in 1916, The empressa Nacional de Tierro, in order to buy lands to resell it to new arrival. 
 

Activisim of El Carmel

The inhabitants of El Carmel were ones of the most sentimentally attached  to their neighbourhood and therefore struggled with intensity towards better living conditions. The solidarity between the people and the constant claims led to a general improvement, socially and politically towards the population.

 

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  ° 1968 : The Social center of el Carmel is created by a group of barraquista
  
  It has worked tirelessly to rescue the neighbourhood of institutional neglection and improve the living conditions
  
   

• In 1974 the Assocaion de Veïns del Carmel organized an exhibition called El carmel ignorat!, to claim the attention of municipality that was ignoring the conditions in which people were living. The exhibition showed the reality of an uninhabitable barrios, and deplorable social conditions. 

  
  
  

Public transports

El Carmel stayed for a long time without any public transport, but in July 1927 it was the Inauguration of the bus line Gracia-el Carmel (The buses were a Belgium brand Minerva, specialized in fabrication of vehicles from WWI.) 

 With the civil war, el Carmel again stayed with no transport and the bus line was suppressed that left the neighbourhood during 25 years with no communication.
  Nowadays there are several buses and metro than lead you there. In July 2010 was inaugurated the subway extension with the commissioning of two new stations, El Carmel and The Coll / The Teixonera.

Self Constructions and strong solidarity

People working on the construction of El Carmel  : 
Social claims and first bricks

During the re-accomodation, the actions of the associacion de Veïns del Carmel started the process of eradication del barraquismo. After 50 years of privation and 20 years of struggle, people finally receive a more decent housing. The Polygon Canyelles was part of the new resettlement, and in 1977, only 123 families accepted to change house. People were claiming better conditions but some of them did not wish to be living somewhere else than on their land.

 Urbanization development of the neighbourhood

  

 Here is an example of the urbanization process in the barrio, where we can see the instalations of mecanical stairs. In the 90's the city hall has addressed the structural deficits, pipelines, utilities, lighting, asphalted, transport and land accessibility difficulties with the installation of numerous elevators and escalators. Among the work carried out included the opening of the Rambla del Carmel, one of the main roads of the district. and the widening of the street Llobregós-which involved the expropriation of another 500 families and the disappearance of the only local cinema.

10) The last stop on the hill of El Carmel

There are many way to go up the mountain of the Carmel, every path has its own charms, little clay stairs along wide terraces, little flower gardens, curvy roads..you might also meet a man and his doves, a women planting vegetables...

At the top, it s only the vestiges of the barracas, and on the ground you will see the colourful pieces of ceramics now the only remains of the barracas. The mountain is also crowned by ruins but of a different type : a military base for aerial defences build in the civil war. Nowadays it's has been reconquested by flower and graffiti. 

 


You might be interested to know what is on the other slope of Monte Carmel? It's the parc Guell. Just a few step away you have then one of the most famous site of Barcelona, the formal part, while only a few aficionados know what is behind, the informal city beyond the grid.

Therefore dominating the city you can re picture the whole itinerary as well as the history of urbanism that we depicted for the tour. If you are lucky you will arrive for sunset and have the opportunity to see the city disappearing to silhouettes while the sun falls in the sea. 

Reflection of the Itinerary

Our itinerary ends here at top of the mountain of Carmel. As we can see the area itself is a part of the MUHBA. Beside other discourses in forms of films or articles, it shows how the Barraquismo is included in the discourse about the cities identity. It is not only maintained in the cities memory but as well step by step integrated in the cities image.

Enjoying the view from Carmel, we can reflect our itinerary. We can compare the impressions, we got during our tour to the silhouette of the city with its important building. We can remember the citie's perfectly constructed image, which  attracting tourists from all over the world, seeing its most representative monuments and areas: La Sagrada Familia, the Montjuic, Las Ramblas, The Beaches of Barcelonata.

But we have seen as well another side of the city, and now we know that there is more behind the shiny waterfront, the impressive monuments and beyond the grid of the fancy glamorous streets.

One just has to change the perspective.