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. 
 

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.