What to visit / Interesting districts / Sarrià-St. Gervasi / Sarrià / Old part of the neighbourhood Sarrià

    Old part of the neighbourhood Sarrià

    The old part of Sarrià, with its small squares and main street, the Carrer Major, perfectly mirrors the history of the neighbourhood, where nearly every house and building reveals the origins of what was once one of the most prosperous villages on the Barcelona plain.

    The Carrer Major, or main street, is imbued with the spirit of the former village which was annexed by Barcelona in 1921. It cuts a swathe through the old part of the neighbourhood, following the contours of the old road that once connected Barcelona with Sarrià. Here you'll find some of the oldest houses. The former town hall stands in the Plaça del Consell de la Vila, and is now the seat of the district council. The sculpture by Josep Clarà,"Pompona", stands in front of the building. In the Plaça de Sarrià, Emili Armengol's sculpture, "Portal de Sarrià" (Gateway to Sarrià), expresses the union between the different villages that make up the district.

    Initially, the old part of Sarrià consisted of the parish church of Sant Vicenç and its surrounding land. It was originally bounded by two streams, the Riera de Gardenyes and Riera Blanca, which are now the main avenues, the Via Augusta and Avinguda de J.V. Foix, the latter named after the famous Sarrià-born poet. A quintessentially rural village which, in the 19th century, was transformed by progress into the place where artisans and the Catalan upper-middle classes came to live, choosing it as the site to build their summer villas. These houses can still be seen in the typical passages, such as the Passatge de Mallofré and the charming Plaça de Sant Vicenç.

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