Plaça de Sant Felip Neri

Near the centre of the Call is the beautiful little Plaça Sant Felip Neri and its fine Baroque church, whose façade was damaged by Italian bombing in one of the grisliest incidents of the Civil War. Over 200 people were killed, some 30 of them refugee children taking shelter in the church; the shrapnel damage is still visible. This square is another 20th-century invention; the shoemakers’ guild building (now housing the Museu del Calçat) was moved here in 1943 to make way for the Av de la Catedral, while the nearby tinkers’ guild was moved when Via Laietana was driven through the district.