Student Guide: Barça & BCN

Regularly topping the list of Catalonia's most-visited museums, the Camp Nou Experience (aka the ground zero of any Barça pilgrimage) welcomes hundreds of thousands of visitors each year. Europe’s largest stadium with capacity for over 99,000, Camp Nou will get a facelift starting in May 2017, including covered seating for 105,000 spectators. The museum is state of the art, with giant interactive touchscreens, a vast collection of football memorabilia and a space dedicated to the team’s diminutive star Leo Messi.

Canaletes (see 4) is the place for mass celebrations of Barça triumphs, but this square – the city’s political heart – was once the location for official commemorations. Players presented trophies to political leaders on the City Hall balcony. Very emotional for all, but huge crowds meant these occasions moved to Camp Nou.

This was Barça’s stadium from 1922 to 1957. Soon after it opened, on Travessera de Les Corts between C/Vallespir and C/Numancia, Barça fans jeered the Spanish national anthem, resulting in a six-month closure. Les Corts held a special place in Catalan hearts, but it was razed after the construction of Camp Nou.

Barça fans converge here, at the top of La Rambla, to celebrate titles. The tradition began in 1930, when Catalan newspaper 'La Rambla' posted football results in the window of its office (where Bar Nuria is today). Fans came to find out – and celebrate – if Barça had won. They’ve been coming ever since.

Over a century ago, on November 29, 1899, a dozen men gathered here (half Catalans and half foreigners), at Carrer de Montjüic del Carme, 5, at the corner of Pintor Fortuny, to found FC Barcelona. Today you can visit the spot and admire the plaque that commemorates the historic event.