Vol. 7 No. 14 (2021): Ensaios de Geografia

Arc de Triomphe Square, Barcelona, Spain, February 2020.

Vitality. Spontaneity. Idealization. Mise-en-scène. These were some of the words used by Ester Limonad, a professor in the Geography department at the Federal University of Fluminense, to describe the city of Barcelona in her article "Strangers in Paradise (Barcelona): Impressions of a Brazilian geographer and architect living in Barcelona."

Ester couldn't have been more accurate.

Experiencing the city of Barcelona is surrendering to the surprises that the streets offer. At every corner, a picturesque frame, a street musician breaking the fast pace of the metropolis, or groups of bewildered tourists seeking information.

Weeks before the pandemic spread across Spain, I experienced what might be considered a "typical Sunday" at the Arc de Triomphe in Barcelona. With its Neo-Mudéjar style, an architectural movement that sought to recover the Mudéjar style practiced on the Iberian Peninsula between the 12th and 16th centuries, the arch, built in 1888, marked the beginning of a wide promenade leading to Ciutadella Park. As I walked, there were children with soap bubbles, musicians singing and playing different instruments, and picnics everywhere.

In late February 2020, when I was there, no one seemed to believe that this crisis, which was already affecting Italy, would reach the country in a few weeks. It wasn't long before Spain imposed a strict lockdown, inaugurating a spirit opposite to that of Barcelona in the country: fear, concern, suppression of experience.

In the absence of urban experiments, Barcelona offered me my last memories of knowing and wandering through a city without feeling fear or apprehension. This city of spectacle was captured in my imagination, as well as in this photograph: a more than idealized way to think about the world before the pandemic.

Analog photography, Kodak Pro Image 100 film.

Victoria Oliva

Bachelor of Geography from the Federal Fluminense University (UFF)