BARCELONA, SPAIN. Unknown people walking on the Carrer de Montcada street in historical part of Barcelona.

@Pit Stock/iStock

Carrer de Montcada


Today running between the Romanesque Capella d'en Marcús and Passeig del Born, this medieval high street (an early example of town planning) was driven towards the sea from the road that in the 12th century led northeast from the city walls. It became Barcelona's most coveted address for the merchant classes; the great mansions that remain today mostly date from the 14th and 15th centuries (several of them housing the Museu Picasso).

This area was the commercial heartland of medieval Barcelona. Five of the mansions on the east side of the street have been linked to house the Museu Picasso. Across the road, others house what is now the Museu de Cultures del Món. Several other mansions on this street are commercial art galleries where you’re welcome to browse. Make time for a cocktail in the courtyard of the originally medieval Palau de Dalmases.

At the corner of Carrer dels Carders and the northern end of the street, beyond the 19th-century Carrer de la Princesa, stands a Romanesque chapel, the Capella d’en Marcús, once a wayfarers’ stop on the road northeast out of medieval Barcelona.

Transportation

  • metro: Jaume I

Lonely Planet's must-see attractions

Nearby attractions

1. Museu de Cultures del Món

0.02 MILES

Opening through a grand courtyard overlooked by an 18th-century staircase, the medieval Palau Nadal and the Palau Marquès de Llió host Barcelona's world…

2. Museu Picasso

0.02 MILES

Located along the grand, medieval street of Carrer de Montcada, the Museu Picasso is dedicated to one of the world’s greatest artists, Pablo Picasso. Born…

3. Museu Europeu d’Art Modern

0.04 MILES

Unravelling across three floors and a hushed courtyard within the handsome 18th-century Palau Gomis, around the corner from the Museu Picasso, this…

4. Passeig del Born

0.07 MILES

Framed by the majestic Basílica de Santa Maria del Mar and the former Mercat del Born, leafy Passeig del Born was Barcelona's main playground from the…

5. El Fossar de les Moreres

0.09 MILES

Opposite the Basílica de Santa Maria del Mar's eastern flank, an eternal flame burns brightly over a steel arch and an apparently anonymous sunken square:…

6. Basílica de Santa Maria del Mar

0.09 MILES

At the southwestern end of Passeig del Born stands Barcelona’s finest Catalan Gothic church, Santa Maria del Mar (Our Lady of the Sea). Begun in 1329,…

7. Capella d'en Marcús

0.09 MILES

Standing at the northern end of Carrer de Montcada, on the corner of Carrer dels Corders, this much-meddled-with Romanesque chapel was once a wayfarers’…

8. Arxiu Fotogràfic de Barcelona

0.14 MILES

On the 2nd floor of the former Convent de Sant Agustí is the modest exhibition space of this photo archive, devoted to sharing photos of the city from the…

  • placement: superzone
  • path: Destinations/POIs/superzone
  • possible size: [970, 250], [970, 90], [728, 90], [1, 1],
  • targeting:
    {
      "url": "spain/barcelona/la-ribera/attractions/carrer-de-montcada/a/poi-sig/1105518/1320668",
      "position": "superzone"
    }