bell tower of Universitat de Barcelona

©Esme Fox/Lonely Planet

Universitat de Barcelona

L'Eixample


Although a university was first set up on what is now La Rambla in the 16th century, the present, glorious mix of (neo) Romanesque, Gothic, Islamic and Mudéjar architecture is a caprice of the 19th century (built from 1863 to 1871 by Ildefons Cerdà's friend Elies Rogent). Wander into the main hall, up the grand staircase and around the various leafy cloisters, and take a stroll in the rear gardens. The main 1st-floor hall is the Mudéjar-style Paraninfo.

Transportation

  • metro: Universitat

Lonely Planet's must-see attractions

Nearby L'Eixample attractions

1. Museu del Modernisme Barcelona

0.17 MILES

Housed in a stuccoed, red-washed 1902 Modernista building by Enric Sagnier, this museum seems like a big Modernista-furniture showroom. Several pieces by…

2. Sala Fundación MAPFRE

0.18 MILES

Originally built for a rich banking family by Enric Sagnier in 1902–05, the stunning, carefully restored Modernista Casa Garriga i Nogués has been taken…

4. MACBA

0.29 MILES

An extraordinary all-white, glass-fronted creation by American architect Richard Meier, opened in 1995, the MACBA has become the city's foremost…

5. Plaça de Catalunya

0.31 MILES

At the intersection of the old city and L'Eixample, busy Plaça de Catalunya is the city's central transport hub, both for buses and trains, and a…

6. Casa Lleó Morera

0.33 MILES

Domènech i Montaner’s 1905 contribution to the Illa de la Discòrdia, with Modernista carving outside and a bright, tiled lobby in which floral motifs…

7. Font de Canaletes

0.33 MILES

The section of La Rambla immediately south of Plaça de Catalunya is named after this inconspicuous turn-of-the-20th-century drinking fountain and lamppost…

8. Fundació Antoni Tàpies

0.34 MILES

The Fundació Antoni Tàpies is both a pioneering Modernista building (completed in the early 1880s) and the major collection of leading 20th-century…

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