In case of needing a fridge magnet, a keychain, or a postcard, the residents of Sagrada Familia have it very easy. We have a very wide commercial offer where we can find these types of essential products. In the small stretch of Marina street between Mallorca and Aragó, there are a dozen souvenir shops. Three of them, recently opened. All offer the same type of merchandise: souvenirs of terrible taste and quality at bargain prices.
To write this article, I spent some time reviewing the merchandise of these delightful neighborhood shops. I have verified that, as expected, they offer all kinds of reproductions of Gaudí's temple: fridge magnet, keychain, postcard, but also snow globe, beer opener, or pendant. There are miniature reproductions of the dragon or salamander from Park Güell. They share shelves with flamenco dancers and bulls whose finish imitates the trencadís mosaic, a Gaudian reinterpretation of the most tacky souvenir. There are flags of Catalonia, Spain, and even esteladas. Also children's size flamenco dresses that must not sell well because they are covered in dust. Or dozens of t-shirts with ordinary and vulgar printed messages that only groups arriving in the city to celebrate a bachelor party or herds of hooligans on the verge of an alcoholic coma must buy.
It's a whole world, this souvenir thing. Surely, the most famous of all these small objects is the classic miniature Eiffel Tower that almost everyone had on top of their TV, back when TVs weren't as thin as they are now. There was always an uncle, a neighbor, or a coworker who would return from Paris with a shipment of Eiffel Towers to distribute among family, the neighborhood community, or office colleagues. Carnival masks are also a classic souvenir from trips to Venice. The Rooster of Barcelos is from Porto. The Manneken Pis, from Brussels. Scarab-shaped amulets, from Egypt, and matryoshkas, from Moscow.
Judging by the foot traffic recorded in the shops around the Sagrada Familia, they are always empty, it gives the impression that the souvenirs business is declining. In fact, it would be very interesting if someone tried to find out the business model of this type of establishment, because I suspect they are not clean... That said, returning to the topic of souvenirs. I have the impression that the popularization of travel has proportionally gone to the detriment of the business of these souvenirs, useless objects that used to accumulate in homes in the same drawer as communion or wedding souvenirs, usually equally dreadful. For some time now, to show friends, acquaintances, and known people that we have been to Paris, we don't need to bring them a fridge magnet in the shape of the Eiffel Tower, we already show it to them in real-time through Instagram!
Despite this, I believe it would be interesting for Barcelona to offer tourists who absolutely want to take a souvenir of their visit to the city an object iconic enough to represent us and, incidentally, one that doesn't embarrass us. In this sense, I clearly opt for the flower-shaped panot. Although the doctor in Public Space and Urban Regeneration from the University of Barcelona, Danae Esparza, maintains that it is not true that Josep Puig i Cadafalch originally designed it to cover the pavement of Casa Amatller, this iconic tile is an object that symbolizes the Barcelona of the people, of the street, that celebrates the modernist heritage and the commitment to design. A secular symbol that can be reproduced with hydraulic cement, silver, or chocolate. That can be stamped on t-shirts, caps, aprons, and keychains. A souvenir for Barcelona.