After two decades of plans, sketches, and works, the new Glòries is about to culminate the transformation of its central park, which will act as an "oasis" for the city, according to the City Council's chief architect, Maria Buhigas. Barcelona residents will gain this Saturday more than four hectares of spaces for rest, meeting, and play, which will surround the large clear area of grass and sun loungers that now dominates the square.
Just hours before its inauguration, work is being finalized to get the spaces ready. Workers and machines are putting the finishing touches on a square that seems unbelievable that it was, not so long ago, a kind of elevated urban highway. It was in 2014 when the road ring that flew over the square was demolished and, a decade later, it opens unique spaces that aspire to become new points of neighborhood and cultural gathering.
The spaces that will open on Saturday include more than 2,500 square meters of a multi-purpose esplanade surrounded by a crown of tall bamboos and named after the Honduran activist Berta Cáceres. The Umbracle will also open, with almost 670 square meters to host activities in the shade. Now, both spaces aim to become new stages for neighborhood and cultural activities.
A few meters from the Umbracle, a large white double-height structure with nets and large slides that glide to the ground has emerged in the square. The new playground will include diverse proposals that Buhigas predicts will be a "success," and is located a few minutes from the park that now reigns in the square, with its undulating giant slides.
The city will inaugurate these new spaces with a party featuring shows, music, workshops, and activities. Although they will be distributed in various areas of the park, the proposals will be concentrated in two main stages, located in the Umbracle and in the Àgora Berta Cáceres. The first will host musical performances by groups such as Ambauka or Todos los gatos son pardos, as well as a chocolate party, a swing workshop, and a magic show. For its part, the bamboo canes will frame small-format activities focused on children, such as storytelling and puppets.
The Catalan capital has gained this new Glòries after more than two decades of the impulse of a project of "great complexity," according to Buhigas. In fact, the square has had three considerably different configurations throughout its history, which began when it was conceived by Cerdà in 1859 as a meeting point between Diagonal, Gran Via, and Meridiana. The first sketches of the central park that will now be inaugurated date back to 2003 and were concentrated in 2007, when the machinery to transform Glòries was set in motion.