Several years ago, I lived for a time in a passage next to Paseo de Sant Joan. It's a narrow, dead-end alley, a cul de sac. It has access from Consell de Cent street and, as it is closed off by a gate, it goes unnoticed by most pedestrians. I remember that when I crossed it, on my way home, I had the impression that the city, with all its noises and its hurry, immediately felt very far away.
Passages ---"short street, gallery between two streets, reserved for pedestrians", according to the dictionary--- are curious urban elements, although much more abundant than one imagines. Barcelona has approximately four hundred. Passages are like a kind of remnant of a rural, chaotic, exclusive, and often sordid past that resists disappearing completely. When you observe the map of the Eixample, for example, you realize that here and there are small passages that cross the blocks or penetrate a few meters into their interior. Small galleries that seem to spoil the monotonous perfection of Ildefons Cerdà's urban planning.
I like Barcelona's passages, first of all, because they are an exception. A type of anomaly. Their mere existence is already a provocation. But also, they are often spaces conducive to dissent. It's as if in the passages a freer or crazier form of citizenship were practiced. As if there the limits between public and private were much more diffuse. Also those between legal and illegal.
I like Barcelona's passages, first of all, because they are an exception. A type of anomaly. Their mere existence is already a provocation. But also, they are often spaces conducive to dissent.I have already told you that the list of Barcelona passages is long. However, to name just some of the best known, we could start with Pasaje Permanyer, the oldest in the Eixample. A stately alley that instantly transports you to bourgeois Barcelona of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Pasaje Mercader, another of my favorites, is like a mini boulevard of an elegance and sophistication typical of a BarcelonismAncien Régime---that is, pre-Olympics and, undoubtedly, pre-Ada Colau---. Right at the entrance on Provença street, is the legendary Belvedere ---one of the few restaurants in current Barcelona where people, above all, go to eat and converse, and not to take photos to post on Instagram--- (see the article by colleague Bernat de Dedéupublishedin this newspaper).
But, of course,not all passages in the city are synonymous with snobbery, if the walls of Arc del Teatre street could speak… The neighborhoods furthest from the center, such as Camp de l'Arpa, are also full of passages flanked by humble ground-floor houses full of geranium pots and where every afternoon the neighborhood brings out chairs to chat. Alleys where time seems to have stopped.Mercader Passage, another of my favorites, is like a mini boulevard of an elegance and sophistication typical of an Ancien Régime Barcelonism ---that is, pre-Olympic Games and, undoubtedly, pre-Ada Colau---
If you are interested in getting to know Barcelona through its passages, I recommend you run to the bookstore to buy Barcelona. Libro de los pasajes (Galaxia Gutenberg, 2017), a very interesting essay by Jordi Carrión, the result of years of research, conversations with neighbors and visits to practically all the passages in the city. Some "magical and ritual spaces, laboratories of culture and technique", according to the author.