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the Barcelona games. Some of the 25,000 athletes and spectators who had
turned up stayed on to join the Republican forces.
Avinguda del Estadi leads you right past some of Barcelona’s most celebrated
sporting edifices – like Ricardo Bofill’s
Institut Nacional d’Educació
Física de Catalunya
(
INEF
; a sports university), the
Piscines Bernat
Picornell
(swimming pools and sports complex) and the Japanese-designed,
steel-and-glass
Palau Sant Jordi
. Opened in 1990 with Luciano Pavarotti in
attendance, this sports and concert hall seats 17,000 people and is overshad-
owed only by the Olympic stadium itself, the
Estadi Olímpic
, which
comfortably holds 65,000. Built originally for the 1929 Exhibition, and
completely refitted to accommodate the 1992 opening and closing ceremo-
nies, it’s a marvellously spacious stadium, its original Neoclassical facade left
untouched by the Catalan architects in charge of the project. Between the
stadium and the Palau Sant Jordi, a vast
terrassa
provides one of the finest
vantage points in the city. Long water-fed troughs break the concrete and
marble expanse, while the confident, space-age curve of Santiago Calatrava’s
communications tower
dominates the skyline.
Around the other side, just across the road from the stadium, the history of the
Games themselves – and Barcelona’s successful hosting – are covered in the
Museu
Olímpic i de l’Esport
,Avgda. de l’Estadi 21 (Mon &Wed–Sat 10am–6pm, Sun
Montjuic’s communications tower
MONTJUÏC
|
The Olympic area