University of California, Los Angeles: Barcelona - The Story of a City, Its Art and Cultures

Barcelona is one of the most dynamic and exciting cities in Europe today, home of the 1992 Olympics, its own beaches, amazing architecture, cutting edge cuisine, and a unique nightlife.  It is home to modernist architectural masterpieces, like the Sagrada Familia of Gaudí and served as inspiration to artists like Picasso and Dalí.  But it is also a city with a history going back several thousand years.  We will learn to read the story of this great city in its streets, neighborhoods and byways.  Weaving lectures, walking tours, and short day trips into one, this program in Barcelona presents a twofold approach to the cultures of this capital of the the region of Catalonia from pre-Roman village, through the Middle Ages (when it ruled a Mediterranean empire stretching as far as Greece) and on to the modern period when it became a center of Modernist art and fashion.  We will also study in depth the Barcelona of today, its cultural dynamism, its place in today’s Spain, and in the heart of Catalan culture.  

This program involves a great deal of daily walking.  You will be expected to walk 2 hours per day on average, as we tour parts of the city seldom seen by visitors.  This will be a unique opportunity to become acquainted with and to gain an intimate knowledge of Barcelona which even long time residents of the city do not have.