Ten years after opening as a cultural facility, El Born will soon change again. The premiere, on the occasion of the Day of 2013, a year before the celebration of the tercentenary of the siege that the city suffered in 1714, with Xavier Trias as mayor, made it, in the words of the person in charge at the time and years later president of the Generalitat, Quim Torra, in the “zero zone of the Catalans”, referent of nationalism and independence. The arrival of Ada Colau at the Barcelona City Council in 2015 led to a new approach focused on the explanation of memory – an area much claimed by the commons – in its entire extent, not only that of the stage of the century XVIII, which debuted with a controversial exhibition on Francoism. Thus, El Born went from Culture Center (CC) to Culture and Memory Center (CCM).
Now, with a new mayor, the socialist Jaume Collboni, they want to implement a change, more functional than content: integrate the archaeological part of the Born into the Barcelona History Museum (Muhba) and dedicate the rest of the building to the memory, which wants to extend to other spaces, but also to cultural activities of another kind that give more visibility to the enormous 8,000 m2 site.
“It doesn’t make sense that an archaeological site of such relevance is not part of the functional program of the Muhba, which does not have a single space, but ten”, explains Xavier Marcé, commissioner of Culture and Creative Industries of the City Council, to La Vanguardia. The explanation of the site, with remains that go from the Roman era to the 18th century, fits, in his opinion, with the “horizontal vision” and the “narrative about the historical evolution of the city” offered by the mentioned museum, which, in addition to the main headquarters of Palau Padellàs, dedicated to Roman and medieval Barcelona, ??has, among other enclaves, the anti-aircraft batteries of the civil war of Carmel, the old Oliva Artés factory, in Poblenou, centered in the urbanization of the city, or the cheap houses of the Good Shepherd, which deal with the evolution of the housing of the popular classes.
Marcé has ordered a report from the Muhba on integration, which he expects to have in a month. It is also addressing the issue with the director of the Born CCM, Marta Marín-Dòmine, in office since 2021 and in which the municipal government wants her to continue. “In a month we will be able to give more details”, explains the commissioner, who believes that with the change the center will gain muscle. The museum part, in his opinion, “needs to be explained better”. And more will be made of the remaining spaces – four rooms and an auditorium – available in the old market of 1876, designed by Josep Fontserè and renovated by the architects Enric Soria and Rafael de Cáceres for current use.
“We will continue to promote memory programs in El Born, but also in other places, such as, for example, Montjuïc Castle”, continues Marcé, who assures that this line of content will be strengthened, but, in the case of the old market, they will detach it from the more museum-like part that has the archaeological remains as its main appeal. The current model, which combines the two elements, in his opinion “generates a certain amount of confusion”.
The reality is that many visitors, both from Barcelona and from abroad, do not know exactly what is there and what is done there at the Born CCM. And, this, despite the fact that it has a more than remarkable influx. Before the pandemic, in 2019, it received 1.3 million people, a figure that will certainly not be reached in 2023. The highest so far is that of 2014, with nearly 1.9 million. More or less a quarter are tourists. Entrance to the site, which allows you to see the archaeological remains from the top, is free. Guided tours, exhibitions and activities are subject to payment. The year before covid, the last ones added about 78,000 people.
“I came because it was recommended on the internet, both the neighborhood and the old market,” explains Julien, from the French city of Quimper, as he looks at the archaeological remains. The place surprised him. “It is much more beautiful than I thought – he admits -, the structure of the building is beautiful and what has been excavated, very interesting”. When he was preparing for the visit he read that vestiges could be seen “of a time when there was a French king”. This caught his attention. It referred to Felipe V and the part of the city that was razed to the ground in order, after the War of Succession, during which the Catalan capital suffered the harsh siege of 1714, to build the Ciutadella, a fortress that would watch over the city … The young man did not know so many details and was amused to discover them.
Very close by, reclining on the railings above the site, other tourists, Juan José and Victoria, from Málaga, also contemplate the vestiges of the city of the past. “We didn’t know there were these Roman ruins here”, they explain, before realizing that what they were seeing were actually much more recent remains, from the 18th century. “Well, we didn’t know – they comment with a certain blush – we had no idea that all this existed, we found it almost by chance”.
On one of the benches next to the platforms, Pau and Núria, from Barcelona, ??are talking. They are among those who often pass through the Born to go from one side to the other of this part of the neighborhood of Sant Pere, Santa Caterina and la Ribera, also known as the Old Town. “We usually come and spend some time in here – he explains – in the shade; it’s very nice, there is no one outside because the sun is beating down very strongly”. This is precisely one of the attractions of the equipment, which can be seen while walking around the interior, which has been turned into a kind of street. Many have discovered archaeological remains in this way.
The opinions of the residents of the surroundings of El Born on the uses and the impact of the large equipment nearby are of all colors. There are people who see it favorably because of the architectural beauty and the activity it hosts, and other people reject it because they believe that it has contributed to even more tourists in the area and that the gentrification it is suffering from goes up another notch.
The president of the neighborhood association of the Old Town, Asun Justo, remembers that it was precisely the neighbors who fought so that the building would not be demolished after it closed as Barcelona’s central market in 1971, and they organized activities until that the degradation of the property forced its closure. Then it was decided that it would host the Provincial Library, but when the works began and the archaeological remains appeared it was agreed to do it in another place – finally, next to the France station, it has not yet been built – and turn it into a cultural center.
“What is being done is interesting and we know that they are working to open it up more in the neighborhood – explains Justo-. In fact, our organization has carried out activities there, but the truth is that it is a center that is a little far away, perhaps because it is physically very separated by a too large square that pulls you back, especially in the summer. That it is so exposed does not invite crossing it”.
The pressure from tourism was already there before the cultural center opened, recalls the president of the neighborhood association. “There are much worse places – he explains – such as Carrer Montcada, with the Picasso Museum, and more recently the Moco”. And the eviction of residents due to the high cost of the area, starting with housing, “is not new either; with the Born it has simply taken another step”.
