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After the Universal Exhibition of 1888, the city of Barcelona suffered a flood of visitors that forced the municipal authorities to improve the arrival areas for travelers as much as possible.
It was decided to improve the railway stations of France and the North and, to avoid the displacement of travelers who found both stations on the outskirts of the city, the now missing Paseo de Gracia Stop with Aragón Street was built.
The only thing left to do was to find a dignified reception for travelers who arrived by sea, since then arrivals by air were non-existent. With the construction of the old Peace Gate building designed by the prestigious architect Enric Sagnier i Villavecchia in collaboration with Pere Garcia Fària, the needs of providing the city with a maritime station that would offer both travelers and port authorities a place to carry out the necessary functions for embarkation and disembarkation.
But something would be missing from the arrival of ocean liners from all over the world if we could not offer travelers a comfortable place for arrival and departure where they can feel comfortable.
This was the reason why everyone who participated in the project saw the need for a new quality restaurant that would not only welcome illustrious travelers but, given its location, would be suitable for holding important events in that area of the city.
Thus, the Mundo Palace Restaurant, the pride of the city during its years of existence, was born on the first floor of the official headquarters building of the Port Works Board.
The new restaurant was logically framed in the eclectic style of the entire building and, from its large windows, you could appreciate the extraordinary views it offered to its customers.
Inaugurated on Saturday, February 1, 1908, it was an event that the first authorities of the city, several ambassadors, politicians, a part of the bourgeoisie and all those important people who wanted to appear in the photograph wanted to attend. The owners had to set up two presidential tables so that everyone could fit in them.
Among other characters were:
The next day, La Vanguardia dedicated the following article to the Mundial Palace restaurant:
“One of the main characteristics that this new restaurant offers is to offer diners who request it at Saturday meals, the ability to taste meals with strictly vegetarian cuisine.”
The acceptance of something that at that time was not easy to find in the other restaurants of the city was such that on March 29, 1908, a banquet was held by the Catalan Vegetarian League, which only 250 members could attend, given the impressive number of requests to celebrate its constitution.
The venue was the usual setting for banquets organized by various social and cultural institutions that were looking for a prestigious place to hold their celebrations and extraordinary events.
A place where the bourgeoisie began to celebrate weddings, banquets and at that time the coming-of-age parties that were so traditional in the bourgeoisie of the time, a party or rite that young girls celebrated when they entered adulthood.
The old coming-of-age celebrations were a very common celebration in the 20th century by high society. It was a party whose protagonist was a young girl to whom her parents offered, when she came of age, a banquet with her friends in an important place. Many times several families would come together and have a joint party. The best known and those that caused extraordinary numbers in gossip magazines were those held in Seville in a palace of the House of Medinaceli known as Casa de Pilatos.
The name and importance that the Mundial Palace achieved among the aristocracy was such that, in 1908, King Alfonso XIII sat at one of its tables to check if what was said in Madrid about the extraordinary nature of its service was true.
The World Palace Café-Restaurant was active until 1918, when the entire building was destined to house the official headquarters of the Port Works Board, the administrative body in charge of managing port traffic. In 1978 it became the headquarters of the Autonomous Port and, in 1992, it became the Port Authority of Barcelona.
