Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
scale - for example, cava (champagne-like wine) production was introduced in the late nine-
teenth century, supported closely by the age-old cork industry of the Catalan forests. From
1890, hydroelectric power was harnessed from the Pyrenees, and by the end of the century
Barcelona was the fastest-growing city in Spain - one of only six with more than 100,000
inhabitants.
Cultural renaissance
Equally important was the first stirring of what became known as the
Renaixença
(Renais-
sance), in the mid-nineteenth century. Despite being banned in official use and public life,
the Catalan
language
had never died out. Books began to appear again in Catalan, and the
language was revived among the bourgeoisie and intellectuals as a means of making subtle
nationalist and political points. Catalan
poetry
became popular, and the late medieval
Jocs
Florals
(Floral Games), a sort of literary competition, were revived in 1859 in Barcelona:
one winner was the great Catalan poet, Jacint Verdaguer (1845-1902). Catalan
drama
deve-
loped (although even in the late nineteenth century there were still restrictions on performing
wholly Catalan plays), led mainly by the dramatist Pitarra.
Prosperityledtotherapid
expansionofBarcelona
,particularlythemid-nineteenth-century
additiontothecityoftheplannedEixampledistrict.Encouragedbywealthypatronsandmer-
chants, architects such as Josep Puig i Cadafalch, Lluís Domènech i Montaner and Antoni
Gaudí i Cornet were in the vanguard of the
modernista
movement which changed the face
ofthecity.Cultureandbusinesscametogetherwiththe
UniversalExhibition
of1888,based
around the
modernista
buildings of the Parc de la Ciutadella, and later the
InternationalEx-
hibition
on Montjuïc in 1929.
The seeds of civil war
In 1814, the repressive Ferdinand VII had been restored to the Spanish throne, and, despite
theCatalancontributiontothedefeatoftheFrench,hestampedouttheleasthintofliberalism
in the region, abolishing virtually all Catalunya's remaining privileges. On his death, the
crown was claimed both by his daughter Isabel II (with liberal support) and by his broth-
er Charles (backed by the Church and the conservatives). The ensuing
First Carlist War
(1833-39) ended in victory for Isabel, who came of age in 1843. Her reign was a long record
of scandal, political crisis and constitutional compromise, until liberal army generals under
the leadership of General Prim eventually effected a coup in 1868, forcing Isabel to abdic-
ate. However, the experimental
First Republic
(1873-75) failed, and following the
Second
Carlist War
the throne went to Isabel's son, Alfonso XII.
Against this unstable background, local dissatisfaction increased and the years preceding
World War I saw a growth in working-class
political movements
. Barcelona's textile work-
ersorganizedabranchaffiliatedtotheCommunistFirstInternational,foundedbyKarlMarx,