{"id":38583,"date":"2015-03-08T18:30:43","date_gmt":"2015-03-08T17:30:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.shbarcelona.com\/blog\/en\/?p=38583"},"modified":"2016-05-26T11:05:17","modified_gmt":"2016-05-26T09:05:17","slug":"a-little-history-the-estacion-de-francia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.shbarcelona.com\/blog\/en\/a-little-history-the-estacion-de-francia\/","title":{"rendered":"A little history: The “Estaci\u00f3n de Francia”"},"content":{"rendered":"

Perhaps you already know by name and location this railway station, the second largest in Barcelona after Sants Trian Station and the starting station of long distance trains that go to France, and some regional trains that come from south and east of Catalonia. This station on Avenida Marques de l’Argentera was begun being built in 1926 and opened\u00a0in 1929 for the Universal Exhibition of that year, replacing the station built in Granollers or “Barcelona Term” in 1854. If you live in Barcelona or you’re spending some time in the city for study, work or vacation, you surely have been more than once in front of the “Estaci\u00f3n de Francia!\u00a0and you have been impressed by its interior dimensions and its cinematographic appearance. From ShBarcelona<\/strong><\/a> we invite you to learn more about its history in this article.<\/p>\n

Who design it?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"old<\/a>The structure of the station was designed by the Basque Pedro Muguruza<\/strong> and the engineer Andreu Muntaner<\/strong>. The first was an architect and National Councillor and Solicitor in Spanish Cortes during two legislatures of Franco dictator,\u00a0as well as author of the “Palacio de la Prensa de Madrid”. The station was carried out in collaboration with Raimon Duran i Reynals<\/strong>, but the platforms’ cover were designed by\u00a0Pelagi Martinez<\/strong>, the same that participated, along with Duran, in the projection of the Palace of Graphic Arts and the author of the Archaeological Museum of Barcelona. The\u00a0decoration of the station was created by\u00a0Santiago Marco<\/strong>. It was Alfonso XIII<\/strong> who opened\u00a0the station for the Exhibition of 1929, which filled Barcelona with new buildings\u00a0and architectural projects and Barcelona arise as\u00a0one of the most important Spanish capitals. This first train line would link Barcelona with France.<\/p>\n

The\u00a0station and the owls<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"franca\"<\/a>The whole Estaci\u00f3n de Francia<\/em>\u00a0consists of two parts: the naves<\/strong>, which are\u00a0the twelve tracks and seven platforms, and also the metal and curved canopy of 29 meters high and 195 meters long, clear example of the architecture of iron, which gives light and space to what it covers; and the lobby<\/strong>, a\u00a0Noucentiste-style \u00a0<\/b>space designed by Duran i Reynals, elegant and topped by a huge clock that shows the \"vestibulo-estacion-de-francia-300x225\"<\/a>time for anyone so they don’t miss their train. The latter space is made with luxurious materials like marble and bronze, which gives the entrance of the station an\u00a0old aspect that don’t have any other train station in Barcelona.<\/p>\n

\"buhoestacionfrancia\"<\/a>If you pass by\u00a0the Estaci\u00f3n de Francia<\/strong>, look at the statues of owls<\/strong> strategically placed in some exterior and interior points of the enclosure. They are there\u00a0to scare pigeons so they don’t nest on the highest points of the station, but they are also small statues of great beauty.<\/p>\n

Currently the station has regained much of its splendor<\/strong> of the past it is the starting point of many middle-distance trains that head south and west of Catalonia, also of the Trenhotel that goes to Paris and trains heading to\u00a0Vilanova and Sant Vicen\u00e7 de Calders.<\/p>\n

Address<\/strong>: Avinguda Marqu\u00e8s de l\u2019Argentera, s\/n<\/p>\n

Phone number<\/strong>: 902 320 320<\/p>\n

How to get there<\/strong>: Metro: L4 Barceloneta.| Bus: 14, 17, 39, 45, 51, 64, D20 y H16.| Barcelona Bus Tur\u00edstic: Parc de la Ciutadella-Zoo.<\/p>\n

Web<\/strong>: www.renfe.es<\/p>\n

Open times<\/strong>:\u00a0from 5am to 12am<\/p>\n

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Perhaps you already know by name and location this railway station, the second largest in Barcelona after Sants Trian Station and the starting station of long distance trains that go to France, and some regional trains that come from south and east of Catalonia. This station on Avenida Marques de l’Argentera was begun being built […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":38587,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[4346],"tags":[1930,457,1933,1934,1932,1931],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shbarcelona.com\/blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38583"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shbarcelona.com\/blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shbarcelona.com\/blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shbarcelona.com\/blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shbarcelona.com\/blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=38583"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.shbarcelona.com\/blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38583\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":38593,"href":"https:\/\/www.shbarcelona.com\/blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38583\/revisions\/38593"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shbarcelona.com\/blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/38587"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shbarcelona.com\/blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=38583"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shbarcelona.com\/blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=38583"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shbarcelona.com\/blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=38583"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}