1714: the siege and the citadel
On September 11, 1714, after fourteen months of siege, Barcelona fell to Bourbon troops at the end of the War of Succession. The urban consequence was brutal: the Ribera quarter was razed to build the Ciutadella, a fortress aimed at the city itself.
The Fossar de les Moreres
The cemetery where 1714's defenders were buried is a living monument beside Santa Maria del Mar. September 11 is Catalonia's national day, in memory of that defeat.
From fortress to park
The citadel that dominated the city for a century and a half was demolished after 1868 and its land became the Parc de la Ciutadella, home of the 1888 Exposition and the Ribera's lung ever since.
The Born of 1714
Under the Born market, excavated in the nineties, lie the houses razed for the fortress: an entire neighborhood frozen on surrender day, now a museum center.