Les Corts
The home of kings, noblemen, farmers and Barça fans
Normally elegant and peaceful like the districts in the upper part of Barcelona, on match days its streets play host to crowds of football fan. Les Corts is simultaneously upscale, as it is home to the city’s most exclusive area, and downscale, as it retains the popular character of the former rural area chosen by FC Barcelona to build Europe’s largest football stadium.
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Why visit Les Corts?
From the 12th to the 19th centuries, the land now occupied by Les Corts was populated by just a handful of farms that had been established there to exploit the streams running down from Collserola. Les Corts was a free territory that depended directly on the royal family, which is why it was chosen as the site of the Royal Monastery of Santa Maria of Pedralbes.
This free territory became a municipality in 1836, even though it continued to be linked with the town of Sarrià because Les Corts did not have its own parish until 1897, when the Church of Santa Maria del Remei was built. In 1897, Les Corts was annexed to Barcelona, which led to its urban development, although it has retained some traces of its rural ancestry such as the Can Rosés farmhouse, now a library, and a large number of parks and gardens, like those of the maternity hospital, which are also home to a series of Modernista pavilions.
The upper part of the district is one of the city’s most exclusive areas, Pedralbes, and is home to two of Barcelona’s most elegant gardens: those at the Royal Palace of Pedralbes, designed for the royal family, and Cervantes Park, dedicated to the cultivation of more than 200 varieties of roses.
How do you get to Les Corts?
Hop off at the Francesc Macià – Diagonal stop on either the Blue Route or the Red Route of Barcelona Bus Turístic to discover the district of Les Corts by following Avinguda Diagonal.
For the most curious of you
- Did you know? The terrace of the Can Deu Civic Centre is a small paradise hidden next to this beautiful eclectic building from the late 19th century, which sometimes holds jazz concerts.
- Local’s tip: If you want to explore the district in depth, we recommend you take the Les Corts Historic Memory Route, traced by the University of Barcelona with the collaboration of the Association for Catalan Culture and Memory (ACME) and Barcelona City Council.
- A must: To escape from the city centre and discover another side of Barcelona.
