Barceloneta. Plaça del poeta Boscà

The central square of Barceloneta is named after the Spanish Renaissance poet Juan Boscán Almogáver. Since the district's founding, the center has been the Plaza Barceloneta in front of the Cathedral of San Miguel del Port, as well as the local market. In the second half of the 19th century, when the area began to be built up with multi-storey buildings, the area became too small to meet the needs of the increased population.

The city authorities decided to demolish some of the old two-story houses in the heart of the area and build a large covered market (Mercat de la Barceloneta) on this site. The building was designed by Antoni Rovira i Trias and opened in 1884. This is a 2,600-square-meter pavilion with a metal frame, like most similar buildings of that time.

In 2007, as part of the reconstruction of the square, the market building was also modernized. The author of the renovation project, Josep Miàs Gifre, created a modern shopping center of original architecture and equipped with advanced technologies on an old frame. For example, almost half of the electricity consumed by the market is generated by solar panels placed on the roof of a building. Now in the building, in addition to traditional shopping malls, there are also 2 good restaurants, cafes, bars, and a supermarket. The building occupies half the area.

Before the trip, I read a lot of bleak reviews about this place - shabby houses, piles of garbage, a bunch of tramps and drunks. It may have been like this before, but now it's clean, beautiful and safe.

The square is surrounded by well-maintained buildings of a wide variety of architectural styles and eras.

Undoubtedly, the square's decoration is Casa Magret, the building is decorated with stucco and sgraffito, it is a beautiful example of Catalan modernism.

In the north-western corner of the square, you can see a two-story house of the Prosper Verbom era, which miraculously survived the era of urbanization.

The southern part of the square is occupied by a small park.

At the end of the 20th century, this place was not distinguished by elegance and safety, antisocial elements gathered here.

In 2007, a large underground parking lot was built on the square, and the area above it was put in order.

There is a children's playground, ping-pong tables, outdoor furniture.

On the western side of the square, at the entrance to the underground parking lot, on the wall of the building you can see a sculpture called Negre de la Riba (Negro from Riba), looking at which, you might think that it is carved out of wood and it is not one hundred years old. In fact, the figure was sculpted from fiberglass by artists David Castillo and Oscar Perezpo in 2003.

The story of this statuette is quite entertaining, it began in 1860, when a merchant brig crashed off the coast of Barceloneta (according to other sources, it was broken up for firewood), arriving from South America. The prow of this ship was decorated with an Indian figure, which somehow ended up in the property of the owner of the tavern, on the Moll de la Riba embankment (now the embankment of Barceloneta), who installed it in front of the entrance to his establishment. Under the influence of time and salty winds, the paint that was painted on the statue peeled off, and the wood turned black, and the statue became black, receiving its current name. The black figure with a ferocious expression acquired mystical features, it was used to frighten naughty children. After the tavern was demolished, the figure wandered for a long time to various shops and restaurants, until it found shelter in the Maritime Museum of Barcelona. In 2003, to celebrate the 250th anniversary of Barceloneta, a replica of the figurine was placed in the Bosca Square.