One of the most photogenic squares in Barcelona, and certainly its liveliest. Numerous restaurants, bars and nightspots lie beneath the arcades of 19th-century neoclassical buildings, with a buzz of activity at all hours. The lamp posts by the central fountain are Antoni Gaudí’s first known works in the city.

　　The square was created on the site of a convent, one of several destroyed along La Rambla (the street was teeming with religious institutions) in the wake of the 19th-century Spain-wide disentailment laws that stripped the Church of much of its property.