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Things to do in Barcelona
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Barcelona Zoo
In today's society, the main goal
or objective of a zoo is the education of those coming here and
the constant research and protection of the endangered species
of the world. Barcelona is no different when it comes to that,
with veterinary research studies, research in higher primates,
adherence to the World Zoo Conservation Strategy, international
and European programs that deal with the breeding and
preservation of endangered species that are almost extinct and
studies involving mammals, birds, reptiles and amphibians. The
Barcelona zoo is also available for education programs that
allow for the activities of schoolchildren, and out of school
activities for children on the weekends and holiday recesses;
plus two kinds of programs that are geared towards adults,
personnel training courses that lead to future zoo keepers and
educational workers; plus educational courses in zoology that
can be studied through the school year or during the summer.
They also offer marvelous excursions and field trips of special
interest to all people. European programs for breeding include
the gila monster, Mhorr's gazelle, the black vulture,
Rothchild's giraffe, giant anteater, and the pigmy hippopotamus.
Programs for recording captive animals include; the mangabeys,
bontebok, siamang and greater kudu. Part of their work includes
the preservation of endangered species and then bringing them
back into nature and these include; the Eurasian otter, cattle
egret, Majorcan midwife toad, little egret, Hermann's tortoise,
night heron, fallow deer and white stork. The zoo was the home
of the world's only albino lowland gorilla, Snowflake, and it is
unfortunate for the world and all of its inhabitants that this
aging primate passed on in 2003.
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Monestir de Pedralbes
The Barcelona Pedralbes
Monastery's museum is one of the best examples of Catalan Gothic
architecture in the world, and you can see the magnificent
legacy that was left by the community of nuns from the order of
Saint Clare and the information that has survived through the
centuries about their lives. The monastery complex includes the
church, and a fantastic three tier cloister that gives access to
the various main rooms that surround a large garden area
centered in the middle of the cloister. The main rooms include
the refectory, the nun's day cells, the dormitory, the
chapterhouse, the abbey and one of the nun's cells contains a
spectacular mural painting done by Ferrer Bassa. the museum
inside contains many marvelous works of art, furniture and
religious objects that the nuns have collected over the
centuries. The monastery also contains many collections, all
pertaining to the solitary lives of the nuns that include items
that were brought here when the nuns arrived to join the order
or those that were collected or acquired by the nuns to decorate
the monastery, and inside the church. These include paintings,
goldware, textiles, papers, furniture, ceramics, silverware and
parchments.
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City History Museum
The city of Barcelona, Spain
has two different stories as to how it was started, and the
first involves Hercules some 400 years before the city of Rome
was built; and the other involves the Carthaginian Hamilcar
Barca, the father of Hannibal, that named the area Barcino after
his family, during the 3rd century BC. In 15 BC., Romans came
here and redrew the village as a "castrum" or military camp that
was centered around the mons taber or small hill that is near
the contemporary city hall, Placa de Sant Jaume. While the
Romans ruled, it became Faventia or fully, Colonia Faventia
Julia Augusta Pia Barcino. Writers have mentioned it in their
annals of small towns in the area, but whatever the truth is or
was, it continued to grow in wealth and importance. It wasn't
involved in the imperial matters or burdens like many growing
metropolises, but did make their own coins, as can be attested
by the few that have survived from the Galba period. Important
Roman ruins were uncovered under the Placa del Rei, also by the
entrance to the city museum and the typical Roman grid planning
can be seen today in the historical center, Barri Gotic or
Gothic quarter. Fragments of Roman walls were built into the
cathedral, known as the basilica La Seu that was started in 343
AD. Barcelona was conquered by the Visigoths in the early 5th
century, by the Moors in the 8th and reconquered by
Charlemagne's son Louis in 801 AD., who then made it the seat of
Carolingian Spanish Marches, which had become a buffer zone that
was ruled by the Count of Barcelona. The collection that
is housed here includes over 35,200 relics.
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