Trip #3: Medieval Barcelona

Alex Verch

Trip #3: Medieval Barcelona (El Born)

Date: February 22^nd, 2011

            We visited the Born area on our third field trip. We also met outside of the Cathedral for this trip. We walked around the area and explored the different parts of the Born area. We learned a lot about the guilds and the stock market.            

            This trip helped me see exactly what our textbook was saying when referring to workshop houses and guilds. The structure of the workshop house says a lot about the successfulness of the owner and the shop. The owner lives on the first, or principal, floor. The bigger the balcony and the windows the more successful the owner is. On the second floor is the owner’s right hand man, or person who knows the trade. The people must pass a strict exam in order to become a member of the guild, which was very important during the medieval period. The guilds regulated prices, kept quality control, and protected the people within the guild. I compared this to a modern day union.

            The different workshops in the area were organized according to trade. The purpose of this was to make it easier for people to find what they were looking for. The streets were very narrow and many of them led to different squares, where the buildings all faced each other. Also, we learned about the stock market, but did not go too far into depth about it on this particular trip.  

            At the end of the field trip we went to Santa Maria Del Mar church. It was built between 1329 and 1383 and is very beautiful. It truly represents Gothic style architecture with columns on the inside. It also has beautiful stained glass windows on the inside. I really enjoyed walking around and learning about the guilds in the Born area. I also noticed many nice shops and various restaurants that I am interested in trying at some point in the near future.