Before the invention of the spa and the discovery of the beach – before the birth of the philosophy of hygiene, the outdoors and the importance of the sun – cities were for centuries spaces enclosed by walls, with gardens, but above all with shade. Passages are 19th-century inventions of this way of understanding urban life. Architectural forms that look inwards, secure, with controlled entry and exit. Creations of the bourgeoisie with Parisian aspirations.
The passage came to Barcelona as an intervention that allowed people to live near the Liceu and the Cathedral within an exclusive bubble. The names are misleading: the Passatge del Crèdit, the Passatge del Rellotge and the Passatge de la Banca refer directly to the world of finance, stock market hours and capital. The Passatge del Rellotge was built by the bankers Arnús i Codina: at the end of the 19th century, every afternoon at three o’clock, the stock market prices were posted on a counter. Passatge de la Banca is home to the Wax Museum. And at number Passatge del Crèdit 4, the liveliest of the three, designed by architect Magí Rius i Mulet in 1879 on behalf of the Societat Catalana General de Crèdit, a plaque indicates that the painter Joan Miró was born there.
La Rambla connects with Plaza Real via Passage Bacardí, where you will find the Hotel de les Quatre Nacions, designed by Francesc Daniel Molina i Casamajor, one of the most important hotels in the history of Barcelona, according to its list of illustrious guests (Stendhal, Buffalo Bill, Albert Einstein). On the other side is Passatge de la Pau. The five passages form the secret heart of bourgeois Barcelona, surrounded by neo-Gothic architecture. At the turn of the 19th century, Art Nouveau exploded, looking towards the mountains: Passeig de Gràcia, Park Güell, Sarrià, Sant Gervasi, Pedralbes. Soon the entire bourgeoisie would move there, when light rather than shadow was the aspiration and the fashion.
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