Guide to Barcelona

A mountain in the city

Thursday, 30 July 2009 13:49

In and Around Barcelona

The Tibidabo mountain forms part of the Collserola range, and has the highest peak (512m). Collserola is an impressive natural spot, with a forest of around 10 million trees providing a habitat for a large range of wildlife.

This immense space, considered today to be one of the largest metropolitan natural parks in the world, has not always been appreciated or visited by the people living nearby. Its distance and lack of communication were two reasons why by the end of the 19th century, the space was only used by excursionists,  shepherds or the inhabitants of the few houses dotted along the landscape.

At the top of Tibidabo there are various buildings, including the Templo Expiatorio del Sagrado Corazón. This church is remeniscent the Basílica del Sacré Coeur in the Parisien neighbourhood of Montmatre, due to its design, its location at the top of a mountain, and of course its name.

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The amusement park of Tibidabo dates from 1899 and is now a historical reference of the city, as it is the first amusement park in Spain and one of the oldest in Europe.

Also to be found on this mountain range is the Collserola Tower, a modern telecommunications antenna designed by Norman Foster and inaugurated in 1992 at the time of the Olympic games, and boasts a viewing platform at the top. It is 268 m tall and situated in the turó de Vilana (vallvidrera).

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