2014 will mark the 300th anniversary of the events of 11 September 1714. The City Council of Barcelona has promoted a civic commemoration intended to help rediscover the city of the eighteenth century, understand the dimension of the events and connect them
The Catalans committed steadfastly to a legal and institutional framework that catered to the interests of influential social groups but also to those of the “common man”, thanks to the mechanisms of representation and participation developed by their society. The Constitutions were the cornerstone of the whole system.
Three hundred years have transpired since the signing of the Treaty of Utrecht (1713), putting an end to the international dimension of the War of the Spanish Succession. This commemoration offers a golden opportunity to reflect on the British position in the dynastic conflict through the eyes of Daniel Defoe, a committed novelist of his time.
“La Ciutat del Born. Barcelona 1700”, a publishing project led by Albert Garcia Espuche, finally dismisses the characterisation of “decadent” that has been applied to sixteenth-to-eighteenth-century Catalonia since the Catalan Renaissance.
The archaeological site at El Born is not one of “stones”, but rather of people, of all kinds of activities, working relationships, aspirations, emotions and desires. It presents the complexity of a city and an explanation of a city. The project at El Born Cultural Centre endeavours to make a memory space, a place for historical research and dissemination, and one of contemporary creation.
Tres cientos años después de la derrota, la lección de historia del Born nos ayudará a enfrentarnos críticamente con el pasado y a formar ciudadanos libres para un futuro país libre.
The project that lost out on 11 September 1714, the road to modernity that could not be, is now, in the 21st century, the great project of the future. The world is a network and technology favours it.
What will Barcelona be like in eleven years’ time, viewed from New York? How will Catalonia be perceived on the global stage in 2024? Given the role as cultural, political and economic capital already played by the city, Catalonia will be ready to assume its position as a key player in a new, multilateral world.
