Urban Planning, Ecological Transition, Urban Services and Housing

The work to revamp La Rambla has revealed a section of the old wall that surrounded the city in the 14th century. The find offers valuable information on the everyday life of Barcelona in medieval times.

The remains were unearthed in the Santa Mònica sector of La Rambla, revealing this part of the wall. Once the archaeological work is completed, estimates put the overall length of the wall to have been documented along La Rambla at nearly a hundred metres.

The archaeologist Irene Cruz is in charge of a dig that has uncovered a section of 14^th century wall measuring 44.88 metres long and 2.9 metres wide at its broadest point, as well as a pentagonal tower measuring 8.32 by 4.21 metres.

Work in the area has been under way since the middle of July and is looking at the foundations of the wall through mechanical surface digs combined with manual probes. The process documents the structure, at the same time offering ample and valuable information on everyday life in this part of the city, the boundary between the city and the neighbouring areas.

Remains linked to ancient flooding have been found, with an accumulation of stones and ceramics dragged along by water, offering a lot of information on the structure of the wall and the dynamics and behaviour of the stream that ran along La Rambla in medieval times.

Besides the inner part of the wall, facing the interior of the city, other elements have appeared that give an insight into everyday medieval and modern life in Barcelona, with remains from the 16^th century also coming to light. One curious find to be unearthed is a small donkey surrounded by numerous bronze needles.

As for the structure, experts have found that the walls used limestone mortar to point the stonework, telling us of the need to strengthen the structure against flooding which, on the medieval Rambla, occurred on various occasions.

A large semi-circular structure has also been found (3.5 metres long) made of stone and mortar and coinciding with the plans from the first urbanisation process in La Rambla at the start of the 19^th century. The belief is that this may have been the headpiece of an element indicating the start of the avenue, built after 1774 but before 1823.

The new finds come in addition to many others that have appeared during the reurbaniastion project, such as the remains of the city’s general studio (16-18th century), the royal bronze artillery foundry (16^th century) and the pipe system for clean water from the 18^th century. As for the wall, the digs highlight the importance of this defensive structure, built in the mid-14^th century and only actively used for a few decades, until the city erected the wall in El Raval at the end of the same century.

In nearby sections such as section by Plaça del Teatre, parts of the wall measuring nearly 15 metres were found, as well as a tower. In the coming months, a second section of a further fifty metres will be studied to complete the documenting process. Between them the two sites account for nearly a hundred metres of medieval wall.