Els Quatre Gats

Today it's a posh, rather touristy restaurant run by a corporation, but a century ago it was the bohemian hangout for the city's artists in the golden age of modernisme.

It is located in the Casa Martí (1895), the first building by Josep Puig i Cadafalch, a Modernista fantasy combining elements of Catalan and northern Gothic. Eusebi Arnau sculpted the St George and the Dragon on the corner, a motif that Puig would make his own.

Arnau also carved the other sculptures, the coat of arms made of symbols of the textile trade, and the little figures in the vegetation. The building is renowned as the home of Els Quatre Gats (‘The Four Cats’, slang for ‘Just a few guys’, but also recalling the famous Chat Noir in Paris), the bohemian taverna that provided much of the impetus for the city’s cultural life at the start of the 20th century.