Anella Olímpica

The Anella Olímpica, or Olympic Ring, holds the principal venues of the 1992 games. The centrepiece of course is the Estadi Olímpic Lluís Companys, a relic of the 1929 fair, recently renamed after the president of Catalonia who was executed nearby in 1940.

Barcelona had bid to host the 1936 games here, but lost out to Hitler’s Berlin. Defiantly it decided to hold a non-fascist ‘People’s Olympics’, only the party was spoiled by another fascist—named Franco, whose revolt began the Civil War the day before the games were to open.

Major surgery was required to bring the stadium up to modern Olympic standards. The interior was rebuilt to hold 70,000, while preserving the original façade and its bronzes by Pau Gargallo, a feat accomplished by digging down and lowering the playing field by 36ft.