Passeig Lluís Companys

Architect Josep Fontseré designed this broad promenade as the Parc de la Ciutadella's parlour, to show off a collection of bronze statues of Catalan heroes—until Franco made a point of melting them all (except one) down to make the giant statue of the Virgin over the dome of the Basilica of La Mercè. After Franco's death, Barcelona avenged the memory of the desecration by renaming the Passeig after the Lluís Companys, the President of the Generalitat executed by Franco in 1940.

But since then other monuments have rushed in to take their place. At the entrance to the Parc de la Ciutadella, there’s a colourful monument by Antoni Clavé erected to the centenary of the exhibition, and a endearingly bombastic Monument to Ruis i Taulet (1901), dedicated to the progressive mayor who managed to pull off the exhibition that put Barcelona on the map. The pair of fluffy rats nuzzling his face are actually world-class sideburns.