Columbus Monument

The world's biggest monument to Christopher Columbus, Barcelona's 225-ton Monument a Colom was erected where the Ramblas meets the Passeig de Colom, at the very spot where he arrived in 1493, to meet Ferdinand and Isabella and receive the title of Admiral of the Ocean Sea.

Designed by Gaietà Buigas i Monravà in the early 1880s, and rushed through to be completed in time for the Universal Exhibition of 1888, its 164ft cast-iron column is made of melted cannons from the hated Castell de Montjuïc and topped with a statue of Columbus. A lift ascends to Columbus' feet for the big view — the very first elevator, according to Barcelona’s indefatigable boasters, to be installed in a column.

The question is: what in the heck is Columbus doing here in the first place? This is the man, more than any other, who caused Barcelona's commercial decline, as the newly united Spain of the Catholic Kings turned away from the Mediterranean to the Atlantic. Seville took over as the country’s premier port, and to add insult to injury, Barcelona was even banned from trading in the Americas—until the 19th century. Note that Columbus has his back to Castile, and points not to America but to Italy (where Barcelona’s merchants quite frankly wish he had stayed).