Avinguda Diagonal is an avenue in the city of Barcelona (Catalonia, Spain) and one of the main arteries of the city designed by Ildefons Cerdà Sunyer within the hypodamic plan of width as the Gran Via Diagonal. This road crosses the city from end to end in a southwest/northeast direction. Although popularly it has always been called Diagonal, this name has not always been the official one. Due to the political changes throughout the 19th and 20th centuries, the avenue has been renamed after events or figures related to the rulers in each period on numerous occasions.
Urban planning
The Diagonal, as its name suggests, diagonally crosses the entire city of Barcelona, from the sea in Parc del Fòrum, a sector known as Diagonal Mar, until reaching the municipal limits with Esplugues de Llobregat, in the Les Corts district. During its 11 kilometer route it crosses other important roads such as Passeig de Gràcia, Passeig de Sant Joan and with Gran Via de les Corts Catalanes and Avinguda Meridiana forming Plaça de les Glòries Catalanes, a square that according to Ildefons Cerdà it had to be the site of a new centrality of the city for this intersection of three main roads.
According to Jesús Portavella, when the layout began, an error occurred when calculating the angle with which Paseo de Gràcia should cut and this caused it to be built with a deviation from Cerdà’s initial plans. This error caused some large farmhouses in Les Corts, which were left intact in Cerdà’s plans, to be demolished at the beginning of the 20th century. It wasn’t until 1998 that the Diagonal was completed, reaching the sea in the current Zona Fòrum.
The headquarters of financial institutions and shopping centers, important modernist buildings such as the Casa de les Punxes and university campuses have been built around the Diagonal. In the Les Corts district, in the upper area of Diagonal, is the university area of the University of Barcelona UB and the Polytechnic University of Catalonia; in the district of Sant Martí, the Campus de la Comunicació – Poblenou of the Pompeu Fabra University, and on the seafront there is the Torre Diagonal Zero Zero, which marks the beginning of Avinguda Diagonal. The Besòs Campus of the UPC is being developed at its feet. Among others, the Royal Palace of Pedralbes, which is the current permanent headquarters of the Union for the Mediterranean (Barcelona Process: Union for the Mediterranean), should also be highlighted.
Barcelona metro stations around:
Zona Universitària (L3, L9)
Palau Reial (L3)
Maria Cristina (L3)
Diagonal (L3, L5) – In and around Passeig de Gràcia.
Provença (L6, L7) – In Carrer Provença, linked with Diagonal station.
Verdaguer (L4, L5) – In Plaça Verdaguer
Glòries (L1) – in Plaça de les Glòries Catalanes.
Selva de Mar (L4).
El Maresme Fòrum (L4).
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