Sant Felip Neri, a celebration of the senses in the saddest square of Barcelona
If there is a place where the history of our city speaks to us, it is undoubtedly Sant Felip Neri Square in Barcelona, which suffered a bombing during the Civil War that claimed the lives of 42 people, most of them children, earning it the nickname of “the saddest square in Barcelona”. Included in most of the Gothic Quarter's tourist tours, this small square is as moving for tourists as it is unexplored by locals. Just like with King's Square, we find a hidden, almost hermetic space, which one only reaches if specifically sought out or, as it often happens, by chance.
To reach it from the cathedral, it is advisable to proceed along Bisbe Street and turn right onto Montjuic del Bisbe, a narrow and winding alley through which you move without knowing where it will take you. The momentary anxiety of the more timid minds is highly rewarded by the splendor of one of the most beautiful and unimaginable corners of Barcelona. A water fountain with two spouts and an octagonal base dominates a square that becomes a true experience for the senses: Sight, as you gaze upon a square that seems to be from another era and breaks with the city that rises just two streets behind. Touch, as you can feel and trace with your fingertips the marks left by shrapnel from the bombing on the church that gives the square its name. Smell, as you pick up the scent released by the flowers of the tipuanas which adorn the place. Hearing, with the noise of laughter and the shouts of children who can play ball or tag without the danger of cars and motorcycles passing by. And when they are not there, the spouts of the fountain or the birds break a surprising silence for being in the heart of Barcelona. To make the sensory experience complete, only the sense of taste is missing, which can be indulged with a drink or an ice cream on the small terrace in the same square leading out to Sant Sever Street.
The beauty of the place was evident in the photo that the Instagrammer @elenasarinena took for the contest #lovebarcelona which earned her a romantic experience for 2 people at The Corner Hotel in Barcelona.
Although it was the most striking, the bombing is not the only historical event in which the Sant Felip Neri square plays a leading role. It has also gone down in history as the place to which Antoni Gaudí was heading on June 7, 1926, when he was run over by a tram on Gran Vía, between Girona and Bailén streets. Being mistaken for a beggar due to his austere way of dressing, he was not immediately assisted and would die three days later due to the injuries sustained in the accident.
Fortunately, the square rose from its ashes. The church and the school were rebuilt, and the guilds of coppersmiths and cobblers moved there. And what's better, life has returned. Children are playing again, and their laughter and shouts are the best soundtrack that place could ever have. Who said it was a sad place?
