Field Trip 3: The Guilds

            The field trip we took to see the part of Barcelona where all the old guilds used to be was very informative.  It was really cool to see the same shops that people used to work in hundreds of years ago, and to walk through the same streets and narrow passages that the guild members at one point used to frequent.  We even got to see some other historical aspects of the city that weren’t related to the guilds.  One of these such places was Palau De La Musica Catalana, which was an elaborately designed music hall.  It was created by the famous architect Lluis Domenech I Montaner, who’s style closely resembles that of the well known Gaudi.

            The area around the guilds was also very interesting for other reasons.  It always amazes me when I visit the older areas of the city for no other reason other than just the fact that people were walking, working and living in these areas before my town in America was even settled.  It is amazing to know that the area the guilds lie in is from all the way back in the 13^th century when Peter III was extending the city walls, long before there were even walls in America.

            Not only was this the area that Peter III at one point in time extended the city walls out to encompass, but it also held one of the most important churches in Barcelona; the Santa Maria del Mar.  The Santa Maria del Mar was open to all of the guild members, which was not something that could be said about the Cathedral.  The guild members felt pride in going to this church because it was a place they felt welcome and knew they would not be discriminated against for not having money to donate.  They were able to lend their skills and goods in exchange for worship, a previously unheard tradition.

            The guilds themselves were remarkable.  They were organized by street, with all the metal works guilds in the same area, the other guilds with their corresponding shops as well.  The shops were all labled with different pictures depicting what the master of the shop did for a living.  The blacksmith shop featured a blacksmith working with iron, and each other shop had their own respective pictures as well.  The streets themselves all have very distinct names too.  One street that really stood out to me was “Banys Nous”.  The reason I was able to remember this one above all the others was because even though I only know a little Latin and partial Spanish, I was able to decipher that it roughly translated to “New Baths”.

            I was disappointed that we couldn’t see the shop you told us the one old man still worked in to this day.  It would have been cool to tell my friends I saw someone participating in a tradition spanning centuries long.  At the same time, even though the guild masters aren’t around, I felt that the guilds still retained the same air of the past about them.  It is clear that much has been done to help this area hold onto what is long gone in so many other parts of the city.