Eixample

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Image:MapaBCN Distritos01.jpg Image:Ensanche - eixample - Barcelona.jpg Image:Sagrada Familia Eixample from Montjuic.jpg Image:Eixample02.jpg The Eixample (Catalan for "extension"; Castilian, Ensanche) is a district of Barcelona between the old city (Ciutat Vella) and what were once surrounding small towns (Sants, Gràcia, Sant Andreu etc.). Constructed in the 19th and early 20th centuries, some parts of the Eixample were heavily influenced by modernist architects, chief among whom is Antoni Gaudí. His work in the Eixample includes the Casa Milà (nicknamed La Pedrera) and the Casa Batlló, both of which are on the wide Passeig de Gràcia, as well as the Sagrada Familia.

The Casa Batlló is part of a block called the Illa de la Discòrdia, along with two other notable Modernisme works, Lluís Domènech i Montaner's Casa Lleó Morera and Josep Puig i Cadafalch's Casa Amatller. The block is so named due to the visual clash between the buildings; its Spanish name, Manzana de la Discordia, is also a pun on Eris's Apple of Discord - manzana means both "apple" and "city block".

The Eixample is characterized by long straight streets, a strict grid pattern crossed by wide avenues, and truncated-square blocks (named illes in Catalan, manzanas in Spanish). This was a visionary, pioneering design by Ildefons Cerdà, who considered traffic and transport along with sunlighting and ventilation in coming up with his characteristic octagon-shaped blocks, where the streets broaden at every intersection making for greater visibility, better ventilation and (today) some short-stay parking space. The corners were cut off to allow horse drawn carts an area in which to turn around. The grid pattern remains as a hallmark of Barcelona, but many of his other provisions were unfortunately ignored: the four sides of the blocks and the inner space were built instead of the planned two or three sides around a garden; the streets were narrower; only one of the two diagonal avenues were realized; the inhabitants were of a higher class than the mixed composition dreamed of by Cerdà. The important needs of the inhabitants were incorporated into his plan which called for markets, schools, hospitals every so many blocks. Today, most of the markets remain open in the spots they have been from the beginning.

The most important avenues in the Eixample are Passeig de Gràcia (that links centric Plaça Catalunya with the old town of Gràcia), [[Avinguda Diagonal[[ (that cuts the grid diagonally), and Gran Via de les Corts Catalanes (that crosses all Barcelona from southwest to northeast). Other wide avenues in the area include Carrer d'Aragó and Passeig de Sant Joan.

Some parts of the Eixample are rather well-to-do neighbourhoods, especially around the central Passeig de Gràcia, but the Eixample also contains many decaying buildings inhabited by lonely aged tenants on the verge of poverty, especially in the fringe areas.

Eixample contains one of Barcelona's gay villages, nicknamed the gaixample.

The Casa Milà

The Temple Expiatori de la Sagrada Família

The Illa de la Discordia (the turret on the left belongs to the Casa Lleó Morera; the building with the stepped triangular peak is the Casa Amatller; and the curved façade to its right is the Casa Batlló)

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