The current façade

We find ourselves in front of the façade of the current Hotel Miramar Barcelona, but to know the beginnings of the building, we have to go back to a few years before 1929. First, the space was a modest restaurant, then a palace was built there to house the banquets during the 1929 Universal Exhibition held in Barcelona. The architect in charge was Ramón Raventós, who erected the building that dignified the previous one and laid the foundations for the exterior appearance of the current hotel, of which the façade remains.

The Universal Exhibition 1929

The Universal Exhibition held in Barcelona in 1888 made it possible for the Catalan city to acquire the status of European capital for the first time. In 1905, the Catalan scholar, politician and architect Josep Puig i Cadafalch published an article in an influential newspaper of the time, "La Veu de Catalunya", entitled "A votar per l'Exposició Universal". Puig i Cadafalch's comment was that at that time it was necessary to push the city towards modernity and the future and to place it on the international map. Their firm commitment did not fall on deaf ears and commissions began to be set up with civic institutions to advance the project. The debate was neither easy nor peaceful because there were many possibilities for the location of the buildings.

Finally, in 1914, it was decided that it would be built on Montjuïc mountain. It was a risky decision, as it was a scarcely urbanised area and very far from the city.

Between 1917 and 1919, the landscaping of various areas of the mountain was undertaken by the renowned architect and landscape architect Jean Claude Forestier, for which he won several awards, including the Grand Prix at the 1929 Barcelona Universal Exhibition.

Miramar restaurant

The Miramar restaurant originally consisted of three large areas, the outdoor terrace, with its casual furnishings, lit by lanterns and decorated with garlands, which offered visitors an attentive service with basic furnishings of bulrush chairs and tables with checkered tablecloths, allowing them to enjoy the sea breeze and a spectacular view of the city and the sea.

What is now the hotel lobby, during those years was the main hall on the ground floor, sheltered from the inclemency of the weather, was decorated with chandeliers and cut glass. The tables were adorned with the finest china and cutlery. Here, diners were able to enjoy the view through huge windows overlooking the garden.

Finally, interior stairs led to the first floor, which was adorned with elegant silkscreen prints, fewer tables, the most sophisticated furnishings and a large central lamp illuminating the room at dusk. The windows, unlike those on the lower floor, were arched and made of fine wood from the East.

The large restaurant survived the opening of the 1929 fair for several decades and hosted numerous banquets and lunches for businessmen, trade unions, parliamentarians and politicians from various parties. The visits of VIPs to the park, monuments and the mountain often ended in formal lunches in the restaurant.

The reform

In 2001, when Óscar Tusquets was commissioned to remodel the Palace to convert it into what is now the Hotel Miramar Barcelona, he wanted to give the old façade a minimum of dignity, which is why the new building is stepped back to form large terraces in front of the rooms and was painted in a green similar to that of the trees in the forest, to give all the prominence to the old façade.