From a restaurant to TV studios

First it was a restaurant, then a palace built for the Universal Exhibition of 1929 and before becoming the Hotel Miramar Barcelona as we know it today, the building was the headquarters in Barcelona of the central studios of TVE.

Televisión Español began its activity in 1956 and the first broadcasts were restricted to the area of the Spanish capital and nearby towns. Progressively, a plan was put in place to create territorial and production centres that transported the signal from the centre of Madrid to a network of repeaters.

Three years later, the central studios in Catalonia were created and located in the old Miramar restaurant, and from then on they began to be called Miramar Studios.

Estudios Miramar

The first broadcast took place on 15 February 1959, it was nothing more and nothing less than a match between the eternal rivals of the Spanish football league: Real Madrid and Futbol Club Barcelona. Regular broadcasts did not begin until 14 July of the same year with a variety programme called "El Balcón del Mediterráneo" which, some time later, inspired the programme "Club Miramar", the first programme to be produced entirely in Barcelona and broadcast nationally.

From the beginning of the broadcasts, Barcelona was one of the most relevant centres at a national level, and for many years it was the only link between Spanish television and the Eurovision network through which all the international programmes and news passed. The programming was broadcast entirely in Spanish, except, in 1964, for the programme "Teatre", which was broadcast in Catalan. Programmes in Catalan were scarce until 1974, when continuous production began.

Primera retransmisión

The Miramar centre specialised in entertainment programmes and competitions such as: "Amigos del martes", "Carrusel", "Panorama", "Discorama" and the aforementioned "Club Miramar", the latter of which led to the creation of our daily menu in the hotel restaurant, Studio Miramar.

Finally, on 27 June 1983, the TVE studios in Catalonia moved to Sant Cugat, where they are still located today.

First programmes

The Gaudí lamp by Ben Jakover

Ben Jakober is a sculptor of Hungarian origin who has carried out various monumental commissions, usually inspired by Renaissance masters.

The Hanging Model is the name given to the lamp hanging from the main staircase of the Hotel Miramar Barcelona, which recreates the polyfunicular model that the artist Antoni Gaudí used to study the structure of the crypt of the Colònia Güell (Barcelona). The method was Gaudí's invention and consisted of simulating the structure of the building by means of ropes corresponding to the crossing of the walls or the source of the columns. At the other end of the ropes were hung bags filled with small loads which, if carried in proportion to the real weight, generated the curves of the corresponding arches. Once the structure had been defined, the model was lined with paper to create the vaults and walls

Ben Jakober's sculpture measures 483 x 490 x 690 cm, weighs 450 kilos and is made of fibre optics and stainless steel.

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