Barcelona

Title

Barcelona

Description

General view of the city of Barcelona around 1840.

ca. 1845

Artist

Kunstanstalt Hildburghausen (1828-1874)

The German publishing company Bibliographisches Institut was founded 1826 in Gotha by Joseph Meyer, moved 1828 to Hildburghausen and 1874 to Leipzig. Its production over the years includes such well-known titles as Meyers Lexikon.

Historical Description

Barcelona's history began under various reigns. Romans, Visigoths and Moors and in 1137 under the crown of Aragon. The marriage of Ferdinand II of Aragon to Isabella I of Castile in 1469 united the two royal families of Spain. This shifted the political center to Toledo and later, under the Habsburg Philip II, to Madrid, demoting the former crown of Aragon to a province. In addition, Barcelona, like many Spanish cities on the Mediterranean, suffered a huge decline in trade and loss of importance due to the discovery of America. From the mid-19th century, the city experienced a renewed economic boom and became a center of industrial development in Spain, bringing wealth and political influence back to the region.