FROM THE MIDDLE AGES TO THE SPANISH SUCCESSION WAR
From the 12th Century on, in the Middle Ages, Barcelona was to experience a prosperous period. Ramon Berenguer IV united Catalunya with Aragon by marrying Petronila from Aragon, resulting in his son Alfonso II becoming the first Aragon-Catalan king. Barcelona became the capital of the new government and a new expansion period began thanks to the open trade to the Mediterranean. The splendour times reached their end around the 15th Century due to the Black Death and the civil wars.

Castilla did not agree with the independence of Catalunya and, therefore, in 1640 the so-called "Guerra dels Segadors" started. Barcelona resisted for 12 years. Between 1705 and 1714 the city suffered the Succession War and was defeated by the Castilian-French troops. The repression was severe and the Catalan language was prohibited. Nowadays, the Fosar de les Moreres monument, located next to the Santa Maria del Mar Church, remember that defeat and an ever flame burning represents the memory of the fallen Catalan people during that war.

THE 19TH CENTURY: THE ARRIVAL OF NEW TRENDS
In 1848 Barcelona inaugurated its first railway trip and its industrial vocation made it a "small Manchester". In 1854 the city walls were pulled down and an urbanistic development never seen before emerged. The urban plan by Ildefons Cerdà designed the classical Eixample district distribution into squares and public spaces.

In 1897 a new restaurant inspired in Le Chat Noir from Paris opened in Barcelona. It was called Quatre Gats and many intellectuals and artists of the time used to gather there. At that time, the Modernism art mouvement was all around the city and its most important artist was Antoni Gaudí.

THE CONTEMPORARY BARCELONA
The 20th Century started in a very dramatic way for the city: the Tragic Week, in 1906, with many riots, barricades and church arsons. In 1914 the Mancomunitat of Catalonia -sort of Government- was created, since the military repression raised the Catalan spirit, but a few years later, Primo de Rivera's coup d'état meant a new period of severe repression.

In 1931 there was a hopeful Republican period but did not last long, because in 1936 the Spanish Civil War started. With Franco's dictatorship Barcelona suffered the suspension of many liberties: from the selfgovernment to the language prohibition. The postwar period developed under this context until the 60's, which opened a period of economic and industrial development brought in by a huge migratory flow from Southern Spain. Democracy arrived in 1975 with Franco's death and Barcelona recovered the Catalan government, Generalitat, and was considered again as the capital of the region.

The most important moment of this new period was the celebration of the Olympic Games in 1992, which meant a great success and the beginning of a deep architectonic and urbanistic change, opening the city to the sea.

The Forum de les Cultures 2004 has been the last worldwide event held in Barcelona. Alhough it has not reached the same impact the Olympics had.