Barcelona França Railway Station

Barcelona's Station of France is located on Marqués de la Argentera avenue, in the neighborhood of El Born. It is the only station in Spain with a double arcade metallic. It was built by the engineer Montaner. It has 12 tracks and 7 platforms covered by the metallic roof 29 meters high and 195 meters long. It was inaugurated in June 1929 by the king Alfonso XIII and reformed for the 1992 Olympic Games.

I should mention that it is where the first railway in Spain was built: the line Barcelona-Mataró. The large lobby opens on the platform area, under a structure of arches and columns. The gates are made of cast iron with a lot of decoration and crystals.

When you go through the gate and inside the lobby this station makes you feel very small moving in a large room of gleaming floors and walls decorated in the typical style of the Greek or Roman period. The shelves with track information looks small dancers in a huge ball room. The view of the platforms is nevertheless disappointing, especially because of the difference between the ugliness and the beauty of the hall.