From a lamp from another era to a chair turned into a museum piece: this route through Glòries invites you to understand Barcelona through the things it makes, preserves, sells, reuses and reimagines.
There is a way to discover Barcelona that does not begin in front of a monument, but by rummaging through boxes. You might come across an analogue camera, a set of glasses that has survived several house moves, an old poster, a 1970s lamp or that piece of furniture you never knew you needed until you saw it.
To try it, move away from the city’s most predictable routes and head to Plaça de les Glòries. Within just a few hundred metres you will find one of Barcelona’s most distinctive markets, one of its major recent urban transformations and the museum devoted to design and the arts of the object. A very Barcelona combination: popular memory, everyday commerce and contemporary design sharing the same pavement.
Els Encants: better to come without a list
You can certainly go to Els Encants – Fira de Bellcaire looking for something specific. But that is probably not the best strategy. There are antiques, furniture, lighting, second-hand and vintage clothes, books, household items, collectables, crafts, clearance stock and objects that are difficult to classify. Part of the pleasure is moving from one stall to another without quite knowing what you will come across next. The market opens Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday, from 9:00 am to 8:00 pm. Anyone keen to experience one of its most characteristic traditions will need to get up considerably earlier: the auction area operates on those same days between 7:45 and 9:00 am.
Check opening days and times on the official Els Encants website
There is one object at Els Encants worth paying attention to even though it is not for sale: the market itself. Its current building, designed by b720 Fermín Vázquez Arquitectos, was completed in 2013 and set out to preserve the open, street-like character of the old market. The stalls are therefore arranged on different levels that extend the urban space beneath a huge roof. Its underside is a fragmented golden mirror that reflects, distorts and multiplies everything happening below.
The effect feels particularly apt in a place devoted to objects that change hands and functions: clothes, people, furniture and aisles reappear above our heads transformed into something else. The architecture provides a perfect transition to the next stop. Anyone who wants to explore this side of the city in greater depth can continue with our route through Barcelona’s open architecture, where Els Encants and the Disseny Hub appear from a different perspective.
Glòries: a square where you do now want to linger
For decades, many Barcelona residents saw Glòries as a traffic junction rather than a square. Today the experience is very different. The most visible change came in April 2025 with the opening of the new Parc de les Glòries, the culmination of years of urban transformation. The site now offers around nine hectares of public space, 30,000 square metres of greenery and more than 1,000 trees, while creating better connections between neighbourhoods and urban axes that once seemed divided by road infrastructure.
Plaça de les Glòries Catalanes is also home to the Disseny Hub Barcelona (DHub), a leading Barcelona centre devoted to design culture and the creative industries, housing museums, exhibitions and archives. The collections of the Museu del Disseny contain more than 80,000 pieces, ranging from historic decorative arts to product design, graphic design, fashion, textiles and signature pieces. Chairs, posters, lamps, dresses, ceramics and packaging lose their ordinary appearance when they are placed within the history of design.
In 2026 there is another very good reason for this route to pass through here. The semi-permanent exhibition Matter Matters. Designing with the world, scheduled for 2025-2027 and linked to the Barcelona World Capital of Architecture 2026 programme, proposes rereading the collections through something as fundamental as matter. The exhibition brings together 705 objects and deliberately breaks down the traditional divisions between disciplines. One of its installations, Situated Matter, starts with the objects a young person in Barcelona might use over the course of an ordinary day and asks where their materials come from, what ecological impact they have and what alternatives exist.
After spending the morning examining used objects at Els Encants, it is hard to imagine a more fitting continuation. The market shows that objects can have several lives; the museum makes us think about what happens before, during and after each one.
If you still feel like walking: Poblenou
The route could perfectly well end here. But Glòries has one major advantage: it borders Poblenou, and by extending your walk eastwards the story of second lives continues, this time on the scale of buildings. During the industrialisation of the 19th century, Poblenou became known as the “Catalan Manchester” because of its concentration of factories, particularly textile mills. As industry declined, many buildings lost their original purpose and were later given new ones as educational, cultural and artistic centres or spaces linked to innovation.
From the DHub, you can continue towards streets such as Tànger and stop, for example, at Ca l’Aranyó, one of the former factories included in the official route through the industrial heritage of 22@. From there, simply keep walking without too rigid a plan, spotting old chimneys among new buildings and finishing with a drink around Rambla del Poblenou.
A Barcelona made of things
Barcelona has buildings we recognise before we have even visited them. But it also has thousands of less famous objects with equally good stories to tell. In Glòries, all you have to do is get a little closer to hear them.
Practical tip: the easiest way to organise this route is to choose a day when Els Encants is open and check the Disseny Hub’s latest programme and opening times before setting out. To really enjoy the market, allow yourself time and resist treating it as a twenty-minute stop: getting a little lost is all part of the plan.
