Barcelona, city, seaport, and capital of Barcelona provincial and of Catalonia comunidad autonoma , north-eastern Spain, located 90 miles (150 km) south of the French border. It is Spain’s major Mediterranean port and commercial centre and is famed for its individuality, cultural interest, and physical beauty. On his visit to the city in 1862, Hans Christian Andersen remarked that Barcelona was the “Paris of Spain.” The city is indeed a major cultural centre with a remarkable history. It abounds with archives, libraries, museums, and buildings of interest, featuring superb examples of Modernist and Art Nouveau decor and architecture. Since the late 1970s, with the official recognition of the Catalan language and the granting of significant levels of regional self-government, cultural life has been revitalized, bringing with it a new awareness of the depth and variety of Catalan culture. This vitality combines with the striking physical setting of Barcelona—between scenic mountains and the Mediterranean Sea, with a benign climate that fosters street life—and its significance as an economic power and a major port to create a city of infinite variety. Area city, 38 square miles (98 square km); metropolitan area, 1,249 square miles (3,235 square km). Pop. (2011) 1,611,013; (2018 est.) 1,620,343. At the core of the city lies the Gothic Quarter. Located between the Ramblas, a series of connected boulevards, going south-eastward to the sea, and the Via Laietana, it is a close-packed maze of narrow streets punctuated by magnificent medieval buildings. The cathedral, episcopal palace, and churches bear witness to Barcelona’s importance as a religious centre. The government buildings—such as the Palace of the Generalitat (the seat of the autonomous community of Catalonia), a 14th–15th-century building with Baroque and Neoclassical facades, and the Royal Palace—attest to the city’s importance as an administrative capital. The Roman walls survive in places largely because stretches of them were incorporated into the medieval city, and the wall built in the 13th century along the Ramblas effectively hemmed it in. The defenses that played such a large part in the battle for Barcelona during the War of the Spanish Succession (1701–14) were augmented by the construction of a citadel after the city was taken.