Discovering "new world" in Barcelona

The 20-story-tall Columbus Monument, having witnessed the vicissitude of the times, is unquestionably the most eye-catching structure, when looking at downtown Barcelona from a rooftop near the piers.

Perched atop the towering monument is a statue of Christopher Columbus, whose right arm raises high and points to the sea, as if proclaiming his belief that drove him beyond his peers - beyond the ocean lies land.

It was 530 years ago in 1493 when Columbus, triumphant from his first voyage to the Americas, walked up the curved steps leading to the gates of what was then the royal palace, situated at the corner of what is now Plaza del Rey in Barcelona. There, he informed his sponsors of the findings of his voyage, and Barcelona became the first place to hear his discovery of the New World.

Columbus, an Italian, now "stands" above the Barcelona skyline as one of the city's most striking landmarks. This reveals the spirit of exploration and openness to new ideas that characterize Barcelona, known as the "Pearl of the Mediterranean."

The old alleys and passages in Barcelona give an initial impression of the eclectic mix of East and West. There are remnants of ancient Roman walls, old Gothic-style structures standing in the core area, and buildings adorned with mosaic patterns that evoke the city's history with the Arabs. The solemn King Martin's Watchtower recalls the glorious past of Barcelona's rise in the Mediterranean Sea.

Barcelona's most iconic buildings are the works of the "maverick architect" Antoni Gaudi. Born in 1852 into a family of blacksmiths making boilers for generations, Gaudi developed a strong ability to deconstruct space and a unique intuition for sculpture. His childhood leg disability left him unable to play with other children, so he spent more time alone observing nature, inspiring his later architectural concept that emulates organic forms.

Gaudi keenly observed that nature contains no straight lines and very few perfect circles. Therefore, his buildings shun the two geometric figures, instead featuring undulating shapes, uneven surfaces, twisted door panels, leaning columns, meandering benches, and parapets of varying heights.

In his design, chimneys resemble huddles of helmeted warriors and ancient beasts, while doors and windows resemble mystical masks and gaping mouths. Mushroom-like works, candy-like buildings, rainbow lizards, and walls decorated with splashes of colorful mosaics all create his fantastical, fairy-tale world.

Some of Gaudi's contemporaries regarded his architecture as "madness." Yet today, seven of his works have been designated UNESCO World Heritage sites. Over half of Barcelona's tourist attractions are Gaudi's creations, including Park Guell, La Pedrera, and Casa Batlló. In other words, Gaudi's imaginative architectural works have practically upheld Barcelona's tourism industry.

Gaudi's most "insane" work is undoubtedly the Sagrada Familia. The structure commenced construction in 1882 and still remains unfinished today, but it has already been designated a UNESCO World Heritage site.

Although the Sagrada Familia is surrounded by cranes and scaffolds, all who behold this edifice, into which Gaudi poured 43 years of effort, cannot help but be moved and awed by its imaginative details and intricate craftsmanship.

Still under construction, it is an undiscovered "new world" inviting imagination and exploration, because its final form remains unknown. This makes the Sagrada Familia one of Barcelona's most thought-provoking marvels.

Barcelona nurtured not only Gaudi but many other brilliant masters, including artistic geniuses like Pablo Picasso.

Next to the whimsical Casa Batlló is the graceful, lace-like Casa Lleó i Morera, and the Neo-Gothic style Casa Amatller. Their contrasting styles earned the street the nickname the "Block of Discord."

But through a lens of innovation and inclusiveness, such beauty of the differences is the harmony that is most in keeping with the form of nature. Meandering Barcelona's vibrant streets, which embrace diverse inspirations, one may chance upon delightful discoveries of the "new world." This is the allure that draws visitors from afar.

Barcelona has had its share of struggles between the old and the modern, between heritage and innovation. In June 1926, when the city was celebrating the opening of a tram, an elderly ignorant of the novel transport was struck down and soon passed away after being taken to the hospital.

The elderly was Gaudi. He was then immersed in his architectural imagination. This misfortune seems to symbolize the clash between the old and the new. Yet Barcelona's spirit, nurtured through centuries as a port city open to the sea and the world, persevered in embracing both heritage and progress.

In the early 1990s, after decades of effort to win the 1992 Olympics bid, Barcelona's concern was to integrate modern stadiums with the natural Mediterranean landscape.

Despite massive construction, the main Olympic complex redesigned from the prior World's Fair site on Montjuic Hill retained the original facade and style, as well as the hill-shaped form. Looking up from the harbor area at the bottom, one can behold verdant slopes, which evoke a sense of natural harmony between the mountains and the sea.

Yet, just as the 1992 Olympics pioneered igniting the cauldron with an archer's arrow in tribute to the ancient, Barcelona's spirit of innovation endures. The Torre Glories, World Trade Center Barcelona, and Montjuic Communications Tower still showcase cutting-edge designs.

Even vintage sites like Casa Batlló and La Pedrera have become a part of the Gaudi Digital Museum built under China-Spain cooperation.

Wearing virtual reality and augmented reality devices, visitors to these sites can see fish materializing in abstract windows, and a giant turtle swimming from a fireplace painted with a tortoise back pattern. While rooms stand vacant in reality, devices fill the space with furnishings and objects from Gaudi's era in visitors' eyes.

This immersive experience is made available by the digital technology of Chinese tech giant Baidu, which brings Gaudi's concepts and imagination to life and gives visitors an immersive and fresh experience.

As people have "personas" online, cities have "city personas" too. Barcelona's seems like innovation and inclusiveness. In fact, innovation and inclusiveness complement one another, like wings on a bird. Exposure to diverse innovations nurtures acceptance; an inclusive mindset, in turn, draws in more innovation. This symbiosis - a discovery of the "new world" in Barcelona - is the true enlightenment of the "Pearl of the Mediterranean."

在巴塞罗那，发现“新大陆”

人民日报崔士鑫

　　站在码头边的住处楼顶，远眺巴塞罗那城区，最引人注目的当数那根斑驳沧桑、近20层楼高的哥伦布纪念碑柱。矗立碑柱顶端的哥伦布塑像右臂高举，指向大海，仿佛在宣示他走在同时代人之前的信念：“大海的对面是陆地！”

　　整整530年前的1493年，哥伦布第一次从美洲探险凯旋，走上位于今巴塞罗那国王广场一角、通向当年王宫大门的圆弧形台阶，向他的赞助人告知航行成果。巴塞罗那成为第一个听到哥伦布宣布发现新大陆的地方。哥伦布是意大利人，而今却耸立于巴塞罗那的天际线上方，成为巴塞罗那的醒目地标之一，透露出这一被誉为“地中海明珠”的港城勇于探索新事物、包容各种奇思妙想的特质。

　　走在巴塞罗那街头，古老巷陌给人的初步印象是不东不西、光怪陆离。这里有古罗马城墙的断壁残垣，老城核心区仍可见不少哥特风格的旧建筑，贴有马赛克图案的建筑则让人想起阿拉伯人一度经营巴塞罗那的历史，而灰黑、静穆的国王瞭望塔，记录了巴塞罗那雄起于地中海的辉煌岁月。

　　巴塞罗那最有特色的建筑，是素有“怪才建筑大师”之称的高迪的作品。高迪1852年出生于一个世代做锅炉的铁匠之家，这培养了他良好的空间解构能力与对雕塑的独特直觉。同时因为他自小腿部残疾行走不便，不能与小伙伴一起玩耍，更多时间只能独自观察大自然，这成就了他日后师法自然的建筑理念。

　　高迪敏锐观察到，“大自然不存在直线”，也很少存在正圆。因此他的建筑作品几乎不存在直线与正圆，或是波浪式的外形、凹凸不平的墙面，或是扭曲的门板、倾斜的立柱，或是随意延展的长椅、高低错落的护墙，烟囱如扎堆的顶盔武士、远古怪兽，门窗如神秘的面具、张开的大嘴，加上点缀在墙面上色彩斑斓的瓷片，以及与建筑搭配的蘑菇、糖果屋、七彩大蜥蜴等，形成了多姿多彩、童话一般的世界。同时代一些同行视他的建筑为“疯狂”，然而他有七处建筑作品，如今已被列为世界文化遗产。桂尔公园、米拉公寓、巴特罗之家……巴塞罗那一半以上旅游景点，都是高迪的作品，几乎是一个人“养活”了一座城。

　　当然高迪最“疯狂”的作品，还属始建于1882年、至今尚未完工，却已被列为世界文化遗产的圣家族大教堂。虽然施工吊车转动、脚手架高悬，但人们只要伫观这座倾注了高迪43年心血的高大建筑的细节，就无不为其想象之奇特、描绘之细腻所感动和震撼。尤其由于仍在建设当中，没有人知道它最后的模样，仿佛一座未知的“新大陆”，让人们去想象与探索，这成为巴塞罗那发人深思的一大奇观。

　　巴塞罗那不只有高迪，这里还孕育出许多杰出的建筑大师，包括毕加索这样的艺术天才。在随意自然的巴特罗之家旁边，就有优美精致、宛如蕾丝包裹的雷欧·莫蕾拉之家，新哥特式风格的阿马特耶之家。由于三座建筑风格截然不同，人们戏称这里是“不和谐街区”。但如果抱着创新、包容的眼光去看，这种差异之美，才是最符合大自然形态的和谐。它也使人们流连于巴塞罗那有如大自然般丰富多彩的街巷时，不时会有发现“新大陆”般的惊喜。这也是巴塞罗那吸引世界各地游人的魅力所在。

　　在古老与现代、传承与创新之间，巴塞罗那应也曾有过挣扎。1926年6月，巴塞罗那兴高采烈地为一条有轨电车举行通车典礼，一位可能对其懵然无知的老人却被这在当时刚兴起的交通工具撞倒，送医不久就撒手人寰。没想到这位老人就是正沉浸于他的建筑构想当中的高迪。这一不幸事故，似乎寓示了古老与现代的冲突。好在自古面向大海、港口通达四方所养育而成的城市特性，使巴塞罗那延续了其创新与包容兼具的风貌。

　　上世纪90年代初，在历经半个多世纪才艰难取得1992年奥运会主办权时，巴塞罗那最关心的是现代化体育场怎样与地中海自然风貌和谐相融。尽管因赛事需要进行了大规模建设，但由位于蒙锥克山上的原世界博览会会场改建的奥运主会场，始终保留着博览会会场原有的建筑立面与风格，以及加泰罗尼亚山丘般的外形。至今从山下的港区望上去，只能看到一座绿意葱茏的海边丘山，充满了山海相接的自然气息。

　　然而正如1992年奥运会首创用古老射箭术点燃奥运火炬，成为奥运开幕式经典，在崇尚自然、开放包容的巴塞罗那，创新一直没有停止。阿格巴塔、世界贸易中心、时空通讯塔……新建筑依然充满设计感。即使“古董级”的巴特罗之家、米拉公寓等，也已成为中国和西班牙的合作项目——高迪数字博物馆的组成部分。游人戴上VR、AR等设备，就能看到抽象似鱼的窗户，赫然浮现一条鱼，涂有龟背花纹的壁炉，悠悠游出一巨龟。现实中空荡荡的房间，镜头中却摆满高迪时代的家具与各类用品……百度的数字技术让高迪的建筑理念和奇思妙想，活灵活现展示眼前，给游人带来沉浸式的新鲜体验。

　　类似于网言网语所说的人有“人设”，城市也有“城设”。巴塞罗那的“城设”，或许就是创新与包容。实际上，创新与包容正如鸟之双翼。创新的因子多，易养成包容的心态；有了包容心态，就会有更多创新。或许，这才是“地中海明珠”给人的大发现与真启迪。