Pictures Eixample district Barcelona

The word Eixample in Catalan, or Ensanche in Spanish, literally  means “the extension”. The Spanish verb “ensanchar” means to “broaden or widen.” So this district and area of Barcelona takes it’s name from its purpose – to extend the city of Barcelona.

  Read about Eixample (Ensanche) area of Barcelona

The Eixample area of Barcelona was created as an extension of the old city of Barcelona to keep pace with the changes that the industrial revolution was starting to bring. By the middle of the 19th century a fast growing and increasingly wealthy middle class of Barcelona wanted new, more modern and grander residences with more space and better living conditions. In the picture below you how Eixample was laid out in a grid pattern. Note the Sagrada Familia church in the top left of the picture.