Spanish Civil War 1936–1939
Teatre Poliorama, La Rambla (Orwell's rooftop)
Barcelona · City site
The story
George Orwell, on leave from the POUM militia on the Aragon front, spent the May Days of 1937 on the roof of the Poliorama cinema (Rambla 115) guarding the POUM executive building across the Rambla, as he describes in 'Homage to Catalonia'. The Rambla, Plaça de Catalunya and the old city were divided by barricades between CNT/POUM and government/PSUC forces. A month later the POUM was outlawed and Orwell escaped from Spain as its members were being arrested. A small square in the Gothic Quarter, Plaça de George Orwell, now bears his name.
What you can see today
The building of the Reial Acadèmia de Ciències i Arts with the Poliorama theatre, its façade and clock tower much as Orwell knew them.
Plan your visit
Free, visible from La Rambla; the theatre is open only for performances.
Sources
- poblesdecatalunya.cat/element.php?e=1901
- poblesdecatalunya.cat/element.php?e=1901
- en.wikipedia.org/wiki/May_Days
Nearby sites
- Telefónica building & Plaça de Catalunya (May Days 1937) · under 1 km
- Plaça de Sant Felip Neri (bombing of 30 January 1938) · under 1 km
- Barcelona Cathedral – the religious persecution of 1936 · under 1 km
- Refugi 307, Poble-sec (MUHBA) · 1 km
- Castell de Montjuïc · 2 km
- Fossar de la Pedrera, Montjuïc · 4 km
All 158 sites in Spanish Civil War 1936–1939 →
The Spanish Civil War 1936–1939
A free field guide for your phone: the route, the maps and the stories built in, even with no signal. The battlefields, trenches, ruined villages, shelters, museums and memorials of the Spanish Civil War across the whole of Spain, told fairly from both sides.
Open the guide