Spain
Spain is a country in southwestern Europe occupying most of the Iberian Peninsula. It is bordered by Portugal, France, Andorra, the Atlantic Ocean, and the Mediterranean Sea, and it also includes the Balearic and Canary Islands. Madrid is both its capital and largest city, Spanish is the official language throughout the country, and Spain is governed as a constitutional monarchy. Its landscape includes a broad central plateau, fertile river valleys, mountain ranges, and extensive coastlines.
Spain developed from a series of kingdoms shaped by Roman, Visigothic, Islamic, and Christian rule. The marriage of Ferdinand of Aragon and Isabella of Castile helped unite the principal Spanish kingdoms, and the conquest of Granada in 1492 ended centuries of Muslim rule on the peninsula. Spain then established a vast overseas empire and became a major European power. Following the Spanish Civil War of 1936–1939, the country remained under the dictatorship of Francisco Franco until 1975. Spain then transitioned to a constitutional democracy and joined the European Economic Community, now the European Union, in 1986.
Recent Articles
Pau Gil — The Man Behind Hospital de Sant Pau
While visiting the Hospital de Sant Pau in Barcelona, I stopped to photograph this statue. Surrounded by the extraordinary architecture and decoration of the hospital, it would be easy to walk past without asking who this man was. But in many ways, the entire complex exists because of him. The statue honors Pau Gil i […]
Frederic Soler Statue
Walking through Barcelona, I came across this seated figure in a small square. I didn’t know who the man was or why a monument had been placed here. But that is one of the things I enjoy about traveling: a statue, plaque or old building can make me stop and ask a simple question: who […]
Carmela
Walking through Barcelona, we came upon this enormous face standing unexpectedly on the street near the Palau de la Música Catalana. It is exactly the kind of discovery I love when traveling. Here is something we were not necessarily looking for that immediately made us stop and wonder what it was. The sculpture is called […]
Santiago Rusiñol and Ramon Casas
One of the pleasures of traveling is unexpectedly discovering the people who helped shape a place. Walking along the waterfront in Sitges, I came across this bronze monument honoring two of Catalonia’s most celebrated artists, Santiago Rusiñol and Ramon Casas. Their presence here is no accident. More than a century ago, these two friends helped […]
Columbus Sculpture
There is a gift that certain artists have, the ability to capture a moment so completely that the story is understood before it is explained. That is how I felt standing before the Columbus sculpture at the Museum of Jewish History in Girona. Created by Frank Meisler in 1994, this is not a single image, but […]
“La Verema”
It was great to spend a day in Sitges, exploring a new town after teaching in Barcelona. The views of the Mediterranean stretched out endlessly shifting in color with the light. Walking along the beach was refreshing and a quiet transition for our time in Barcelona. Sitges is a town of white buildings against the blue of […]
