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The missing La Deliciosa baths were one of the first bathhouses opened at the end of the 19th century on the Mar Vieja beach located between the San Sebastián Baths and the workshops of the disappeared Nueva Vulcano shipyards at the end of the National Promenade.
It was one of the first open bathhouses that managed to break the routine of the upper class of Barcelona society, achieving that, as had happened since the beginning of sea bathing, bathers instead of traveling to take sea baths far away of the city in the summer season, they will stay to take them in Barcelona.
The Deliciosa baths opened their doors in 1867, taking advantage of the freedom of movement that people located inside the wall had from 1854 to move freely outside the old city enclosure at any time.
Initially, the La Deliciosa baths were popular for the installation in their enclosure of a wooden platform that went several meters into the sea and allowed bathers to exercise in the art of entering the water headfirst, something they only knew through press and wanted to try for themselves the sensation of the classics "nailed in the sea".
It was a time when the rulers of the time were trying to make the population believe that the city had emerged from an economic and public health crisis after it overcame a cholera epidemic outbreak and an economic crisis, entering a progressive stage ( very fashionable word today) that would solve all the previous evils.
The initiative for its construction came from Tomàs Ribalta, who, taking advantage of a free Mar Vieja beach space located between the old military defense installation known as the Shipyard Battery and the Nueva Vulcano shipyard workshops, decided to use the area to build the new Bath House La Deliciosa.
As a result of Tomas Ribalta's decision, other new businessmen decided to open new bathhouses in the area. At the beginning of July 1882, La Vanguardia, then in single-column pages, communicated to the people of Barcelona:
The day before yesterday, the inauguration of a new wave bath establishment took place, titled "Pompeya" and located on the Mar Vieja beach, next to those of "La Deliciosa" and "Neptuno". This extremely spacious establishment meets all the comfort conditions desirable in those of this class. There are a regular number of rooms for bathers and several compartments for twenty-five or thirty people for the public. Three stairs, one central and two lateral, lead to the beach, and at the foot of each of them there are Dos-Rius water showers, which also abundantly supply several jets.
The La Deliciosa bathhouse had hegemony in the area. On the occasion of the feast of San Pedro in 1883, he organized a party to mark the inauguration of the summer season on June 30, 1883. La Vanguardia, in its pages, highlighted:
Yesterday afternoon at the "La Deliciosa" bathing establishment and the adjacent beach, the inauguration of the bathing season took place. Two regattas were held, in which "Atlántida", "Churruca" and "Matilde" took part, with "Atlántida" emerging as the winner. », which won the first prize, consisting of a flag and a pennant with the following inscription: «La Deliciosa: award for skill. June 29, 1883.
In June 1885, on the occasion of the San Pedro festival, La Vanguardia echoed the regattas organized by La Deliciosa in the waters of the Old Sea.
Tomás Ribalta himself years later would open the popular San Sebastián Baths in 1889, without a doubt, the most renowned bath company in the entire history of Barceloneta and the city.
Shortly before, La Vanguardia itself had already announced the news in its pages:
We have been told that the owner of the accredited "La Deliciosa" bathing establishment, Mr. Tomás Ribalta, has presented to the City Council's secretariat a construction project for the establishment of pool and wave baths on Barceloneta beach, in order to that the respective commission of the municipal Corporation issue the corresponding report on said project.
La Vanguardia on July 21, 1895 published an advertisement in which it was commented that due to the festival of San Jaime, there would be a Golondrinas service to the baths of San Sebastián and La Deliciosa, from 4:30 in the morning until 8 p.m. . We can see that the Mar Vieja Beach had already disappeared and the area was already known as Barceloneta.
The trail of the La Deliciosa baths was lost at the end of the 1930s with the outbreak of the Civil War, a period in which there were continuous bombings in that area of Barceloneta due to the shipyards.
