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The missing Galería Condal cinema was installed inside the building of the old Banco Vitalicio, on Paseo de Gracia 11 in Barcelona, so it did not have an exterior façade.
It was built between 1946 and 1949 on the site that was left empty after the demolition of the old Samà Palace, owned by Salvador Samà Martí,
Its promoter was Miguel de Miguel, a Segovian businessman who dedicated his entire life to the world of cinema. He had made his first steps as manager of the Gran Salón Doré cinemas, on Rambla Catalunya, and the Teatro Cine Olympia, on Ronda de Sant Pau.
Later, with the demolition of Palau Samà and the construction of the Banco Vitalicio building, he found inside the building the appropriate lot to turn it into a movie theater to his liking.
It was inaugurated (before the construction of the building was completed) on December 13, 1946 with the celebration of a gala to benefit the Cotolengo del Padre Alegre Hospital. Those attending the inauguration, apart from going with strict etiquette, had to make a minimum donation of 100 pesetas.
On the opening day, El Velo Azul, starring Gaby Morlay, premiered in Spain. At the end of the film, Miguel de Miguel offered the audience a performance by Lyse Roger, who was accompanied on the piano by the concert pianist Martín de la Rosa.
On December 12 of that same year, a Catalan music concert was held at the premises, on the occasion of the inauguration of the Catalan Culture Association.
Saturday of Glory, April 5, 1947, became the first cinema in Barcelona to advance the beginning of film sessions to the mornings, something unthinkable at that time.
It opened its doors at 11 in the morning, with the screening of The Last of the Philippines and a spectacular program of newsreels, drawings and documentaries.
On July 11, 1951, in the morning at 11, he screened A la Habana me voy, with Alice Raye, Carmen Miranda, John Payne and César Rornero.
In the evening, at the request of the public, he presented a horror program at the Cine Club, with the reprise of the special screening of the film The Testament of Dr. Mabuse, by Fritz Lang (original version, with labels), which in its day had been released in the theater.
The evening was completed by the German documentary The Secret of the Mummies, the color drawings The Terror in the Pantry and the great creation Harold Lloyd, A Ghost Tale.
The Galería Condal had the honor of releasing the complete version of the film of The Bicycle Thief in its complete version.
In August 1954 he inserted an advertisement in which he announced that, starting at the end of the holidays, he would make a program of the film that had had the most success during the holiday season, to be shown starting in September.
On April 22, 1956, La Vanguardia published on page 29 the premiere for Monday the 23rd of the film The Mad King, the first German film in color, at the Coliseum cinema. When viewing the advertisement on the page, only the Coliseum cinema appeared, but on the billboard the Galería Condal appeared in a small individual advertisement in which it announced:
Condal Gallery from Monday to Wednesday Cautivos del Mar by Lana Tuner and Kirk Douglas and from Thursday to Sunday Colt 45.
It was not until Friday, June 22, two months later, that La Vanguardia announced the premiere of The Mad King, which was screened until Sunday, October 14, since on Monday the 15th it premiered a week of Spanish cinema showing films directed by the director José Luis Sáenz de Heredia programming a different film every day of the week.
On Friday, October 15, 1959, as an arthouse cinema, the film Piroschka premiered, winning first prize for Acting at the Brussels International Festival, with Liselotte Pulver.
In September 1965 he joined forces with the Atlantic cinema to screen The Adventures of Topo Gigio, a film that came to exploit the success achieved on TVE with the famous mouse and the presenter Ana María Solsona.
Miguel de Miguel's death in 1966 marked the beginning of decline. The lack of it and the arrival of new trends in viewing films made its managers, seeing the decrease in spectators, choose to dedicate themselves to showing sex films banned to date by the government of the dictatorship.
But finally, the cinema closed its doors on April 14, 1986, with the screening of Naked Passion in the Bedroom and Naked Prostitution.
