What remains of the Montjuïc funicular from 1929?

An advertisement in which the advertising of the Grima pesticide company is still legible persists in resisting in the old Miramar station of the Montjuïc funicular, today closed and practically dismantled.

Thomas Osborne
Thomas Osborne
01 June 2022 Wednesday 22:18
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What remains of the Montjuïc funicular from 1929?

An advertisement in which the advertising of the Grima pesticide company is still legible persists in resisting in the old Miramar station of the Montjuïc funicular, today closed and practically dismantled. Along with the advertisement, there are also the remains of one of the mahogany escalators that linked to the surviving platform of the section that went up to the castle. It is what remains of the original funicular built for the 1929 International Exhibition. Pure industrial archaeology.

The funicular was part of the transportation and access system to the mountain for the exhibition. It had two sections. One linked Paral·lel with Miramar. Although thoroughly renovated and modernized, this section is still in service as part of the TMB public transport network. The second section connected Miramar with the castle and today it is completely dismantled. Only the remains of the Miramar platform remain.

The original funicular was in service until 1981, when it was temporarily closed to undergo a major renovation for a few years. The section between Miramar and the castle no longer reopened and was replaced by the cable car.

For the people of Barcelona in 1929, the funicular was one of the attractions beyond the exhibition itself, in a very special way the escalators, until then almost unheard of in the city. There were two sections that connected the Miramar platforms. Today only the remains of one remain. The promoters then decided that the steps should be covered in mahogany, in order to give it a stately appearance.

The floor of some conveyor belts, similar to those at airports, that ran along the corridor that connects the Paral·lel metro station with the funicular station was also made of mahogany. Today it no longer exists, but in its day it was another attraction that aroused the curiosity of the citizens.