With the reopening of the Hivernacle yesterday, the Ciutadella del Coneixement project is starting to take shape, an ambitious plan to convert the historic park of Barcelona and its surroundings into one of the most powerful centers of science and innovation in Europe. Fifteen months of work and an investment of 2.5 million euros have been necessary to restore one of the buildings reminiscent of the International Exhibition of 1888.
A very careful restoration has made it possible to recover the original spirit of the Barcelona glass palace, which had been lost after many years of closure, deterioration of the facilities and previous reforms that had hidden some elements that now regain all their splendor previous
The public presentation of the modernized Hivernacle brought together representatives of various municipal political forces headed by the current mayor, Jaume Collboni, the former mayor Xavier Trias and the former first deputy mayor, Janet Sanz, who under his mandate the rehabilitation of this unique space began.
The recovery of the Hivernacle is the first part of one of the most ambitious projects underway in Barcelona, that of the Ciutadella del Coneixement, which revolves around the city's central park. In this territory dedicated to science, and thanks to the collaboration of the different public administrations, universities and various research centers, nearly 2,000 researchers will work. The project as a whole will require an estimated investment of 290 million euros, of which the Barcelona City Council is providing around 75 million.
The magnificent Hivernacle, the work of late 19th century municipal architect Josep Amargós, is one of the four historical pieces located in the park that will form part of the Ciutadella del Coneixement project. Today, the Martorell Museum, the oldest public museum in Barcelona, which has also been rehabilitated, will be unofficially inaugurated – there are still some details missing that will delay the official reopening ceremony by a few weeks. To take advantage of the Christmas festivities, this facility, now renamed the Martorell Exhibition Centre, will host two exhibitions as a preview of the new uses.
The other two historic buildings in the park dedicated to science will also be subject to rehabilitation. The Castle of the Three Dragons, one of the major works of Lluís Domènech i Montaner, has the project almost ready to undertake works that should culminate in 2026. The Umbracle is also expected to be ready by that year , which has been open all these years and requires minor works.
The Conservatory shows all its romantic beauty again after having replaced the glass, the lighting system and the interior irrigation and having recovered original paintings and decorations that were not taken into account in the the last facelift it underwent, which dates back to 2007. It will be open every day from ten in the morning until sunset. Other uses other than those related to science and its dissemination have initially been ruled out. The first exhibition it will host, at the beginning of 2024, is entitled Climate Machine.
The historic buildings of the park are just some of the pieces that will make up the Citadel of Knowledge. The City Council has a special interest in the majority of this project being fully operational before the end of the municipal mandate in the spring of 2027. The other pieces are, first of all, the three new buildings that will be erected on the site of the old Fish Market, where earthworks began months ago. Here will be the Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology (BIST), the Institute of Evolutionary Biology (CSIC- Universitat Pompeu Fabra) and new branches of the UPF itself.
The Biosciences Center of the CSIC will also be newly created, which will be built on the site where the State Mobile Park building is located, which will concentrate the different biomedical research units that the CSIC has in Catalonia (300 researchers and 40 inquiry groups). The Institute of Biomedical Research of Barcelona and the Institute of Molecular Biology of Barcelona will be located there.
All these pieces could be ready in three and a half years, but there would still be another rather important element missing. This is the Central Urban Library that the State has to build next to França station. Mayor Collboni has set a date for its entry into service: no earlier than 2029.
There is another piece to consider: the Barcelona zoo, which in the coming years must develop its strategic project, which redirects this facility that occupies half of the Ciutadella park towards innovation, research and the protection of animal species, as well as their well-being. From an urban planning point of view, it will be necessary to design solutions so that the zoo enclosure ceases to be a barrier and becomes a permeable space and more linked to the park as a whole and to the facilities located outside the same enclosure.
