City & Venue
This year the conference venue has change and we have moved to the COSMOCAIXA building, the Scientific Museum of "la Caixa" Foundation and it occupies the installations of the first Museum of Interactive Science in Spain. Our sessions are taking place in Àgora and Tau conference rooms.
COSMOCAIXA
Isaac Newton St, 26
08022 Barcelona
Tel. 93 212 60 50
The Cosmocaixa is located next to Avinguda Tibidabo in a modernist building designed by Josep Domènech i Estapà, between 1904-1909 to serve as an asylum for blind people. The building was renovated, retaining the original facade; recently it was expanded bringing the building to four times its original size.
How to get there?
From Plaça Catalunya: Ferrocarrils de la Generalitat de Catalunya (FGC) (railway), L7 (brown line), from Catalunya Station (Plaça Catalunya) to Avinguda Tibidabo Station (10 minutes).
Then, from Avinguda Tibidabo Station (Plaça Kennedy) (L7):
- Take the bus 196. Bus stop: Tibidabo-Josep Garí + 5 minutes walking
- Or take the bus 123. Bus stop: Quatre Camins-Teodor Roviralta (rear entrance by the Cosmocaixa's garden)
- Or walk uphill for 15 minutes
Taxi service. A taxi from Plaça Catalunya to Cosmocaixa can cost about 15€ (approximate price).
Stylish Barcelona
BCN Meeting PR #5 will be held in Barcelona, situated on the western Mediterranean and widely acknowledged as one of the most beautiful and vibrant cities in Europe. Founded in Roman times Barcelona has preserved an outstanding architectural heritage, notably in Gothic, Modernist and avant-garde styles.
Video: Barcelona is much more: Come to enjoy tourism near Barcelona
Video: Some reasons to visit Barcelona
Video: Barcelona City - Hyperlapse
- Barcelona is the capital of Catalonia and the city of Modernisme with nine UNESCO World Heritage sites
- Barcelona is the best summer city according to followers of the Lonely Planet social networking websites (2011)
- Barcelona is the first city in the world to be certified by Biosphere as a sustainable tourist destination (2011)
- Barcelona Shopping Line is the ultimate in tourist shopping routes, with top international and local designer labels.
- Barcelona has the best Romanesque art collection in the world (MNAC museum)
- Barcelona has 21 Michelin stars
- Barcelona has 4.5km of beaches
Barcelona, Catalonia's capital is one of the foremost cities on the western Mediterranean. Founded in Roman times, it experienced periods of great economic and cultural brilliance in the Middle Ages and it wake of the Industrial Revolution (19th Century). It has preserved an outstanding architectural heritage, notably in Gothic, Modernist (Gaudí) and avant-garde styles. Barcelona has a unique, bustling, tree-lined promenade where its citizens gather in all their diversity. It is called the Rambla and stretches from Plaça de Catalunya to near the monument to Colombus. On it stand the Liceu, one of the Europe's most prestigious opera houses and the market of La Boqueria. It is also lined with popular newspaper kiosks and stalls selling flowers. Two of Barcelona's most important religious buildings are located in the districts of Ciutat Vella and La Ribera: the Cathedral, built in Gothic times, and the basilica of Santa Maria del Mar, one of the most outstanding examples of Catalan Gothic style.
Barcelona is also the undisputed capital of Modernist architecture and one whole district –the Eixample. Was built according to MKodernist tenets. Passeig de Gràcia is the street with the largest concentration of major Modernist buildings: casa Batlló and La Padrera by Gaudí, Casa Ametller by Puig I Cadafalch, and Casa Llaó Morera by Domènech i Montaner.
For further information visit the Barcelona Turisme Website.
About Catalonia
Catalonia is a small country, in terms of size. But its personality, shaped by over a thousand years of history,
and its distinct culture and language, has made it both rich and great.
Catalonia lies in the north-eastern Iberian Peninsula. It has over seven million inhabitants and occupies an area comparable to Belgium, the Netherlands or Switzerland.
Video: Some information about Catalonia
Catalan language
Catalonia's own language is Catalan. This has been the case since the 12th century. When democracy was restored in 1979, Catalan and Spanish were both recognized as official languages in Catalonia. The origins of the Catalan language date back to the early Middle Ages. Despite periods of prohibition and repression, the majority of Catalans still use it today.
Catalonia's heritage
The castells (human towers) and the Mediterranean diet, registered as intangible cultural heritage by UNESCO.
Dalí and the Surrealism
Salvador Dalí (Figueres, 1904 - 1989) was an artist who defies classification. He was a unique figure in Surrealism, to which he contributed the paranoiaccritical method, and was one of the first to make his life and work a marketing commodity. Dalí's work in Catalonia is housed in the main in the Teatre-Museu Dalí in Figueres, in the castle in Púbol and the Casa-Museu Salvador Dalí overlooking the bay of Portlligat in Cadaqués.
Pau Casals, the great cellist
Pau Casals (El Vendrell, 1876 - Puerto Rico, 1973) is internationally one of the best known Catalans. Listening to Casals play a suite by Bach is an unforgettable experience. His name is still linked with that of the town where he was born, El Vendrell (Costa Daurada), thanks to Vil·la Casals (his home and now a museum), to the house where he was born, and to the Auditori Pau Casals and its programme of music dedicated especially to Catalan performers and composers.
Catalonia is Gastronomy
Guides and critics all over the world consider that Catalan cuisine is currently experiencing a veritable "golden age". Catalan restaurateurs include some of the world's most prestigious names, such as Ferran Adrià, Joan Roca, Carme Ruscalleda and Carles Gaig, all veritable geniuses of avant-garde cuisine.
Wine and cava
Wine has been produced in Catalonia since the time of the Romans. Catalonia encompasses a varied range of DO appellations: Catalunya, Costers del Segre, Tarragona, Pla de Bages, Costa Brava, Allella, Conca de Barbera, Montsant, Terra Alta, Penedes, Priorat.
Catalonia is also the heartland of Cava. Cava is Catalonia's very own sparkling wine, made using the 'Champagne method' and a delicious version of its French cousin. It is extremely popular in Barcelona, and indeed the rest of Spain, thanks to the numerous vineyards in the region owned by top wine-makes such as Codorniu, Torres and Freixenet.
Cava is produced in varying levels of dryness, according to the amount of sugar used in the fermentation process. These are: brut nature, brut (extra dry), seco (dry), semiseco (medium) and dulce (sweet). According to Spanish law, Cava can be produced in six wine regions in Spain. 99% of Cava is made in the Penedès region of Catalonia.
For further information about Catalonia, visit the Catalonia Tourist Information Website.