A timeline of Barcelona

1996

  • Johan Cruyff is fired as head coach of Barça
  • EasyJet is launched and offers cheap flights to Barcelona from Luton, UK
  • The International Brigades are honoured in events commemorating the Spanish Civil War's 60th anniversary

 1997

  • The Palau de la Música Catalana and Hospital de Sant Pau are declared UNESCO World Heritage Sites
  • Joan Clos takes over as Mayor of Barcelona from Pasqual Maragall
  • One million people rally for peace after the ETA killing of Miguel Ángel Blanco

1998

  • Catalan poet Joan Brossa dies in Barcelona at age 79
  • The Triangle shopping centre is inaugurated and is home to Desigual's first shop in the city
  • The amusement park on Montjuïc closes its doors after 30 years. The space it occupied is now where the Jardins de Joan Brossa are located
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1999

  • The Auditori concert hall opens
  • To commemorate the centennial of FC Barcelona, the city hosts its first Champions League final between Bayern Munich and Manchester United
  • The Gran Teatre del Liceu, Barcelona's opera house, opens after a three-year, $120 million renovation due to a fire in 1994

2000

  • Plans are approved for a 22@Barcelona district—an urban renewal area in Barcelona's formerly industrial area of Poblenou—and Razzmatazz opens as a result
  • Refurbishment of the Palau de la Música Catalana finishes
  • The new Rambla del Raval is inaugurated

 2001

  • The first edition of Primavera Sound takes place in Poble Espanyol
  • Santa Maria del Pi provides shelter to immigrants who go on hunger strike against the new Ley de Extranjería
  • Las Arenas bullring is reborn as a new shopping centre

2002

  • The euro is introduced to replace the peseta
  • The CaixaForum opens its doors in the Puig i Cadalfalch's Modernist textile factory, Casaramona on Montjuïc
  • The city celebrates Any Gaudí commemorating 150 years since the architect's birth

2003

  • More than 7,000 people gathered at dawn on the Avinguda de la Reina Maria Cristina and shed their clothes for artist Spencer Tunick's largest work featuring a sea of nude bodies
  • Barcelona-born writer Manuel Vázquez Montalbán dies

2004

  • The city council condemns bullfighting and is Spain's first city to come out against the centuries-old sport
  • The Barcelona Fòrum Universal de les Cultures takes place at the Fòrum, receiving over three million visitors

 2005

  • The Torre Agbar by Jean Nouvel is completed at the Plaça de les Glòries
  • The Museu de la Ciencia reopens its doors as the CosmoCaixa
  • Lionel Messi scores his first ever goal for FC Barcelona

2006

  • The Barcelona Biomedical Research Park opens in the Vila Olímpica, creating one of the largest hubs of biomedical research in southern Europe
  • Legislation is passed that makes the selling of birds and animals on the Ramblas illegal

2007

  • Bicing is launched and within four months it has over 84,000 users
  • The Mobile World Congress takes place in Barcelona for the first time
  • The Mercat de Sant Antoni celebrates its 125th anniversary and closes for refurbishment

2008

  • The AVE rail link finally connects Barcelona and Madrid
  • The World Conservation Congress ends in Barcelona. The meeting was awash in gloomy forecasts
  • Vicky Cristina Barcelona comes out

2009

  • U2 starts their 360° Tour at Camp Nou
  • The W hotel opens
  • A new study reveals the air in Barcelona is laced with at least five drugs, including trace amounts of amphetamines, opiates, cannabinoids and lysergic acid

2010

  • The Sagrada Família temple is consecrated as a place of worship by Pope Benedict XVI
  • San Francisco welcomes Barcelona as its newest sister city
  • Line 10 of the metro opens

2011

  • A new law tightens anti-smoking restrictions introduced in 2006. The ban—one of the strictest in Europe—outlaws smoking in all bars and restaurants
  • Plaça George Orwell in Ciutat Vella undergoes a much-needed facelift

2012

  • Generalitat President Artur Mas i Gavarró leads the campaign for Catalan independence, aiming for a referendum in 2014
  • The Apple Store opens on Passeig de Gràcia
  • Thirteen new luxury hotels open in the city

2013

  • Barcelona begins charging admission to Park Güell
  • Els Encants market moves into its new building
  • 170-year-old Jugueteria Monforte in Plaça Sant Josep Oriol closes down, following the steps of many of the city´s oldest and most emblematic businesses

2014

  • The Generalitat fines Airbnb €30,000 for infringement of local tourism laws
  • Okupas of 17-year-old squat Can Vies in Sants are evicted
  • The first Palo Alto market is held

2015

  • The Museu del Disseny de Barcelona on the Plaça de les Glòries opens
  • Ada Colau of Barcelona en Comú becomes Barcelona´s first female mayor
  • Barcelona is named Global Smart City of 2015