Eixample
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The Eixample (Catalan for "extension"; Castilian, Ensanche) is a district of Barcelona between the old city (Ciutat Vella) and what were once surrounding small towns (Sants, Gràcia, Sant Andreu etc.). Constructed in the 19th and early 20th centuries, some parts of the Eixample were heavily influenced by modernist architects, chief among whom is Antoni Gaudí. His work in the Eixample includes the Casa Milà (nicknamed La Pedrera) and the Sagrada Familia, as well as the Casa Batlló, both of which are on the wide Passeig de Gràcia.
This last is part of a block called the Illa de la Discòrdia, along with two other notable Modernisme works, Lluís Domènech i Montaner's Casa Lleó Morera and Josep Puig i Cadafalch's Casa Amatller. The block is so named due to the visual clash between the buildings; its Spanish name, Manzana de la Discordia, is also a pun on Eris's Apples of Discord - manzana means both "apple" and "city block".
The Eixample is characterized by long straight streets, a strict grid pattern crossed by wide avenues, and truncated-square blocks (named illes in Catalan, manzanas in Spanish). This was a visionary, pioneering design by Ildefons Cerdà, who considered traffic and transport along with sunlighting and ventilation in coming up with his characteristic octagon-shaped blocks, where the streets broaden at every intersection making for greater visibility, better ventilation and (today) some short-stay parking space. The grid pattern remains as a hallmark of Barcelona, but many of his other provisions were unfortunately ignored: the four sides of the blocks and the inner space were built instead of the planned two or three sides around a garden; the streets were narrower; only one of the two diagonal avenues were realized; the inhabitants were of a higher class than the mixed composition dreamed of by Cerdà.
The most important avenues in the Eixample are the Passeig de Gràcia (that links centric Pl.Catalunya with the old town of Gracia), Avinguda Diagonal (that cuts the grid diagonally), and Gran Via de les Corts Catalanes (that crosses all Barcelona from southwest to northeast).
Some parts of the Eixample are rather well-to-do neighbourhoods, especially around Passeig de Gràcia, but the Eixample also contains many decaying buildings inhabited by lonely aged tenants on the verge of poverty.
Eixample contains one of Barcelona's gay villages, nicknamed the gaixample.ca:Eixample de Barcelona de:Eixample es:Ensanche de Barcelona fr:Eixample