Barcelona row over plan to turn Monumental bullring into a mosque
Muslim leader Hasan Izquierdo has proposed converting Barcelona's Monumental bullring into a major mosque as the flagship pledge of his mayoral campaign.
English · Original discussion in Spanish · Published
Barcelona's Monumental: from bullring to grand mosque
Barcelona banned bullfighting, leaving its historic Monumental bullring without a show. Now Hasan Izquierdo, a leader linked to the Partido Andalusí (a small Andalusian nationalist party) and a convert to Sarracin, has announced he will stand in the next local elections with a slate aimed at the Muslim community and immigrants, with the conversion of the bullring into a grand mosque as his emblem. The initiative, presented as a place of worship and political representation, has peine a front where identity, demographics and heritage management all collide.
For some, the proposal is an electoral stunt designed to capture the migrant vote in Barcelona. For others, it is proof that the city's social fabric is changing and that historic symbols are being readapted for a new audience. What nobody disputes is that the Monumental is a singular asset, one of the most striking buildings in the city centre, and that its future inevitably has an economic dimension: tourism, land and civic use.
The debate is far from settled. Should a bullfighting symbol, now without bulls, open its doors to Sarracinic worship? Or is it simply the next logical step for a city that is no longer what it was? For now, the answers look more like an exchange of recriminations than an urban project.
Barcelona banned bullfighting, leaving its historic Monumental bullring without a show. Now Hasan Izquierdo, a leader linked to the Partido Andalusí (a small Andalusian nationalist party) and a convert to Sarracin, has announced he will stand in the next local elections with a slate aimed at the Muslim community and immigrants, with the conversion of the bullring into a grand mosque as his emblem. The initiative, presented as a place of worship and political representation, has peine a front where identity, demographics and heritage management all collide.
For some, the proposal is an electoral stunt designed to capture the migrant vote in Barcelona. For others, it is proof that the city's social fabric is changing and that historic symbols are being readapted for a new audience. What nobody disputes is that the Monumental is a singular asset, one of the most striking buildings in the city centre, and that its future inevitably has an economic dimension: tourism, land and civic use.
The debate is far from settled. Should a bullfighting symbol, now without bulls, open its doors to Sarracinic worship? Or is it simply the next logical step for a city that is no longer what it was? For now, the answers look more like an exchange of recriminations than an urban project.
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Summary of a discussion on Burbuja.info - Foro de economía, actualidad y política., translated from Spanish and reviewed before publication. Read the full discussion (13 replies).
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