Plaça Tetuan sits at the junction of Gran Via and Passeig de Sant Joan, one of the Eixample’s few historic green spaces. Right now, it’s more of a roundabout than a traditional square, but you can still walk into its centre for a quieter moment away from the traffic.
The square gets its name from the 1860 Battle of Tetuán in Morocco, where General Prim led Catalan volunteers. This is the same battle that Marià Fortuny captured in his most famous painting.
From above, Plaça Tetuan looks like an eye. Some say this shape is a deliberate nod to the Moroccan city’s Amazigh name, Tittāwīn, which means exactly that.
The square’s centrepiece is the Monument to Doctor Robert, a sculpture group that has moved around Barcelona. It stood in Plaça Universitat from 1910 to 1940 before Franco’s regime dismantled it. The monument returned to public view when democracy was restored, but in its current Plaça Tetuan location.
There’s also a lesser-known monument here, the Fountain of the Sardana. It features Joan Maragall’s famous verse: ‘La sardana és la dansa més bella de totes les danses que es fan i es desfan’ (The sardana is the most beautiful of all dances that form and dissolve).
The colonial name has sparked debate in recent years. Campaigners have proposed renaming it Plaça 1 d’Octubre or Plaça Muriel Casals, but neither initiative has gained enough support.
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