Freedom and future

At the intersection of Passeig de Valldaura, Passeig de Verdun and Via Júlia is Plaça de la República, one of the nerve centres of the Nou Barris district. This square, which was originally called Plaça Llucmajor, was designed in 1990 with a central roundabout where a large abstract steel structure was planned to meet a goal: to finally give the sculpture of The Republic a location. 

In the centre, a large monolith accompanies a bronze statue measuring 4.5 metres called Flama (Flame), a work by the sculptor Josep Viladomat. This figure depicts a haughty young nude woman who is holding a laurel branch, the symbol of freedom and future, in her hand with her arm raised in the air. At the base, a medallion by the sculptor Joan Pié bearing a relief of the face of Pi i Margall, the president of the First Spanish Republic in 1873, concludes the work.

With historical memory

In 1915, City Council decided to design a sculptural group dedicated to the Republic and in honour of Pi i Margall and to place it around the obelisk located in the centre of  Plaça del Cinc d'Oros. However, the project never came to fruition until the arrival of the Second Republic. The President of the Government of Catalonia, Lluís Companys, officially unveiled it on 12 April 1936, but after the Civil War the Franco regime ordered it removed and the statue and medallion destroyed. However, they are still conserved thanks to the architects Adolf Florensa and Joaquim Vilaseca, who hid them in a municipal garage. And there they remained until the restoration of democracy, when they were brought back to light. Located first in Plaça Sóller, they eventually found their permanent home in what was then called Plaça Llucmajor, a location tailored to the neighbourhoods and residents that adopted them and turned them into a symbol.

A final homage

The square's name changed to Plaça de la República in 2016 was the culmination of a process in which the residents and organisations of Nou Barris asked for an homage to the Republic and to republican values.