The Four Columns

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The Four Columns were four Ionic columns created by Puig i Cadafalch. They were erected in 1919 where there is presently the Barcelona Magic Fountain of Montjuïc.

They symbolized the four stripes of the Catalan senyera, and they were intended to become one of the main icons of Catalanism. Because of this, they were demolished in 1928 during Primo de Rivera's dictatorship, when all public Catalanist symbols were systematically removed in order to avoid their being noticed during 1929 Universal Exposition, which was to take place on Montjuïc.

Moreover, because of these same political motives, Poble Espanyol (Spanish Village in Catalan), on the same hill, was the name given to the open-air museum formerly to be named Iberona — in homage to the Iberians, the first inhabitants of what is now Catalonia. Analogously for the nearby Plaça d'Espanya.

In 1999, the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona erected 4 similar columns in Bellaterra Campus.