page_title: Plaça dels Països Catalans, Barcelona
hierarchical_section_title: Plaça dels Països Catalans, Barcelona
caption_attribution_description: Català: Plaça dels Països Catalans de Barcelona, vista dels del costat del carrer Numància, amb l'estació de Sants al fons English: Països Catalans square in Barcelona
context_page_description: Plaça dels Països Catalans is a square in Barcelona on one side of the city's central railway station, Estació de Sants, in the district of Sants-Montjuïc. It borders carrer de Tarragona, carrer de Numància and Avinguda Roma. It was so named in 1989 after the Catalan Countries.
  The square was inaugurated in its current form in 1983, built over the station rail yard, and it is notable for its lack of vegetation. Architects Helio Piñon and Albert Vilaplana were awarded that year's FAD Prize by the Foment de les Arts i el Disseny.
  The central part of the square features two copper roofs sustained by a number of tall supporting columns. Architecturally it is dominated by the station and the high-rise Torre Catalunya with its trademark Sony spire. Barcelona's main prison, La Model, is at a short distance and its panoptikon dome be seen from it. The square is popular with skaters, and demonstrators have often gathered there, most infamously by ultra far-right groups during the 1990s and early 2000s.
context_section_description: Plaça dels Països Catalans is a square in Barcelona (the capital of Catalonia, Spain) on one side of the city's central railway station, Estació de Sants, in the district of Sants-Montjuïc. It borders carrer de Tarragona, carrer de Numància and Avinguda Roma. It was so named in 1989 after the Catalan Countries.
  The square was inaugurated in its current form in 1983, built over the station rail yard, and it is notable for its lack of vegetation. Architects Helio Piñon and Albert Vilaplana were awarded that year's FAD Prize by the Foment de les Arts i el Disseny.
  The central part of the square features two copper roofs sustained by a number of tall supporting columns. Architecturally it is dominated by the station and the high-rise Torre Catalunya with its trademark Sony spire. Barcelona's main prison, La Model, is at a short distance and its panoptikon dome be seen from it. The square is popular with skaters, and demonstrators have often gathered there, most infamously by ultra far-right groups during the 1990s and early 2000s.
  Under the name The destruction of the Plaça dels Països Catalans  an exhibition took place at the Col·legi d'Arquitectes de Catalunya in 2011 documenting the effects of urban decay in the area in stark contrast with the architects' original concept and intentions.
caption: View of Barcelona Sants from the square.
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