An outdoor installation by Catalan artist Frederic Perers has displayed the names of the families evicted in 1714 following the Spanish occupation of Barcelona, on the balconies of the buildings surrounding the Mercat del Born.
Three hundred years ago, the French and the Spanish armies took the Catalan capital, ending one of the longest sieges [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siege_of_Barcelona_%281713%E2%80%931714%29] in modern European history, which Barcelona had resisted relying only on civilian forces. Once the city had fallen, a period of barbaric repression ensued, leading eventually to the expulsion of the families that had led the Catalan resistance.
Among many other punitive acts, 1714 saw the demolition of more than one thousand dwellings, roughly 17% of the entire urban area of Barcelona at that time. Owners were forced to destroy their own houses, and about five thousand citizens faced expulsion, with many finding asylum in Austria.
The homage has been possible thanks to the cooperation of the current dwellers, who have agreed to keep seventy large canvases displaying the names of the expelled families on their balconies until the 11th of September 2013, Catalonia's National Day [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Day_of_Catalonia] The installation will turn the buildings surrounding the Mercat del Born [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mercat_del_Born] into a huge mosaic. Mr Perers asked the present-day neighbours to pay respect in this way to the old inhabitants of this historic corner of Barcelona which was home to so many tragic events. A simple gesture of silent and austere remembrance. An ethereal return from the past for the evicted families, 300 years later.
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