La Rambla, seen through the eyes of Frederic Ballell, at Arxius Oberts

Every walk along La Rambla brings a fresh perspective to this popular avenue and the people who traverse it. But the proposal Rediscover La Rambla with Frederic Ballell, from Arxius Oberts, invites us to do so with a double lens: that of the present and that of a stroll captured between 1907 and 1908 by this Barcelona photographer with surprising freedom. His images, preserved in the Photographic Archive of Barcelona, allow us to discover a vibrant Rambla, full of characters, trades, everyday scenes and gestures that today seem distant, but which still resonate along this popular artery of the city.

All of this is part of the Arxius Oberts project, which aims to identify and bring visibility to the collection of digital cultural archives of public value in Barcelona, both those managed by institutions and municipal archives, as well as those run by associations and citizens, spreading the idea of archives as a shared cultural asset.

The route proposes to compare the same locations photographed by Ballell over a century ago-images that form part of the collections of the Photographic Archive-with the Rambla of today. At Canaletes, in the central sections, or near Escudellers, visitors can stop and play at spotting continuities and disappearances: facades that have changed, uses that have transformed, spaces that retain their magnetism, and anonymous figures who, thanks to photography, regain presence.

Ballell, one of the leading first-generation Catalan photojournalists, took a hundred photographs of La Rambla. He captured monuments, but also caught the pulse of the street: street musicians, workers, walkers, public services, lampposts, shops, and corners that narrate Barcelona of yesterday. Ballell's images are much more than old documents: they are an invitation to observe calmly.

In front of each photograph, the past ceases to be a still postcard and becomes a conversation with the present. Today's Rambla, often bustling and touristy, acquires greater depth when the shadows of the vendors, carts, onlookers, and walkers that Ballell captured in black and white are superimposed upon it.

Taking this route is therefore a simple yet intense way to travel through time without leaving the heart of the city. All you need to do is follow the photographs from home or head out to walk with your eyes wide open. La Rambla is still a stage, a frontier, and a meeting point. And Frederic Ballell's images help us understand why, more than a century later, it's still worth exploring it step by step.

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