Barcelona, barri a barri A living atlas of the 73 neighbourhoods

Sant Martí · 70

el Besòs i el Maresme

A neighbourhood of housing blocks from the 1950s and 1960s on Barcelona's north-eastern edge, beside the Fòrum, where in May 2026 a EUR 415 million, ten-year plan was agreed to repair up to 4,000 homes.[1][2]

Start on Rambla de Prim and look at the blocks before the Fòrum: the neighbourhood grew in the 1950s and 1960s to answer the city's housing deficit, and the plan agreed in 2026 points to some 200 of its buildings.[1][2]

El Besòs i el Maresme lies in the north-east of Sant Martí, on the boundary with Sant Adrià de Besòs, along the southern stretch of Rambla de Prim. It grew with the housing of the 1950s and 1960s, built to answer the city's housing deficit.[1]

Inside the neighbourhood are the Museu de Ciències Naturals, the Parc del Fòrum installations made for the 2004 Fòrum, and the UPC's Campus Diagonal-Besòs. A Zoo Marí planned here was halted in 2011.[1][3]

el Besòs i el Maresme (neighbourhood 70) highlighted. Other neighbourhoods in Sant Martí: el Camp de l'Arpa del Clot, el Clot, el Parc i la Llacuna del Poblenou, la Vila Olímpica del Poblenou, el Poblenou, Diagonal Mar i el Front Marítim del Poblenou.

Before the neighbourhood

The land had been irrigated by ditches such as la Madriguera and la Verneda, remains of an old arm of the Besòs that reached the sea at the Camp de la Bota.[1]

The Camp de la Bota was a quarter of shacks around a military castle. About 1,700 prisoners were executed there between 1939 and 1952; in 1970 about 5,000 people lived in some 800 shacks, and the families were later moved to la Mina.[4][5]

How the streets were made

The Institut Municipal d'Urbanisme has found structural deficiencies in several buildings put up in the neighbourhood in the 1950s and 1960s. Residents interviewed by 3Cat in May 2026 described balconies and cornices coming apart and flats propped up for years, and blamed the damage mainly on aluminosis.[2][6]

Dates that changed it

  1. 1950s–1960s The housing that gave rise to the neighbourhood is built, to answer the city's housing deficit.[1]
  2. Civil War and post-war At the Camp de la Bota, between 1939 and 1952 about 1,700 prisoners are executed.[4][5]
  3. November 1993 The Centre Cívic del Besòs i el Maresme opens on Rambla de Prim.[1][7]
  4. 2004 The Universal Forum of Cultures leaves the Parc del Fòrum installations in the neighbourhood.[1][3]
  5. 27 March 2011 The Museu Blau opens in the Fòrum building.[8][3]
  6. 24 February 2019 The mural 'Parapet de les executades i executats' by Francesc Abad is inaugurated at the Camp de la Bota.[4]
  7. 9 February 2026 'Delta Prim', the project for the Fòrum marine platform, is presented.[9]
  8. 6 May 2026 The City Council and the Generalitat agree EUR 415 million over ten years to regenerate the neighbourhood.[2]

People and collective life

Francesc Abad

Artist behind the mural 'Parapet de les executades i executats' (2019) at the Camp de la Bota and the monument 'Bosc d'Empremtes' (2025) in Sant Adrià de Besòs.[4]

Miquel Navarro

Valencian sculptor, author of the Fraternitat monument that remembers those executed at the Camp de la Bota, with a poem by Màrius Torres.[4][5]

Institutions

Centre Cívic del Besòs i el Maresme

Municipal facility at Rambla de Prim 87-89, opened in 1993, with a flamenco specialism and a festival cycle each November since 2003.[1][7]

Museu Blau

The Fòrum site of the Museu de Ciències Naturals de Barcelona, opened in 2011 in the building that Herzog & de Meuron adapted after the 2004 Fòrum.[8][3]

Struggles that left a mark

Rehabilitating the flats

Demand: According to the neighbours' association SOS Besòs, only about seventy of the 4,000 affected flats had been rehabilitated by May 2026; the association considers the self-management model a failure.[6]

Outcome: On 6 May 2026 the City Council and the Generalitat agreed EUR 415 million over ten years.[2]

What can still be seen

Fraternitat

Monument by Miquel Navarro, with a poem by Màrius Torres, in memory of those executed at the Camp de la Bota; it ended up inside the Fòrum area.[4][5]

What disappeared

The Camp de la Bota shack quarter

In 1970 it had about 800 shacks and 5,000 inhabitants; the families were later moved to the neighbourhood of la Mina.[4][5]

The neighbourhood today

In 2026 it had 30,695 residents, 253.9 residents per hectare, a mean census-section income of €16,908 in 2023, 120.9 hectares, and 42.0% of residents held non-Spanish nationality.

Non-Spanish nationality (2026): 42%

What is changing

On 6 May 2026 the City Council and the Generalitat agreed to invest EUR 415 million over ten years to rehabilitate up to 4,000 homes in 200 buildings; the Generalitat will contribute EUR 15 million a year and the City Council EUR 265 million in total. Under the agreement a majority municipally owned company is to be created before the end of 2026 to coordinate the works.[2]

According to SOS Besòs, in May 2026 works had been done in only about seventy flats, and most of the ten pilot communities would not make the Next Generation European funds in time. Beside the Fòrum, 'Delta Prim' was presented on 9 February 2026: a EUR 52 million project for the 12.7-hectare marine platform, with about six years of works.[6][9]

What the guides leave out

A whale on the stairs

The skeleton of a whale stranded at Llançà on 11 June 1862 is shown on the entrance stairs of the Museu Blau, in a free-access area.[8][3]

Read it on foot

Start: Besòs Mar (L4) · End: Fraternitat (Camp de la Bota)[4][5]

Walking (excluding stop time): 17 min · 1310 m · Estimated visit (with stops): 52 min

The geometry follows the pedestrian network between the three marked points, but it has not been verified as step-free. The approach from public transport is not included in the stated distance.

el Besòs i el Maresme (neighbourhood 70) highlighted. Other neighbourhoods in Sant Martí: el Camp de l'Arpa del Clot, el Clot, el Parc i la Llacuna del Poblenou, la Vila Olímpica del Poblenou, el Poblenou, Diagonal Mar i el Front Marítim del Poblenou.

1
Centre Cívic del Besòs i el Maresme
Rambla de Prim 87-89
Read the programme of activities at the entrance: the centre is known for flamenco, with workshops in singing, dance and cajón.[1][7]
Opened in November 1993 on Rambla de Prim, along which the blocks of the 1950s and 1960s extend; the Cicle de Flamenc al Besòs has been held every November since 2003.[1][7]
Coordinates
41.41649, 2.21181 · OpenStreetMap
2
Museu Blau
Plaça de Leonardo da Vinci 4-5
1030 m · 14 min
On the entrance stairs, look for the whale skeleton, almost twenty metres long, which can be seen without going into the museum.[8][3]
The building was constructed for the 2004 Universal Forum of Cultures and Herzog & de Meuron adapted it for the museum, opened on 27 March 2011; the whale was stranded at Llançà in 1862.[8][3]
Coordinates
41.41113, 2.22105 · OpenStreetMap
3
Fraternitat (Camp de la Bota)
Plaça del Fòrum, Parc del Fòrum
280 m · 4 min
Look for the monument by Miquel Navarro and the plaque with the poem by Màrius Torres that remembers those executed at the Camp de la Bota.[4][5]
At the Camp de la Bota about 1,700 prisoners were executed between 1939 and 1952; the Fòrum works left the monument inside its area.[4][5]
Coordinates
41.40957, 2.22164 · OpenStreetMap

Sources for this page

Dates, figures and historical claims are linked to the records used for this page.

  1. [1] Viquipèdia (2026). El Besòs i el Maresme. Accessed: 2026-10-03.
  2. [2] Ajuntament de Barcelona, Servei de Premsa (2026-05-06). Ajuntament de Barcelona i Generalitat acceleren la regeneració urbana del barri del Besòs i el Maresme amb una inversió històrica de 415 M€. Accessed: 2026-10-03.
  3. [3] Ajuntament de Barcelona (2026). The Barcelona's Natural Science Museum (Museu Blau). Accessed: 2026-10-03.
  4. [4] Viquipèdia (2026). Camp de la Bota. Accessed: 2026-10-03.
  5. [5] 3Cat (n.d.). El Camp de la Bota, l'escenari de la meitat d'execucions del franquisme a Catalunya. Accessed: 2026-10-09.
  6. [6] 3Cat (2026-05-07). El Besòs i el Maresme: pisos que cauen a trossos i expectativa pel pla per rehabilitar-ne 4.000. Accessed: 2026-10-03.
  7. [7] Ajuntament de Barcelona (2026). Centre Cívic del Besòs i el Maresme. Accessed: 2026-10-03.
  8. [8] Viquipèdia (2026). Museu de Ciències Naturals de Barcelona. Accessed: 2026-10-03.
  9. [9] Ajuntament de Barcelona, Servei de Premsa (2026-02-09). Barcelona projecta la culminació del seu front litoral urbanitzant la plataforma marina. Accessed: 2026-10-03.
  10. [10] Ajuntament de Barcelona — Open Data BCN (2026-01-01). Padró municipal d'habitants (pad_mdbas) — població per barri. Accessed: 2026-07-17.
  11. [11] Ajuntament de Barcelona — Open Data BCN (2021). Densitat de població per barri. Accessed: 2026-07-17.
  12. [12] Ajuntament de Barcelona — Open Data BCN (2023). Renda disponible de les llars per persona. Seccions censals. Accessed: 2026-07-17.

Last reviewed: 3 October 2026 · 12 sources consulted

Return to top