The Passeig de Gràcia is Barcelona’s most elegant avenue and one of the best architectural walks in the city. The quality and quantity of modernist buildings is unrivalled, not only in Barcelona but in any city of the world. It is the defining avenue of the 19th century Eixample, a grid like "extension" to the city that was planned by engineer Ildefons Cerdà whose original plan was observed, but not in its entirety. Cerdà’s plan called for impressive inner squares and gardens for each city block and these were never built.
The Passeig de Gràcia was from the beginning designed to be Barcelona’s Grand Avenue. It’s origins can be traced back to Roman times when it was a path that linked to the Via Augusta. In medieval times the city’s door to this road was the Portal dels Orbs (blind people’s gate), today the Portal del Angel pedestrian shopping area.