Everything you need to know for your visit to Plaza de Toros Monumental de Barcelona

The Plaza de Toros Monumental de Barcelona, originally called Plaza el Sport, was inaugurated in 1914 in the neighborhood of Fort Pienc, in l’Eixample. Although it was the third-largest bullring in Barcelona at the time, it was so successful that two years after its inauguration it was remodeled to expand the capacity to 24,000 people, making it one of the largest bullrings in the world and giving it the name La Monumental.

However, for several years, this building lost its function as a bullring. During the Spanish Civil War, the plaza was used for Republican rallies, since at that time, most bullfights were held in Las Arenas. Years later, it was used as a garage, and it was not until the 1940s when it recovered its original function, having up to three bullfights a week.

In the late 1970s, after the last bullfight in Las Arenas, La Monumental became the only bullring in existence, but at that time, bullfighting was losing popularity in Barcelona. In 2007, the now retired bullfighter Jose Tomas held a bullfight in the arena that brought bullfighting back to popularity in the city for a while.

Even so, in 2011, due to the abolition of bullfighting in Catalonia, a last bullfight was held in the Monumental.