Choose wisely. Connect locally.Add your business 
Barcelona is the capital of Anzoátegui State in northeastern Venezuela, on the Neverí River near the Caribbean coast. Founded in 1638 by the Catalan conquistador Joan Orpí and refounded in 1671 a short distance to the south, it had about 550,000 people in 2011 and forms Greater Barcelona together with Puerto La Cruz, Lechería and Guanta.
Unlike its newer neighbors, Barcelona keeps a colonial core around Plaza Boyacá, where the Cathedral of San Cristóbal faces the old government house. The city suffered in the independence war, above all in April 1817, when royalist troops stormed the Casa Fuerte, a Franciscan convent turned fortress, and killed many of the people sheltering inside.
Visitors walk the historic center with its cathedral, plazas, the colonial Museo de Anzoátegui and the 19th-century Teatro Cajigal, see the ruins of the Casa Fuerte and of San Felipe Neri, follow the Neverí to the sea, and head out to the El Morro canals of Lechería and the old Fortín de la Magdalena.
The Cathedral of San Cristóbal in Barcelona was begun in 1748 and, after an earthquake left it nearly destroyed, finished in 1773. Its high altar holds the Virgen del Totumo, the first religious image of the region, and since 1777 a side chapel has kept the remains of Saint Celestine.
Plaza Boyacá was the largest square of colonial Barcelona and has changed little since it was laid out in 1671. Named since 1897 for the Battle of Boyacá, it has a statue of José Antonio Anzoátegui at its center, with the cathedral and the old government house facing each other across it.
Plaza Bolívar de Barcelona, built in 1930 on Avenida 5 de Julio, is a broad square of gardens and trees facing the Casa Fuerte. Its equestrian statue of the Liberator by Francisco Pigua raises a sword in the right hand, pointing at the statue of Eulalia Buroz at the Casa Fuerte.
The Ruins of San Felipe Neri in Barcelona are what remains of a colonial church destroyed by the earthquake of 1812. Soon afterward a grotto to the Virgin, known as the Gruta de San Felipe, was built among the old walls, and the ruins are now one of the historic sites of the city center.
The Casa Fuerte in Barcelona began as an 18th-century Franciscan convent and was turned into a fort in 1817. On 7 April 1817 royalist troops stormed it, killing many who sheltered there. Its ruins became a National Historic Monument in 1960, with statues of Pedro María Freites and Eulalia Buroz.
The Museo de Anzoátegui in Barcelona occupies a colonial house of 1671 on Plaza Boyacá, considered the oldest building in the city, with rooms around a central patio. Founded in 1969, it shows pre-Columbian pieces, colonial religious art, paintings, ceramics and arms from the independence war.
The Teatro Cajigal in Barcelona is a small neoclassical theater facing Plaza Rolando, inaugurated on 3 February 1895 by General Nicolás Rolando and named after Juan Manuel Cajigal. With room for about 300 spectators, it remains a charming venue for plays, concerts and cultural events.
The historic center of Barcelona gathers around its main plazas, Boyacá, Bolívar and Miranda, and keeps a mix of colonial and later buildings, unlike the newer Puerto La Cruz nearby. Its streets hold the cathedral, the Museo de Anzoátegui, the Teatro Cajigal and the ruins of the Casa Fuerte.
The Neverí River flows from the Turimiquire reservoir in Sucre State through Barcelona to the Caribbean on the Maurica coast, draining a basin of almost 3,000 square kilometers. In colonial times boats landed beside the house that is now the Museo de Anzoátegui, and in 1970 it flooded the city.
The Puente Real de los Españoles, or Royal Bridge of the Spaniards, is a colonial bridge of arched stone in the Nueva Barcelona district of the city. Together with the cathedral, Plaza Boyacá and the ruins of the Casa Fuerte, it recalls the colonial city refounded on this site in 1671.
The Fortín de la Magdalena stands on the El Morro hill in Lechería, part of Greater Barcelona. The Spanish crown built it in 1799 to guard the Neverí River and the salt trade from French, Dutch and English pirates. Bolívar briefly held it in 1817, and the hill gives panoramic views.
The El Morro Tourist Complex in Lechería, next to Barcelona, was begun after 1967, when more than 20 kilometers of artificial canals were cut through 900 hectares of El Morro and old salt flats. The project drove the growth of Lechería, and nearby stands the Plaza Mayor mall, opened in 1995.
Been to Barcelona? Add your best shots to the gallery.
Log in to add photosPhoto: Chuchito2017, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
Photo: Yoel Ramos, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
Photo: Josgara, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0
Photo: Guillermo Rodriguez Campos, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0
Photo: Guaiquerí, Wikimedia Commons, CC0
Photo: Guaiquerí, Wikimedia Commons, CC0
Photo: Guaiquerí, Wikimedia Commons, CC0
Photo: Guaiquerí, Wikimedia Commons, CC0
Photo: Guaiquerí, Wikimedia Commons, CC0
Photo: Guaiquerí, Wikimedia Commons, CC0
Photo: Guaiquerí, Wikimedia Commons, CC0
Photo: Guaiquerí, Wikimedia Commons, CC0
Photo: Guaiquerí, Wikimedia Commons, CC0
Photo: Guaiquerí, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
Photo: Guaiquerí, Wikimedia Commons, CC0
Photo: Guaiquerí, Wikimedia Commons, CC0
Photo: Guaiquerí, Wikimedia Commons, CC0
Photo: Guaiquerí, Wikimedia Commons, CC0
Photo: Guaiquerí, Wikimedia Commons, CC0
Photo: Guaiquerí, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
Photo: Guaiquerí, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
Photo: Guaiquerí, Wikimedia Commons, CC0
Photo: Guaiquerí, Wikimedia Commons, CC0
Photo: Guaiquerí, Wikimedia Commons, CC0
Photo: Guaiquerí, Wikimedia Commons, CC0
Photo: Mouna Harbie, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
Photo: Mouna Harbie, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
Photo: Yoel Ramos, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
Photo: Yoel Ramos, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
Photo: Guaiquerí, Wikimedia Commons, CC0
Photo: Guaiquerí, Wikimedia Commons, CC0
Photo: Guaiquerí, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
Photo: HonysTorresArt, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 4.0
Photo: Guaiquerí, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
Photo: Guaiquerí, Wikimedia Commons, CC0
Photo: Guaiquerí, Wikimedia Commons, CC0
Photo: Guaiquerí, Wikimedia Commons, CC0
Photo: Guaiquerí, Wikimedia Commons, CC0
Photo: Luis Rodríguez, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0
Photo: Guaiquerí, Wikimedia Commons, CC0
Photo: Guaiquerí, Wikimedia Commons, CC0
Photo: Guaiquerí, Wikimedia Commons, CC0
Photo: Guaiquerí, Wikimedia Commons, CC0
Photo: Guaiquerí, Wikimedia Commons, CC0
Photo: Guaiquerí, Wikimedia Commons, CC0
Photo: Gabrielmacho, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
Photo: Bridgetherrera, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0
Photo: Alejandro Rojas Dagg…, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0
Photo: Alejandro Rojas Dagg…, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0
Photo: Alejandro Rojas Dagg…, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0
Photo: Guaiquerí, Wikimedia Commons, CC0
Photo: Alejandro Rojas Dagg…, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0
Photo: Alejandro Rojas Dagg…, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0
