Plaça de Sant Jaume

You are standing in the political heart of Catalonia. On one side is the Palau de la Generalitat; opposite, the Casa de la Ciutat, Barcelona's City Hall. Two powers that have been looking each other in the eye across this square for centuries.

1Where the Roman streets crossed

This spot was already the centre of Barcino: the colony's two main streets crossed close by, and the forum spread out around them. The square as you see it, though, is fairly recent. Until the early 19th century the church of Sant Jaume stood here, which gave the square its name; it was knocked down in the 1820s to open up this space.

2Two façades, two eras

The Generalitat was born in the 14th century as a committee of the Catalan parliament charged with collecting taxes, and over time it became a government institution. Its Renaissance front on the square was built in the late 16th and early 17th centuries to a design by Pere Blai. Look for the relief of Saint George, Catalonia's patron saint, above the balcony.

City Hall, by contrast, shows you a neoclassical front from the mid-19th century, the work of Josep Mas i Vila. The building's real treasure is inside: the 14th-century Saló de Cent, where the Council of One Hundred that ran the city used to meet. If you walk round to Carrer de la Ciutat, you'll find its old Gothic façade.

Some of the defining moments of modern Catalan history have been proclaimed from the balconies of these two buildings.

3What to look for

• Saint George on the Generalitat's façade.
• The contrast between the Renaissance front and the neoclassical one opposite.
• City Hall's Gothic façade on Carrer de la Ciutat, just round the corner.