Field Trip to the Guilds

     The third field trip I went on with my Barcelona Past & Present class was to the Born district of Barcelona. In medieval times, this area was home to the guilds. People would work in a specific profession and belong to a guild made up of other workers from the same profession. When children were old enough, their parents would send them to work under a skilled master of a profession. This was similar to what an internship is today. After a few years of working under a master, children would take a difficult exam and, if they passed, they were able to join the guild. The masters lived on the bottom floors of buildings and the apprentices lived in the small quarters on the top floors. The streets in the Born area are still named for guilds that were situated there in medieval times. One example is Carrer dels Cotoners, named for the cotton workers. Each guild had a representative saint and a president. Guilds helped to organized craftsmen in a political way. The guild presidents could talk to the King and the King had to respect commercial laws or else he would be beheaded. The craftsmen who belonged to the guilds made up a superior class that was just below the clergy, which was just below the nobles and the King. Some guilds became very powerful. For example, the sword-making guild became powerful when the army went into battle and demanded a large amount of swords. When this occurred, the sword-making guild could use its power to ask for lower taxes. This made the political system a democracy. The guilds created the origins of the business of buying and selling and the beginnings of the middle class. Craftsmen still work in small shops in the Born district today. During the field trip, I saw one of these small shops where a shoemaker still crafts handmade shoes.

     In Born, I saw a cathedral called Santa Maria del Mar. The working class was buried in the floor of this cathedral. One of the gravestones in the cathedral's floor was decorated with a design of a pair of scissors, showing that the person buried beneath it was a tailor. This shows how important membership in a guild was to the people in the medieval times.

     Last, I saw La Llotja in Placa Palau. The stock market was located here in the fourteenth century. It was developed soon after the first official bank was created in Florence in the thirteenth century. La Llotja is a neoclassical building in Barcelona's financial district. The street on which La Llotja is located is called Carrer de Canvis Vells. "Canvis" is the Spanish word for changes, and Carrer de Canvis Vells is where currency was changed.

     I enjoyed seeing the guild area because it is where the origins of business were located. As a business major, I really enjoy learning about the origins of business and sales, especially in a different country. 

     The photographs below show the entryway to a craftsman's shop and views of the Santa Maria del Mar Cathedral.