★★★★★ 5.0
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Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona
Students are still gathering around that feminist mural right behind you... the same one that's been attacked and repainted more times than anyone wants to count since 2020. You're standing in Plaça Cívica, the beating heart of what locals call "the campus that Franco couldn't kill" - and there's a reason this square took 28 years to exist. See, when this university opened in 1968, it was so rebellious that Franco's dictatorship actually suspended the entire institution in 1973 and fired the rector. The campus limped along for decades without a proper center until 1996, when they finally built this square as a defiant symbol of academic freedom. That's why everything here feels intentionally open - no walls, no barriers, just this circular plaza designed to encourage the kind of free-flowing debate that was once banned. What most visitors miss is that you're standing on what was supposed to be farmland forever. When they bought this Bellaterra district in 1969, locals thought they were crazy building a university 20 kilometers from Barcelona in the middle of nowhere. Now look around - this plaza hosts everything from political protests to concert series, and those benches you see aren't just for sitting. They're arranged in concentric circles, turning the entire space into a natural amphitheater where ideas echo just like they're supposed to.
Did You Know?
- The Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB) was founded in 1968 as a bold experiment in academic freedom, built on four core principles of autonomy: the freedom to select teaching staff, open admission (with limited numbers), the freedom to design its own study programs, and the freedom to manage its own finances—a radical departure from traditional Spanish universities at the time and a direct response to the political and cultural climate of late Francoist Spain.
- The main Bellaterra campus is one of the few in Spain designed entirely as a 'university city,' where academic buildings, research centers, student residences, libraries, sports facilities, and green spaces are all integrated into a single, self-contained environment—a visionary architectural concept meant to foster community, collaboration, and innovation, and a unique feature that sets UAB apart from most European universities.
- UAB's campus is home to a hidden gem for families and science enthusiasts: the UAB Research Park, a cluster of advanced scientific and technological institutes that collaborate closely with the university, offering public events, open days, and workshops where children and adults can explore cutting-edge research in fields like nanotechnology, environmental science, and health—making it not just a place of study, but a living laboratory for the curious of all ages.