The Barcelona City Council has decreed the closure of the access to the sant Felip Neri square during school hours. This measure aims to provide the students of the Institut-Escola Sant Felip Neri with an adequate space for recreation and play.
School playgrounds are spaces for learning, coeducation and coexistence. In fact, it is the space where most interpersonal conflicts arise. It has to be, according to the Barcelona Municipal Board of Education, a comfortable, functional and connected space. For this reason, the City Council has deemed it appropriate to order the closure of the square.
The access restriction will be in effect from Monday to Friday during the 2023-2024 and 2024-2025 school years, until the works at the school are completed. In addition, the measure will also be applied during the month of July, since summer activities are offered in this space.
Square closing times: 🕒 Times:
The hours when passers-by will be prohibited will be during school playground hours:
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- From 10:00 am to 11:30 am.
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- From 12:30 p.m. to 2:00 p.m.
The closure of the square will be temporary but extendable until the extension and adaptation works of the Institut-Escola are finished.
which streets will be affected?
The measure will affect the streets that give direct access to the square: on one side Sant Felip Neri street and on the other Sant Felip Neri street bisbe Street. The square will be closed with fences and other movable elements to allow the ticket for residents and working people to enter their workplace. Passage will also be allowed to the worship center and public establishments located in the square.
The square is already a courtyard since 2018
Des de l’AFA Sant Felip Neri assure that they are happy with the measure. In fact, this is not the first time that the Institut-Escola has used the square as a recreational area. High school students already used the plaza as a playground during 2018 and during the pandemic it was used as extra space for bubble groups.
A beautiful and busy corner with a sad story
The square, a corner of calm located in the Gothic quarter of the city, has been a very touristic space because of its charm and its proximity to the Barcelona Cathedral. The holes in the façade of the church dedicated to Sant Felip Neri, attest to the sad story that took place january 30, 1938 in which more than 40 people were killed, most of them children seeking refuge in the basements of the church.