Taller Street and brothels

This street once served as the heart of the city's first officially sanctioned red light district. Walking through the Raval, between Plaça de Catalunya and the old city walls, this narrow lane reveals a hidden chapter of medieval urban planning. In the 14th century, King Joan I issued a decree banning prostitution near religious sites, particularly around the Convent of Santa Anna.

Authorities responded by concentrating all brothels here, creating the city's first regulated zone for sex work. The decision transformed this street into a controlled space where prostitution operated under official supervision. The name Taller, meaning workshop, comes from the butchers who worked here in the 13th century, cutting and tallying meat when it was still called Ostallers.

Before that, in the 11th century, it functioned as a main road linking the city center with distant villages like Les Corts and Sarrià. By 1833, industrialization arrived with the Bonaplata factory, the first steam powered textile mill in Spain. Workers burned it during the first Carlist war. The street also hosted the 18th century convent of Sant Pere Nolasc, whose semi spherical dome decorated with colored ceramics still stands at the parish.