Tibidabo () is a hill overlooking

Barcelona Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ci ...

, Catalonia, Spain. At , it is the tallest hill in the Serra de Collserola. Rising sharply to the north-west, it has views over the city and the surrounding coastline. The summit of the hill is occupied by the Sagrat Cor church and adjacent Tibidabo Amusement Park. The Torre de Collserola telecommunications tower is a short walk away. All three are prominently visible from most of the city of Barcelona. Designed by Enric Sagnier, the church was started in 1902 and took 60 years to complete. It is topped by a sculpture of the

Sacred Heart of Jesus The Most Sacred Heart of Jesus ( la, Cor Jesu Sacratissimum) is one of the most widely practised and well-known Catholic devotions, wherein the heart of Jesus is viewed as a symbol of "God's boundless and passionate love for mankind". This dev ...

by Josep Miret Llopart. Tibidabo can be reached by road or via the

Tibidabo Funicular The Tibidabo Funicular ( ca, Funicular del Tibidabo; es, Funicular del Tibidabo) is a funicular railway in the city of Barcelona, in Catalonia, Spain. The line connects ''Plaça del Doctor Andreu'', the upper terminus of the '' Tramvia Blau'', wi ...

, which was the first of its kind in Spain, and by the

Tramvia Blau The Tramvia Blau (Catalan for "blue tramway") is one of Barcelona's three tram systems. It is a long heritage streetcar line serving a hilly area of the Sarrià-Sant Gervasi district between the terminus of FGC Barcelona Metro L7 and the Fun ...

. Funicular operations recommenced in June 2021 after modernisation, however the tramway remains out of service. Replacement bus TC2 connects Tibidabo with Avinguda de Tibidabo Metro station. The

Transports Metropolitans de Barcelona Transports Metropolitans de Barcelona (TMB) is the main public transit operator in Barcelona. A combination of two formerly-separate companies, ''Ferrocarril Metropolità de Barcelona, SA.'' and ''Transports de Barcelona, SA.'', it runs most of th ...

minibus service 111 connects it to Vallvidrera village and the upper station of the

Vallvidrera funicular The Vallvidrera Funicular (both Catalan and Spanish:Funicular de Vallvidrera) is a funicular railway in the Barcelona district of Sarrià-Sant Gervasi, in Catalonia, Spain. It connects Peu del Funicular station on the Barcelona–Vallès Line w ...

Origin of the name

The name derives from the

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

Vulgate The Vulgate (; also called (Bible in common tongue), ) is a late-4th-century Latin translation of the Bible. The Vulgate is largely the work of Jerome who, in 382, had been commissioned by Pope Damasus I to revise the Gospels u ...

Bible verses: * ''"…et dixit illi haec tibi omnia dabo si cadens adoraveris me"'' – "And saith unto him, All these things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me" ( Matthew 4:9); * ''"…et ait ei tibi dabo potestatem hanc universam et gloriam illorum quia mihi tradita sunt et cui volo do illa"''Latin Vulgate Bible, Gospel According to Saint Luke Chapter 4
/ref> – "All this power will I give thee, and the glory of them: for that is delivered unto me; and to whomsoever I will I give it" ( Luke 4:6). This phrase, meaning ''I will give to you'', was said to Jesus by the

devil A devil is the personification of evil as it is conceived in various cultures and religious traditions. It is seen as the objectification of a hostile and destructive force. Jeffrey Burton Russell states that the different conceptions of ...

as they looked down from an ''exceedingly high mountain'' upon ''all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them''. The name of Barcelona's hill thus refers to the popular tradition that it was in fact the ''exceedingly high mountain'' itself. The phrase ''Tibi dabo'' forms part of the inscription in the central dome of

St. Peter's Basilica The Papal Basilica of Saint Peter in the Vatican ( it, Basilica Papale di San Pietro in Vaticano), or simply Saint Peter's Basilica ( la, Basilica Sancti Petri), is a church built in the Renaissance style located in Vatican City, the papal e ...

in Vatican City, although in that case it was drawn from Jesus' words to St. Peter in Matthew 16:19.

Panorama

References

{{Barcelona Neighbourhoods of Barcelona Mountains of Catalonia Tourist attractions in Barcelona

Origin of the name

Panorama

See also

References