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The missing Tres Voltas street was opened at the beginning of the 20th century during the urbanization of Via Laietana to facilitate traffic in the new Barcelona between Eixample and the port with much more fluid circulation.
Tres Voltes Street ran between Tapinería Street and Plaza del Oli, it was a short and narrow street. The origins of the unique name “the three turns” are unknown.
The place had previously been occupied by the disappeared Déu (God’s) square, where the writer and politician Francesc Martí i Viladamor, born in Perpignan in 1616, a Catalanist and prolific writer of the History of Catalonia.
A work that was initially written in Latin and sent to Paris to be viewed by the queen regent as Louis XIV was a minor at the time. The queen reviewed it and wrote to the Council of One Hundred to have it translated and printed into Spanish. It was printed in 1654 in the city of Barcelona.
For his part, Víctor Balaguer, chronicler of the city, in his book The streets of Barcelonapublished in two volumes by Salvador Manero’s publishing house (the first in 1865 and the second in 1886), explains in the second volume, on page 390, data on the history of the street.
He commented that, as we said, the Catalan writer Francesc Martí i Viladamor (very little known, by the way) had lived in the old square that disappeared to develop the new street.
Balaguer commented the following about this author:
He was born on August 30, 1616 in the town of Puigcerdá, capital of Cerdanya, and at the age of one year he was taken by his parents to Barcelona, where he was educated, doing all his studies at that famous university. He distinguished himself considerably as a student, and won awards in several literary competitions. At the age of seventeen he received the degree of doctor of laws, and he was barely twenty-four years old when the revolution of 1640 broke out, both solemn and inspired by Pablo Claris.
Entrance to Tres Voltes Street.
Martí had embraced the flag raised by Catalonia, writing several works in defense of the Principality and its cause, some of which gave him a great reputation as a writer and as a lawyer they made him occupy the position of prosecutor of the General Batllia of Catalonia.
His reputation led him to be appointed representative of Catalonia in 1646, after the rebellion of the 7 Provinces of the Netherlands against the Spanish Empire.
When Catalonia fell, after the recognition of King Philip IV of Castile, Martí had to emigrate, like so many other noble talents of that time, taking up residence in Perpignan, in whose Court the French government gave him a position of eminent responsibility.
Balaguer continued:
This work is perhaps Martí’s most important, and we made honorable mention of it and even an analysis in the pages of our History of Catalonia.
When he was working on it, Gaspar Sala’s Catholic Proclamation came out, and he then had to remove many things from his to avoid repetitions. It was printed in Barcelona without the author’s name and only with initials that were a true enigma, as they said BDAVYMFDNPDN. Starting to read these initials from the eighth, and continuing from right to left, it says: Doctor Francisco Martí y Viladamor, lawyer from Barcelona, and returning to the final four, a native of Puigcerdá.
Catalonia in France, Castilla without Catalonia and France against Castilla. This work, written when the French monarch had been proclaimed Count of Barcelona, is dedicated to Cardinal Richelieu.
This work was also printed in Vienna, of which a copy was kept in the library of the Discalced Carmelites in Barcelona.
Master Father Francisco de San Agustín Macedo, a Portuguese Franciscan, speaking of this work, said:
In it, the sharpness of Martí’s wit, the seriousness of his judgment, the gallantness of his speech, the discreetness of his words, the forcefulness of his reason, I have not seen better rejected slander, nor more accurate defense, nor more well-proven truth. …. To the fingers of Martí for what he wrote, his country owes no less glory than to those of the famous author of the weapons of its shield..
However, if anyone can read the book they will see that at no point does Víctor Balaguer give any reference to the reason for the name of the Tres Voltes. Yes, on the other hand, the Tres Llits street, a street that still exists and that despite its short length also had a controversial history which I will talk about soon.
It seems that all the documents that would clarify the reason for its name disappeared from Tres Voltes Street. Some historians comment that it could be due to the number of movements that Francesc Martí i Viladamor had to make in his life. In the MNAC there is a drawing by Dionís Baixeras (Barcelona, 1862-1943) titled Three Volts Street in which the arches of this road can be seen.
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