Pleasure gardens: a socially mixed space of leisure in the industrial city (Barcelona, 1850-1868)

Abstract

Pleasure gardens were a commercialized recreation widespread through Europe in the mid-19th century, and they had a central role in the social life and cultural environment of the European cities, such as Barcelona, as spaces for entertainment, sociability and cultural promotion. This research aims to show how pleasure gardens were so important to building a model of rational leisure for working classes, within the context of industrialization and social conflict. The pleasure gardens became, thus, a socially mixed space of leisure, although that eventually allow for their appropriation by working classes during the years before the Sexenio Democrático (1868-1874).