Pont del Bisbe

It's one of the most photographed spots in Barcelona, and almost everything people believe about it is wrong. The Pont del Bisbe looks like it's been connecting the Palau de la Generalitat to the Casa dels Canonges since the Middle Ages, but it was actually built in 1929 by architect Joan Rubio i Bellver — a student and collaborator of Gaudi who had worked on Park Guell and the Sagrada Familia. The neo-Gothic bridge was designed for the 1929 International Exposition, when the city was busy making the Gothic Quarter look more Gothic.

Rubio i Bellver had far grander ambitions. He proposed a sweeping neo-Gothic transformation of the entire neighborhood, but his plans were harshly criticized by the architectural establishment and ultimately rejected. All that was approved was this single footbridge over Carrer del Bisbe. Whether he took the rejection gracefully is another matter — look up as you walk underneath and you'll spot a human skull pierced by a dagger, carved into the underside of the bridge.

Nobody knows for certain what the skull means. The most popular theory is that Rubio i Bellver placed it as a curse on his critics — death to those who killed his dream. Another interpretation is that it symbolizes his project being figuratively stabbed to death. A wilder urban legend claims it's a real human skull and that if the dagger ever falls out, it will mean the end of Barcelona. Yet another legend says you can make a wish come true by walking backwards under the bridge while staring at the skull.

It's a tiny bridge on a narrow street, easily missed if you don't look up. But it's a perfect little story about ambition, rejection, and a grudge carved in stone — or possibly a real skull. Barcelona isn't telling.