Latin Plaque in Barcelona Metro Honors Engineer Indirectly

A discreet plaque in Latin at the Espanya metro station in Barcelona commemorates the engineer responsible for the Transversal line, a subterranean route that opened a century ago. The inscription, however, offers an indirect tribute, referring to the engineer, Esteve Terradas, only as "a Barcelonian author born of our good race." This unique phrasing bypasses Terradas's name, leaving visitors to decipher the identity of the "father of the second line" of the current metro network. The construction of this segment, which eventually became part of the red line, began in January 1924 and concluded in January 1926, during the dictatorship of Miguel Primo de Rivera. The plaque itself is situated in a less conspicuous area of the platform, near vending machines, further contributing to its understated presence. Originally conceived as a railway link between the Norte and MZA companies' tracks, Terradas transformed the Transversal project into a metro line. The Espanya station's vault, at the time of its construction, was the largest in the world, measuring 27 meters in diameter. This development was strategically important for the 1929 International Exposition on Montjuïc, providing a vital connection from the city center to the exhibition grounds. The metro's construction represented a significant transformation for Barcelona, a change not seen again until the 1992 Olympic Games. The plaque's placement in 1926 aligned with the aesthetic and political climate of the regime, which co-opted the exposition for propaganda purposes, replacing Catalan architect Josep Puig i Cadafalch and promoting a "Spanishization" of the event.

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a Barcelonian author born of our good race