Rising 288 metres above the Tibidabo hillside, the Torre de Collserola is visible from virtually every corner of Barcelona — a slender needle of concrete and steel that punctuates the Collserola ridge. Designed by Norman Foster and completed in 1992 for the Barcelona Olympics, it is one of the most elegant telecommunications towers ever built, and its observation platform offers a vertiginous 360-degree panorama that extends far beyond the city.
Norman Foster’s Olympic Legacy
The tower was commissioned to provide broadcasting infrastructure for the 1992 Olympics. Foster’s solution was structural minimalism at its most refined: a central concrete shaft supporting a tensegrity structure of cables and platforms, the whole thing braced by thirteen pairs of steel stays that give the tower its characteristic harp-like profile. The design used far less material than a conventional tower of equivalent height, resulting in a structure that appears almost weightless against the sky.
The Observation Deck
The observation platform at 115 metres gives a panorama that encompasses the entire Barcelona metropolitan area, the Mediterranean coastline from the Ebro delta to the Costa Brava, and on exceptionally clear days, the Pyrenees to the north and the island of Mallorca to the southeast. The experience of ascending in the external lift — watching the city spread out below — is memorable. The platform itself provides a different view from Tibidabo since you’re looking across at the city rather than down from a hillside.
Getting There
The Torre de Collserola is accessible from the Tibidabo area via the FGC to Peu del Funicular and then the funicular to the top, or by car. Check the tower’s website for current opening days and times — the observation deck is not always open. Entry is ticketed.