Palau de La Generalitat in Barcelona
Palau de la Generalitat is located in Barcelona , the capital of the Catalonia . Palau de la Generalitat is a building of the medieval times that has been still working as the government seat and housing the institutions that build this building. There are only a very few government structures in Europe that have been working as the seat of power since Medieval times. Palau de la Generalitat in Barcelona is housing the Presidency offices of the Generalitat de Catalunya. The house having a very long history has in its credit, one hundred and twenty one presidents ruling from this seat from the year 1359 president Berenguer de Cruilles to the present president Jose Montilla.
This public building of historical associations origins date back to 1289. The power to the house was entered in 1289 usually considered 1300, as representation of the total generality of the Catalonia , a commission was formed for the collection of taxes granted by the court to the king. And in 1359 the Catalonian general assembly met at Cervera formalizing the deputation of the General. This commission had the deputies from noble or military, royal and ecclesiastical. In 15 th century replacement of the Generalitat to some royal power on the decisions of the Catalan court. This exercise of functions gave rise to the present Palau de la Generalitat in 1403 and remained till date as the seat of institute that built it.
After the war of the Spanish succession in 1714, Barcelona passed to the hands of Philip V of Spain and the Generalitat were abolished and Palau de la Generalitat was made as the court of king in Barcelona . Even though the Palau de La had the long history and remained the medieval building it was not restored till the 20 th century. Francis Macia winning the municipal elections in 1931 made a pact with the Spanish government at center for the restoration of the Palau de La for the government of Catalonia . Macia was elected the president in 1931 to 1933 and abolished the provincial councils and Palau e La Generalitat became the seat of ruling power.
The Generalitat went on fluctuating periods of abolition and restoration. After the Spanish civil war in 1936 to 1939 the Generalitat was no where and went into exile by the Francisco Franco's regime which followed the ways of Philip V and abolished the Generalitat. Its president was sentenced to death after he was tried in the court. This led to the formation of the provincial councils. After the restoration of democracy to Spain and elections of 1977, Palau de la Generalitat returned back to its seat of power and was restored on 29 th September 1977. In present days Palau de la Generalitat has remained as the prestigious and much valued symbols of the Catalan Nationals. Also it is pity that it has managed to go through the entire political crisis and survive the disasters historically and politically. This is also the symbol of democracy with the Palau de La Parliament in Catalonia .