March 27, 2025
This comparison shows the promenade of La Rambla in Barcelona on March 22, 2020 and March 24, 2025. In the first photograph we can see the street completely deserted because of the state of alarm instated by the Spanish Government on March 14, 2020 in order to stop the advance of the pandemic. In the second image we see the same location five years later, with crowds of people having returned to normality.
La Rambla de Barcelona, a pedestrian street that connects Plaza Catalunya with Port Vell, is one of the main arteries of the Catalan capital and one of the most emblematic places in the city. Thousands of people, tourists and locals, visit this street every day.
In December 2019, the first cases of an unknown pneumonia caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus, better known as Covid-19, were detected in China and quickly spread around the world. In January 2020 the World Health Organization (WHO) declared a public health emergency of international concern, and in March 2020 the Spanish State decreed the confinement of the population in order to avoid contagion. WHO maintained the state of emergency worldwide until May 2023.
Credits
Photo 22 March 2020: Santi Palacios for Sonda Internacional
Photo 24 March 2025: Júlia Cussó for Sonda Internacional
