Barcelona Insider

Heavy metal fans will be rocking out in one of Europe’s most sophisticated cities this year when the Sonisphere festival comes to Barcelona.

Metallica - One of the many bands lined up for Sonisphere

The event will attract some of the biggest names in modern rock music to the Catalan capital’s Parc del Forum venue on July 11th.

Due to headline the festival this year are American heavy metal gods Metallica, who stepped back into the limelight last year with the release of their first album in five years.

Death Magnetic reached the top spot of album charts around the world and led to Metallica performing at festivals and live gigs across the globe.

Metal fans in Barcelona will also be able to see Slipknot rocking out on the Parc del Forum stage at Sonisphere, as well as Machine Head, Mastodon and Lamb of God.

Sonisphere is a Europe-wide event that will also be held in the Netherlands, Germany, Sweden, Finland and the UK over the summer.

Visitors to Barcelona planning to expand their cultural horizons this year will be able to achieve their ambition at the Museu Frederic Mares.

Neo-classical sculpture on show at Museu Frederic Mares

Until September 27th, the museum will host an exhibition dedicated to Antoni Sola, one of Spain’s greatest neo-classical sculptors.

Born in 1780, Sola moved to Rome in 1803 and eventually became one of only two foreigners ever to hold the post of president at the Accademia di San Luca.

He achieved most of his fame and success in the Italian capital and was a significant supporter of the city’s neo-classical art movement, which was associated with themes such as idealised beauty.

Travellers visiting Barcelona will find the Museu Frederic Mares in the city’s Ciutat Vella district.

The museum is one of many cultural institutions in the Catalan capital, along with the Museu Picasso and the Museu Nacional d’Art de Catalunya.

Picasso

People who enjoy discovering new artists should pay a visit to the Museu Picasso whilst in Barcelona this summer.

From June 11th to September 27th, the museum will present an exhibition of work by the Dutch artist Kees van Dongen.

The show – which is co-produced by the Museu Picasso, the Nouveau Musee National in Monaco and Montreal’s Musee des Beaux Arts – represents the first major survey of Van Dongen’s work in Spain.

It sets out to highlight the significance of an artist who, according to the museum, deserves more recognition than he has achieved.

Almost 100 works by Van Dongen feature in the exhibition, as well as a number of pieces by Picasso that serve to illustrate the friendship between the two artists.

Art enthusiasts planning visits to Barcelona towards the end of the year will be able to see a display of Picasso’s erotic prints at the Museu Picasso from November 5th.

One of Barcelona’s most popular attractions, the city zoo, will be made even more appealing this year when an expansion project is completed.

Elephants

Work to enlarge Ciutadella Zoo began last week and is set to be completed before the summer.

By June, the zoo’s elephant installation will cover an area of 2,000 square metres and will facilitate the arrival of another of the popular animals over the next few months.

This means that Susi, the female elephant currently living at the zoo, will have a new companion to keep her company before long.

The Barcelona Zoo is home to many other animals that prove popular with visitors, including Snowflake the albino gorilla, who has lived in Barcelona since 1966 and is the zoo’s most famous animal.

People staying in Barcelona will find the zoo in Parc Ciutadella – which is a popular attraction in itself – in the city’s Ciutat Vella district.

Cyndi Lauper will perform in Barcelona this summer

Visitors to Barcelona will be taken on a nostalgic journey back to the 1980s this summer when Cyndi Lauper performs in the city.

The Girls Just Wanna Have Fun singer will be performing on July 21st as part of the summer concert season at the Poble Espanyol.

Lauper will be performing in Spain for the first time to promote her new album Bring Ya to the Brink.

She will not be the only popular music artist making an appearance in the Poble Espanyol concert season, with former Supertramp guitarist Roger Hodgson getting the series of shows underway on July 1st.

Jazz fans in Barcelona will have the opportunity to see George Benson on July 5th, before Jeff Beck, former guitarist with the Yardbirds, performs on July 22nd.

Primarily, the Poble Espanyol in the Montjuic area of Barcelona is an open-air architectural museum, where the style and culture of various Spanish regions is represented and preserved in one place.

Visitors to Barcelona will be treated to an unmissable sporting spectacle this year when the 2009 Tour de France passes through the city.

Tour de France '09 comes to Barcelona

The sixth section of this year’s Tour will be a race from Girona to Barcelona on July 9th, while the seventh stage will see the competitors set off from the Catalan capital on July 10th on their way to Andorra.

Sports fans  in Paris will also have a chance to experience the wonder of the Tour when the Champs Elysees hosts the grand finale of this year’s contest on July 26th.

Other destinations that will be visited by the riders during their epic journey include Monaco on July 4th and 5th, Marseille on July 6th and Verbier in Switzerland on July 19th.

The gruelling race will see the athletes cover ten flat stages and seven mountain sections, covering a total distance of 3,500km.

Lance Armstrong won the Tour de France seven times between 1999 and 2005, making him the most successful competitor in the event’s history. The reigning champion is Carlos Sastre of Spain.

People interested in discovering new art should pay a visit to the Palau de la Virreina in Barcelona over the coming months to see an exhibition dedicated to Javier Codesal.

Palau de la Virreina

The showcase of work by the Spanish photographer will be open at the institution in Barcelona’s Ciutat Vella district until May 31st.

A variety of art-forms are explored in the exhibition, including photography, video, installation and other visual arts.

The display is titled Inside and Outside Us and is designed to encourage visitors to “take a look from within” at the outside world.

Visitors to Barcelona will be able to expand their cultural horizons by seeing a number of exhibitions over the coming months, including a show at Casa Asia exploring China’s eventful history.

This photographic exhibition, which features a large collection of diverse images dating back to 1949, will be open until May 15th.