The economic prosperity and social strength of the Catalan capital favored a revival of Catalan culture, the call Renaixença (Renaissance). The literature was encouraged by the creation of the Jocs Florals (Floral Games), poetry contest sponsored by the City of Barcelona, who began to celebrate in 1859. Due to the influence of romanticism, the Catalan language has been appreciated as a vehicle for self expression, which brought a new sense of national consciousness and specificity of Catalan culture. Authors such as Aribau, Rubio i Ors, Víctor Balaguer, Milà i Antoni de Bofarull Fontanals and laid the foundations of Catalan literary revival. Another cultural event of great significance was the construction of the Teatro del Liceo, completed in 1847, sponsored by the Philharmonic-Drama Society Liceo Cultural Barcelonés.
This new cultural concerns needed a vehicle of expression: modernism. In its beginnings, modernism found inspiration in the style of historicism, and that modernist artists around the past represented a reaction against industrial forms imposed by new technological advances produced by the Industrial Revolution. The use of past styles is a moral regeneration that allows the new ruling class, the bourgeoisie, to identify with values that identify as their cultural roots. Also, the resurgence of Catalan culture with the Renaissance led to adopt the Gothic style as "national" style of Catalonia, with the aim to combine nationalism and cosmopolitanism, to integrate into the current modernization europea.27 The work of Antoni Gaudí (Park Güell, Casa Batlló, Casa Mila, Colonia Guell crypt, expiatory church of La Sagrada Familia), Lluís Domènech i Montaner (Hospital de la Santa Creu i Sant Pau, Palau de la Musica Catalana) and Josep Puig (House Amatller , Terrades House) will be a great boost to the image of the city.
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