Ricardo Bofill and Marca Hispanica
We’ve all passed it on the way from Spain into France or vice versa and wondered what it is!
Built in 1976 from stones and rubble excavated from the building of the motorway, the pyramid overlooking the A9 at the old French/Spanish border point is a purely decorative sculpture created by Catalan architect Ricardo Bofill, a symbol of the junction of the two Catalonias, north and south, French and Spanish.
Commissioned by ‘Autoroutes du Sud’, the architect’s brief was to restore dignity to the area after tearing it up for the motorway. It was also significant for Bofill, an anti-Franco activist in his youth, that he built the pyramid just a year after Franco’s death, symbol of new freedom between France and Spain.
Known as Marca Hispanica, the pyramid is somewhat Aztec in style, despite its design in red brick to represent the coat of arms and the Catalan flag.
Bofill died at the beginning of this year, 2022, from Covid related complications, but his architectural legacy of public and private structures lives on in the Le Perthus Pyramid, Terminal 1 of Barcelona airport, and many other well known buildings throughout Catalonia.
