Camp Nou Stadium - Spain
Camp Nou, often erroneously called “the Nou Camp” in English, is a football stadium in Barcelona, Spain. The stadium, located in the west of the city, has been the home of FC Barcelona since its construction in 1957. The old Les Corts ground, inaugurated in 1922, was remodelled several times in order to find room for Barça’s constantly growing fan base. After the Spanish Civil War, the club started attracting more and more members every year, which also meant a considerably larger number of spectators at matches. This increased support was the inspiration for several expansion projects, of the south goal (1946), the north goal (1950), and the grandstand’s capacity (1944). But it was becoming patently evident that what the club really needed to do was build a completely new stadium. From 1948, people were more and more keen on the idea of building a completely new ground... The date on which the new stadium was to be inaugurated was September 24, 1957. A special commission was organised whose task was to organise the kind of opening ceremony that the occasion warranted, with two people in charge of the operation: Aleix Buxeres (public relations) and Nicolau Casaus (organisation). In the Barcelona City Council’s Salón de las Crónicas, on Saturday September 21, José María de Cossío, a member of the Real Academia Española, solemnly declared the celebrations of the inauguration of the new stadium open. That same September weekend, a series of international matches were played at Les Corts and the Palacio Municipal de Deportes involving the club’s different sports teams. Those days will go down in club history, and were set to words by the great poet Josep M. de Sagarra in his sonnet titled 'Azul Grana', while an anthem was written in honour of the new FC Barcelona stadium, with Josep Badia putting the words to Adolf Cabané’s music. On the day of the 1957 Mercè Festival, the city was decked out in the FC Barcelona colours. The celebrations continued with the holding of a solemn mass and the blessing of the stadium by the Archbishop of Barcelona, Gregorio Modrego. The Orfeón Graciense choir then performed Händel’s ‘Hallelujah’ while the image of the Virgin of Montserrat was exalted. The president’s box was packed with the most important personages of the sporting and political worlds of the period, including club president Francesc Miró-Sans; José Solís Ruiz, general secretary for Movement, which was the equivalent of the ministry of sport at the time; José Antonio Elola Olaso, head of the National Delegation of Sportspeople; Felipe Acedo, civil governor of Barcelona, and Josep M. de Porcioles, Mayor of Barcelona. Apart from being the stage for all of FC Barcelona’s home matches, the Camp Nou has also witnessed several major international finals, including Cup Winners Cup and Champions League finals, and the football final of the 1992 Olympic Games. But it has not only been used for sports, but also several other major international events, such as concerts given by such singers as Lluís Llach, Bruce Springsteen, Michael Jackson, Josep Carreras and Julio Iglesias and groups like U2; acts of solidarity such as one for Amnesty International, and the visit of Pope John Paul II on November 7, 1982. And the Camp Nou has also been used for events that have marked the history of the club itself, such as the 75th anniversary celebrations on November 27, 1974, when the club anthem 'Cant del Barça' was performed for the very first time, and the many events involved in the 1999 centenary celebrations, including the opening ceremony at which Joan Manuel Serrat sung the club anthem, or the final game, in which Barça played the Brazilian national side, and when all of the club’s former players paraded on the Camp Nou turf.
