ABSTRACT
This chapter explores architectural reconstruction in the context of the formation of nation-states in Europe during the 19th century and contributes to the field by suggesting two points. First, it links the nationalist interest in architectural reconstruction with the emergence of a leisure industry increasingly interested in displaying architectural heritage in a spectacular way. Second, the chapter shows how reconstructions were based on ideal models that supplanted the reality of buildings. Buildings became copies of an idealised past that probably never existed. The chapter explores the case of the Gothic Quarter in Barcelona, which was recreated at the beginning of the 20th century.
