Plaça de les Glòries Catalanes , most often shortened to
Glòries, is a large square in
Barcelona, first designed by
Ildefons Cerdà to serve as the city centre in his original
urban plan (
Pla Cerdà), but nowadays relegated to quite a secondary position. It is located in the
Sant Martí district, bordering
Eixample, at the junction of three of the city's most important thoroughfares:
Avinguda Diagonal, Avinguda Meridiana and
Gran Via de les Corts Catalanes. Currently it serves largely as a roundabout of elevated highways. However, beginning in the early 2000s, and as of 2007, revamping project for Glòries has started, which is aimed to give the square a new role in Barcelona and revitalize the northern districts of the city, under the name
22@. These plans supplement other large-scale plans in Sagrera and the
Fòrum area. The first installment of this project was the construction of the controversial
Torre Agbar skyscraper.