Barcelona's Gràcia district is now home to Finestres Palestina, the world's first bookshop outside Palestinian territories dedicated exclusively to Palestinian culture, thought, and the situation of its people. The establishment opened on Friday, coinciding with Nakba Day, which commemorates the expulsion of over 700,000 Palestinians from their ancestral lands between 1947 and 1949, according to ACN.
Olivia Watson, the manager, stated the bookshop aims to be a “meeting point” and a “space for cultural exchange”. The interior, designed by Palestinian architect Malek Murad Mateu, draws inspiration from the colours of the Palestinian flag.
The new bookshop features a catalogue of nearly 4,000 works, primarily covering narrative, children's literature, theatre, poetry, essays, arts, and gastronomy. Approximately half of the titles are in Catalan and Spanish, with a significant number also available in Arabic and English, alongside other languages such as French and Italian. The venue will also host a regular cultural programme in a nearby 100-square-metre space currently being prepared.
Understanding Palestinian Reality
Watson explained that Finestres Palestina offers “everything you can read to understand the reality in Palestine, the context and the situation.” Estefania Rico, director of the Ferrer Foundations, which includes the Finestres Foundation, added that the goal is to “place the millennia-old culture of the Palestinian people, which is unjustifiably minoritised, in its rightful place.”
A Response to Vandalism
The opening of Finestres Palestina follows a vandal attack in June last year that damaged around thirty books about Palestine at the original Finestres location on Carrer Diputació. Rico confirmed that this incident was “quite decisive” in moving forward with the new project.
“We had in mind that we wanted to do something brave in the city of Barcelona, which has always had a history of great strength and courage, a spearhead in the matter of the Palestinian cause,” Rico told reporters. She added, “It is a bookshop like no other in the world, only in Palestine and in Barcelona. We wanted to back courage and put the culture of the Palestinian people in the spotlight.” The new bookshop seeks to provide a dedicated platform for understanding and appreciating Palestinian heritage.
