«Se breve en tus razonamientos, que ninguno hay gustoso si es largo». El ingenioso hidalgo Don Quijote de la Mancha en Barcelona y los episodios pictóricos de su paso por la ciudad

When Don Quixote left the town of Barcelona after his defeat before the Knight of the White Moon, Miguel de Cervantes made him express a series of great compliments to the city that had welcomed him for a while. The admiration of the writer reached the point that it is the only town that has prominence and to which he devotes some chapters of his famous novel The ingenious gentleman Don Quixote de la Mancha. The Barcelona that Cervantes knew early in the 17th century was still a city surrounded by walls, full of long alleys and mysterious corners. It is most likely that what captivated the writer was the combination of a still medieval atmosphere with the hustle and bustle of a port site. Proof of quixotic adventures is a set of six paintings that decorate one of the rooms in the old Palacio de la Aduana (Customs House), located in Pla de Palau, at the end of the 18th century. Its author, Pere Pau Muntanya, is considered one of the best mural painters of the time. The setting was excellent, because the Customs Palace, work by the Count of Roncali, had been completed by the same dates, as were the Portal del Mar and Casa Lonja located nearby.