Barcelona terror attack desecrates Joan Miró's iconic mosaic on Las Ramblas

In 1968, Barcelona's city council commissioned Joan Miró to create a welcoming mosaic for the city's busiest tourist spot where Las Ramblas meets Plaça de la Boqueria. The resulting work, 'Pla de l'Os,' was inaugurated in 1976 and became one of Barcelona's symbols. On August 17, 2017, a terrorist drove a van onto the mosaic, killing 13 and injuring over 100. The image of the van stopped on Miró's artwork became the most shared photo of the attack. Miró had created three mosaics for Barcelona: at the airport, on Las Ramblas, and at the Joan Miró Foundation on Montjuïc. The 'Pla de l'Os' mosaic was restored in 2007-2008 at a cost of about €32,000, replacing worn tiles with brighter maiolica. The attack turned the artwork into a backdrop for the deadliest assault on the city in recent history.