June 2, 1945: The new stand
The majestic new stand at Les Corts was built on top of the old one (from 1922), meaning it looked quite odd until, on October 31, 1944 the old stand was sold to the Gimnàstic Tarragona for 50,000 pesetas. Tarragona dismantled it and moved it to its pitch, then located on Avenida de Catalunya.
Finally, on June 2, 1945, with some delay over the scheduled date, the new stand at Les Corts was inaugurated.
Barça and Gimnàstic Tarragona played a friendly that day, a match attended by General Moscardó, the national sports delegation, and at which the trophy for the 1944/45 league champions was presented to FC Barcelona captain, Josep Raich. The new stand cost exactly 2,938,128'10 pesetas and was blessed by the Bishop of Barcelona, Gregorio Modrego. The engineering masterpiece (the cantilever was not supported by any pillar) had been designed by engineer, Eduardo Torroja.
