From Modernisme to MBM, there can be no more convincing proof of the collapse ofthe imperial cultural centre, whether Paris or its successor New York. Catalonia has always gone its own way and done so with flair and individuality - the 1992 Barcelona Olympics showed the world what a truly vibrant society it is with the striking opening ceremony and its unique blend of theatre, art, and Mediterranean mythology. For more than forty years, the Barcelona architects MBM have been an active ingredient in the dough of Catalan culture, whether as architects or urban planners, as writers, and historians. MBM is more then one man, it is a partnership, which, from the very beginning, took the complexity of the Modern Movement and used it to frame an understanding that clearly expressed Catalan pluralism.