"Just one minute is enough to become aware of a whole century" - these words by the poet Edmond Jabès could well be the motto for the Hotel Claris. With its ultra-modern structure grafted onto the nineteenth-century facade of the Vedruna Palace, this new luxury hotel in the centre of Barcelona has succeeded in bringing together disparate elements from a century of architecture under one roof, thanks to the genius of the architects who took up the challenge and the talent of the interior designers who completed this impossible task. The results are there for all to admire: the visitor's imagination is bombarded with a dazzling harmony of marble, glass and exotic wood that is further enhanced by over 300 objets d'art. Less than one minute is enough, then, to give guests - whose ranks have included Jean-Paul Gaultier, the pop star Sting and scores of others, who are all in love with the place - a snapshot of art history from the Roman Empire to the present day.