The Balança romana (Roman Scale) is an urban sculpture forged out of iron created by Jannis Kounellis, featuring seven scales with sacks of coffee beans. The piece evokes Barceloneta’s port and commercial past and recalls the work of the stevedores who unloaded goods at the nearby docks. With its industrial aesthetic and solid presence, the piece transforms the scale into a memorial and a symbolic image of the old port of Barcelona.
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The work was created in 1992 during the city's transformation in the run-up to the Olympic Games, and it has often been interpreted as a reflection on the changes experienced by the waterfront at that time.
