Nova Barcelona

[1] In October 1716, following the Battle of Petrovaradin, a decisive Austrian victory in the Austro-Turkish War of 1716–18, the Habsburgs conquered the Ottoman town (Veliki) Bečkerek / (Nagy) Becskerek, now Zrenjanin in Vojvodina.

In order to develop the newly acquired region an Imperial Privileged Oriental Company (Kaiserliche privilegierte orientalische Kompagnie) was founded in 1719.

After Habsburgs lost Spain and Naples in the first half of the 18th century, a colony of their loyalist from those lands settled, mostly, in Vienna and Buda.

They were receiving pensions and social welfare but the Austrian authorities were not happy with the immigrants and decided to resettle them in the Banat, in the town of Pančevo.

The authorities were quite harsh, as the Court Chamber described the settlers as "lazy and brawly", that they "loaf through Vienna and other places, being completely useless" and that purpose of the relocation is "to force them to work".

Among the exiles were major figures in the War of the Spanish Succession like the brothers Rafael and Joan Nebot (General and Colonel, respectively), Captain Francesc de Castellví i Obando and probably Colonel Pere Joan Barceló i Anguera (alias Carrasquet or Carrascot, currently rendered Carrasclet).

The first group of exiles arrived in the autumn of 1735, consisting of 74 families under the leadership of the Trinitarian priest Jose Muñoz from Madrid.

Josef Huber, who was the transport commissioner in charge of the resettlement, reported that "majority of settlers have no occupation and don't comprehend anything", describing them as "impetuous and braggart" though he observed that women are mostly good in knitting and weaving.

Certain amount of the construction materials was shipped from Austria, the master craftsmen from Vršac were summoned and the building was projected to start in the early October 1737.

Less than a year after the projected start of the new settlement, the Temeswar Administration announced that "due to the bad influence of the climate and the invasion of the mosquitos", the Catalan and Italian pensioners were allowed to move back to Vienna and Buda.