And of course that happens in a game that won't go as far as CreateCon or Mining Inc. 
Overview at 1 AD. I'm really really happy with how this game is going. (And popped another one.)
The only problem is that I've got only five cities, since England swiped both the barb city and York's location in the southeast. Both are doomed to a flip from my Legendarys though.
Yes, those are a bunch of plains cottages next to Seville and Barcelona. Even more than in the other games, they feel right to build here. After 10 turns, a riverside hamlet is equal to a regular grass mine. Great for production, and the mined hills can support lots of plains cottages per city. I whipped sparingly, and soon went to Caste System permanently.
During the Golden Age, Madrid continued with its max specialists in Pacifism, spawning Great Persons #3 and #4 out of a mixed pool both as Prophets. They went for bulbing Theology and the Confucian shrine. I did build the Apostolic Palace.
After the GA, went to Org Rel for a while to keep building wonders. Apostolic Palace (really just for the hammer boost), Mausoleum, Sistine of course. Meanwhile, Barcelona the Bureau of Artists got going.
You know that feeling when you strap in on a roller coaster and it just starts to leave the station? That "whoa, here we go, where are we going but it's gonna be AWESOME"?
Barcelona is like that right now. :) Eight hammer mines, Bureaucracy, and Forge now. I am letting it grow on hammer specialists now for about two cycles of Great People, then will switch over to Caste/Pacifism and all artists.
WOW look how high we are! I can see Canada from here! Wheeeeeeeeee!
Anyway, GP #5 came from Barcelona as an Engineer, saved for the Taj Mahal. #6 a Prophet, saved for a Golden Age. #7 artist back from Madrid, settled. #8 artist settled. #9 artist settled. #10 artist settled. #11 artist settled. #12 artist settled. #13 artist settled. #14 artist and it's time to save for great works.
Monty went to war with Elizabeth, fine with me. So here we are after another millennium of peaceful artistic contemplation.
Got plenty of religions, my native four plus Elizabeth spread Judaism to me. And got Liberalism in a timely manner. But I have a problem. Bureaucracy hammers are supporting my artist farm's population. Bureaucracy clashes with Free Speech. Now what do I do?
Quantify it. Right now the legendary cities are making about 400 base culture, so Free Speech would be worth 400/turn. Bureaucracy is making 27 hammers (to find the proportion due to Bureaucracy, multiply the city's on-screen production by of 96 by 0.50/1.75). 27 Bureaucracy hammers support 9 artists because we're over the health cap. Those artists produce 27 x 3.5 = 94 GPP/turn. My conversion from artist GPP to culture is 1:4.4, turning 900 GPP into 4000 culture from a Great Work. Therefore that 94 GPP is worth just over 400 culture/turn. It's a wash!
Very soon, though, it tips in favor of Free Speech. The GPP:culture conversion ratio starts to drop once the GPP cost goes over 1000. And of course the culture baseline for Free Speech continues to increase as more artists settle and more wonders reach doubling age.
But that analysis let me pause Liberalism for a moment, going to Divine Right instead to pick up Islam. I also traded for Machinery and researched Guilds. Liberalism took Nationalism. Between the extra workshop hammer and the Taj golden age, Barcelona smoothly transitioned out of Bureaucracy without hammer sustenance trouble.
Ok, this is getting silly. Barcelona just popped its SECOND iron of the game to make THREE in a row right next to each other.
No, I mean REALLY silly. I have popped FOUR irons this game and now have eight total. And of course that happens in a game that won't go as far as CreateCon or Mining Inc.