Antoni Gaudi’s Barcelona

Antoni Gaudi is my favorite architect and Barcelona was his architectural playground containing many of his masterpieces. After studying his work in an art history course in college, I was lucky enough to visit some of his works in person.

PARC GÜELL was built in the early 1900’s for the wealthy Güell family, who wanted a secluded community away from the main city. The plans to live there were later abandoned, so Gaudi actually lived there with his father for 20 years and now the public is fortunate enough to be able to view the beautiful “Parc” in present day.

This is the mosaiced cieling in the Hypostyle Room under the bench in the following picture. Can you imagine how long it took to make the cieling alone??

The famous bench (my favorite part) snakes along the edge of the platform allowing great views of the city!

This gentleman was making and selling picture frames, bookmarks, etc out of wire

The pathway reminds me of another world

LA SAGRADA FAMILIA

Gaudi began work on La Sagrada Familia in 1883 and to this day, it is not finished! He died before he could complete his work and work has been slow as it is privately funded and there are arguments over how to complete the design.

Despite it being unfinished, I was majorly impressed with the magnitude and uniqueness of the design.

Here is a view from about halfway up the stairs

some of the spires viewed from one of the bridges – not for those afraid of heights!

CASA BATLLÓ

Also called Casa dels ossos – “House of Bones” due to it’s skeletal-like similarities, Casa Batlló is a beautiful and unique structure in the Eixample District.

Here is a view of the stained glass windows from the inside. It almost feels like you are inside a helmet, looking out

The next two images show how intricate and unique each feature is on the apartment – nothing is plain

Here is the gorgeous enclosed patio

CASA MILÁ / LA PEDRERA

Here is another example of a very unique apartment building from the facade..

…to the military-like structures on the roof, which is one of the main attractions of the apartment

La Sagrada Familia from an archway on the roof of La Pedrera

Another beautiful patio

CASA VICENS

Somewhat lesser-known is this apartment which was Gaudi’s first important work finished in 1889. This apartment, unlike the others cannot be visited as it is a residence.

I hope you enjoyed Gaudi’s work as much as I did and if you haven’t already, get a chance to visit! Who is your favorite architect?

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11 Dec This entry was published on December 11, 2012 at 06:00. It’s filed under Europe, Photo Tours and tagged Antoni Gaudi, apartment buildings, architecture, Barcelona, Casa batllo, Casa Mila, Casa Vicens, church, churches, Espana, Europe, Gaudi, La Pedrera, La Sagrada Familia, mosaic, Parc Guell, Parks, Spain. Bookmark the permalink. Follow any comments here with the RSS feed for this post.