Monumental church dedicated to the Holy Family, Gaudí’s most famous work, the finest example of his visionary genius and a worldwide symbol of Barcelona. The architect undertook the task in 1883 on the site of a previous neo-Gothic project begun in 1882 by F. del Villar. He dedicated his life, in his later years, to the exclusion of everything else, to carrying out this ambitious undertaking which he left unfinished.
Gaudí wanted to create a «20th century cathedral», a synthesis of all his architectural knowledge with a complex system of symbolisms and a visual explication of the mysteries of faith. There would be façades representing the birth, death and resurrection of Christ with eighteen towers symbolising the twelve Apostles, the four Evangelists, the Virgin Mary and Christ. This last, the tallest, would stand 170 metres high. The church was based on the plan of a Gothic basilica with five naves, a transept, an apse and ambulatory. Gaudí planned monumental façades on the central nave and the arms of the transept. He wanted to give the edifice a spectacular vertical dimension by way of a profusion of pinnacles and high, spiral-shaped towers which would be covered in abstract patterns of Venetian glass mosaic.
Works personally undertaken by Gaudí are the neo-Gothic crypt, the constructed part of the apse and the magnificent façade of the Nativity (eastern side) with a purely naturalistic exuberance in its decoration (figures directly moulded from nature, animals, plants, clouds, etc.). Of the four towers of this façade, Gaudí only saw that of St. Barnabas completed.
Work was interrupted in 1936 when the crypt and Gaudí’s study were burnt. The project was resumed in 1952 using existing drawings and scale models as a base although continuation of the work gave rise to much controversy. From 1954 to 1976, the façade and the four towers of the Passion (western side) were completed. The sculptor Josep M. Subirachs joined the project team (sculptures on the Portal of the Passion) in 1987.
The constructed part is open to visitors as well as the small Museu del Temple Expiatori de la Sagrada Família. PIaça de la Sagrada Família • 08013 Barcelona Phone: (+34) 932 080 414
www.sagradafamilia.cat
Metro stations: Sagrada Família (L5) (L2) Buses: 10, 19, 33, 34, 43, 44, 50, 51 Centre del Modernisme
Phone: (+34) 933 177 652 - 902 076 621 www.rutadelmodernisme.com
LA SAGRADA
FAMÍLIA
PARK GÜELL
planned and directed the construction of the park from 1900 to 1914 for Eusebi Güell as infrastructure and facilities for a residential garden-city based on English models. It was intended for sixty detached houses. The project was unsuccessful and the park became city property in 1922.Two pavilions at the main entrance complete the wall surrounding the park. Intended as a porter’s lodge and administrative building, these pavilions are of stone with roofs of Catalan vaults of flat-laid brick finished with pieces of broken ceramic called trencadís.
The ceramic trencadís follows the sinuous geometric surfaces, a device which gives all of the park’s ornamentation a unique beauty. Each of the roofs is crowned by a small dome above which stands a tall spiral-shaped tower with Gaudí’s characteristic four-branched cross.
A grand stairway divided by a mythological dragon or lizard (which also serves as overflow for the cistern) leads to the large hypostyle hall destined as the housing development’s marketplace. This is built with 84 columns of Doric inspiration supporting quarter-sphere domes. These, in turn, support the great upper plaza, a fine balcony overlooking the city and the sea. The large plaza is delimited by an extraordinary balustrade bench which twists in serpentine manner to form winding courses, recesses and small semi-enclosed areas where the facing of brightly coloured trencadís creates a spectacular collage which seems to have anticipated a vein explored by later avant-garde artists. For the creation of this winding bench and the very beautiful keystones of the hypostyle, marketplace, Gaudí had the collaboration of the architect Josep M. Jujol.
Another feature is the large cistern for collecting rainwater from the plaza by way of the columns. The cistern lies beneath the hypostyle, a place of great plastic beauty. Also noteworthy are the viaducts which support the roads for vehicular traffic with retaining walls and robust inclined pillars which form elegant arches faced with rough-hewn stone.
In the house which Gaudí had built for his own use in the park, the work of his disciple Francesc Berenguer (1905), we now find the Casa-Museu Gaudí. This museum has notable examples of furnishings designed by the architect as well as personal memorabilia. World Heritage Site by UNESCO. Olot, s/n • 08024 Barcelona
Casa-Museu Gaudí • Phone (+34) 932 193 811 Metro station: Lesseps (L3)
Crypt of the church planned by Gaudí for the textile workers’ estate which Eusebi Güell installed in the municipality of Santa Coloma de Cervelló, near the Llobregat river. (The co-operative and some of the houses are the work of Gaudí’s disciples: F. Berenguer and J. Rubió i Bellver). Gaudí began this ambitious project in 1898 but only the crypt was finished (1908-1916). Nevertheless, this is one of the architect’s most studied and admired works and a precedent for many of the solutions used in the church of the Sagrada Família.
Situated on a pine-covered hill, the ground plan is inscribed in the shape of an irregular oval with the central body divided by two bays which, by means of four central columns and other lateral columns, support a series of irregular exposed brick ribs. Surrounding this is an ambulatory with other columns supporting the ribs of the roof. In front of the entrance is a porch which is right beside the stairway leading to the upper level where the church was to be built.
The great expressive strength of the crypt is the result of a series of innovative features in the structure along with the audacious use of constructive elements. The pillars are inclined in accordance with the loads they have to bear while the traditional Catalan brick vault adopts the form known as hyperbolic paraboloid («saddle-shaped»), years ahead of its use in modern avant-garde architecture. The materials —basically basaltic stone, very rough-hewn, and brick, with mosaics and stained glass in doors and windows— are used with great vigour and energy which conveys a sense of the rough and primitive. The wood and iron benches, designed by Gaudí himself, are also very worthy of study. Claudi Güell, 9-11
08690 Santa Coloma de Cervelló, Barcelona Phone information of the Colònia Güell: (+34) 936 305 807 www.elbaixllobregat.net/coloniaguell
From Barcelona: Motorway AP-2, Cinturó Litoral exit (by way of Sant Boi de Llobregat and the highway to Sant Vicenç dels Horts), or A-2, Sant Vicenç dels Horts exit
Railway: FGC, Colònia Güell station We would like to thank Mr Joan Bassegoda i Nonell, of the Gaudí chair of the Escola Tècnica Superior d’Arquitectura of the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya and the ill-fated Mr Ignasi de Solà-Morales, lecturer at the Escola Tècnica Superior d’Arquitectura of the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya, for their kind collaboration. © Generalitat de Catalunya
Ministry of Enterprise and Labour Directorate General for Tourism Photos: Toni Vidal and Jordi Pareto Texts: Servei d’Informació i Difusió Turística Translation: Discobole, S.L.
Printed by: vanguard gràfic SA D. L.: B-36.203-2011 Printed in the European Union
COLÒNIA
GÜELL
Apartment block built between 1906 and 1910 for the Milà-Segimon family. The last example of Gaudí’s civil architecture, it is one of his finest and most ambitious creations, extraordinarily innovative in its functional, constructive and ornamental aspects.
The ample apartments are arranged along the undulating façade and around two large interior patios, one circular and the other of elliptical shape. From these patios a spiral staircase connects with the first floors while a ramp leads to the underground carriage area. This plan completely broke away from the type of houses in the Eixample district of Barcelona and used a new and audacious building structure supported on columns of stone and brick and incorporating a steel web without any load-bearing walls. This gave a total freedom to the
distribution of each of the five floors where broken undulating planes dominated, always forming curvilinear perspectives.
The façade is an impressive wave-like mass of rough-chipped stone. The hardness and solidity of the materials contrast with the sensation of movement in these waves on one vast sea of stone. The windows and doors seem to be dug out of this stone mass and are trimmed in exquisitely crafted wrought iron work with vegetal forms on the balconies and refined grilles on the doors. The unusual roofing is supported by a series of parabolic arches of varying height which form the mansard, covered with marble plaques on the outside. On the stepped terrace, coming as an elegant surprise, are the huge stair exits of sculptured spirals crowned by four repeated crosses and faced with trencadís (pieces of broken marble). The chimneys bring to mind knights wearing visors. All of this makes up a fantastic space which has been called expressionist or an anticipation of Surrealism.
Classified as World Heritage in the 1984 Unesco Catalogue. The Caixa de Catalunya, a savings bank, bought the building in 1986 and has restored it as the head office of its cultural foundation. Espai Gaudí: Provença, 261-265 08008 Barcelona
Exhibitions: Pg. de Gràcia 92 • 08008 Barcelona Phone information: (+34) 902 400 973 Phone reservations: (+34) 934 845 530 www.rutadelmodernisme.com www.fundaciocaixacatalunya.org Metro station: Diagonal (L3) (L5) Railway: FGC, Provença station Renfe station: Passeig de Gràcia Buses: 7, 16, 17, 20, 22, 24, 28, 43, 44,
LA PEDRERA
(Casa Milà)
Apartment block totally renovated by Gaudí from 1904 to 1906 on a commission from the textile industrialist Josep Batlló i Casanovas. Along with two other key works of Barcelona «Modernism», the Casa Amatller by Puig i Cadafalch (1900) and the Casa Lleó Morera by Domènech i Montaner (1905), Gaudí’s Casa Batlló makes up the so-called «Block of Discord», an allusion to the satirical mythological Judgment of Paris.
One of the architect’s most complete works, it reflects an intense yet abstract naturalism. Decorated with polychrome ceramics of both brilliant and subtle colours, it produces an indefinable sensation of lightness in spite of the profusion of forms and motifs. At the first floor level of the undulating façade is a striking stone structure in the form of a loggia supported by columns which frame fine windows decorated with stained glass. The ceramics and multicoloured glass mosaics of the upper part are interrupted by fierce-looking iron balconies in the form of masks. Crowning the whole is an imaginative tile roof over double garrets which evokes the back of a fantastic dragon and a round tower with a floral dome topped with a four-branched cross behind which stand the sculpted chimneys with their allusions to sturdy guardians.
There is an admirable hall at the entrance with windows which are cast with changing blue tones according to the shades of the ceramic tiles. The first floor was decorated by Gaudí who created some of his best interior design pieces for it: a magnificent built-in fireplace, wooden doors, stairs and furniture (some now preserved in the Casa-Museu Gaudí); stained glass and wrought iron elements. Passeig de Gràcia, 43 • 08007 Barcelona Phone: (+34) 934 880 666 - 932 160 306 www.casabatllo.cat
Metro station: Passeig de Gràcia (L3) Railway: Renfe, Passeig de Gràcia station Buses: 7, 16, 17, 20, 22, 24, 28, 43, 44
CASA BATLLÓ
An urban residence built between 1886 and 1888 for the family of Eusebi Güell, this was the first large-scale work by Gaudí to clearly manifest the search for new ideas in construction as well as a totally personal, innovative interpretation of historical styles, in this case, Gothic with Moorish elements.
The family quarters, where the building takes on its palatial aspect, are built over a basement destined for the stables, with ramp access, where sturdy brick mushroom-shaped columns support Catalan vaults of flat-laid brick and above a ground floor intended for administrative services. The building is centred on a grand vertical space crowned by a large parabolic dome with star-shaped windows. This vertical space runs through the whole edifice projecting beyond the roof in a high conical spire. The other areas (lounges, corridors, living rooms) are organised around this space which constitutes the main room which served both as a chapel (with a small closet-sacrarium) and as a concert room (with a fine organ). The luxurious interior decoration is a magnificent compendium of the taste of the time —marble columns with hyperbolic capitals, parabolic arches, ceilings panelled in precious woods, elaborate ironwork, paintings by Aleix Clapés, appliqués of mother-of-pearl and ivory and exquisitely fashioned furniture.
The façade is of rather severe stone with a running balcony along the first floor, rectangular and vertical in design, with two large doors in the form of catenary arches. Between these is set a massive coat-of-arms of Catalonia in wrought iron. The door grilles are of sinuous decoration. Crowning the structure is a unique roof with eighteen projecting chimneys and ventilation pipes in various original forms covered in trencadís (broken pieces of ceramic) which Gaudí was to use in many of his later works. The rear façade is adorned with a bay window equipped with a fine wooden jalousie.
Owned by the Diputació de
Barcelona since 1945. Classified as World Heritage by Unesco in 1984.
Nou de la Rambla, 3-5 • 08001 Barcelona Phone: (+34) 934 725 775 / 771 www.palauguell.cat
Metro station: Liceu (L3) Buses: 14, 59, 91, 120
The stables and porter’s lodge (1884-87) were designed by Gaudí for the large Güell Estate which was later converted into the Pedralbes Palace. The structure of the stables is of brick vaults and parabolic arches corresponding to a Catalan tradition with Gothic roots. The exterior decoration (walls, domes, etc.) of tile, ceramic and false mosaic is of Oriental tradition. An extraordinary wrought iron dragon guards the main entrance, a reference to the mythological Garden of the Hesperides (inspired by J. Verdaguer’s long epic poem «Atlàntida» written in 1877).
The Gaudí Chair of the Technical College of Architecture of the Polytechnical University of Catalonia and a specialised archive, library and museum are located here. Avinguda Pedralbes, 7 • 08034 Barcelona Guided tours phone: (+34) 902 076 621 www.rutadelmodernisme.com Metro station: Palau Reial (L3)
Buses: 7, 33, 60, 63, 67, 68, 74, 75, 78, 113
The residential villa Casa Vicens was built between 1883 and 1888 for the pottery manufacturer Manuel Vicens i Montaner. Forming part of the architect’s early period, the building’s structure is still dominated by straight lines. The exterior decoration, however, appears as an explosion of imagination and brilliant ideas which Gaudí would not cease to cultivate. This budding originality is seen in the horizontal bands of glazed ceramic on the lower part of the building and on the columns of the upper section with its large towers at the corners. It is especially remarkable in the interior decoration, of Moorish inspiration. The grille work of wrought iron in palm frond motif is magnificent. Private property.
Carolines, 24 • 08012 Barcelona Metro stations: Fontana (L3) Railway: FGC, Gràcia or PI. Molina Buses: 22, 24, 27, 28, 31, 32, 87, 92 Private property. Not open to the public
This apartment block, was erected between 1898 and 1900 for the Calvets, a family of textile industrialists, with offices on the ground floor converted today into a restaurant. In 1900, it received the Barcelona City Council Award. The building is the first built by Gaudí along the codified typology of houses in the Eixample district. The exterior stone façade with its bay window, its balconies and its sculptural decoration, as well as the hall, the staircase and the lift reflect a clearly baroque style. The interior façade, however, shows a much more personal and functional inspiration in which the balconies and galleries form a visual continuity. The furniture designed by Gaudí is mainly conserved in the Casa-Museu Gaudí.
Casp, 48 • 08010 Barcelona Metro stations: Catalunya (L1 and L3) or Urquinaona (L1 and L4)
Railway: Renfe, Catalunya
Buses: 7, 19, 39, 41, 45, 47, 50, 54, 55, 56, 62, 141 Private property. Not open to the public
PAVELLONS
GÜELL
CASA VICENS
The architect and designer Antoni Gaudí is the most internationally prestigious figure in Catalan architecture. This stature is due to his capacity for synthesising tradition and for the originality and audacity of his technical solutions as well as his use of brilliant, unique and creative ornamentation.
Born in Reus, he graduated in Barcelona in 1878 and this city became the centre of his activities at a most favourable moment for the development of his personality. A cultural and political renaissance (the Renaixença) was in full swing. It was a time of economic prosperity and urban expansion with the patronage of a middle class which wanted to be in tune with the new European styles. Gaudí’s education and development was influenced by the theories of Viollet-le-Duc and Ruskin as well as the thought of the «Modernist» generation [the Catalan movement corresponding to Art Nouveau] which was formed around the 1888 Barcelona World Fair. Soon however, the architect would go beyond dominant historicist styles within 19th century eclecticism to formulate his own aesthetic which would make his style quite unmistakable and, at the same time, difficult to classify.
A distinctive feature of Gaudí’s biography was his relationship with the Güells, a family of industrialists who commissioned him with a good number of works and helped him to gain prestige among Barcelona circles. Equally important were his links from when he was just a young man with the Sagrada Família church which would play a role in intensifying his deep religiosity and finally his exclusive and increasingly absorbing dedication to the problems which arose in putting his own architecture into practice. Apart from the works already mentioned he built the Theresian Convent and the Villa Bellesguard in Barcelona, buildings in Comillas, Astorga and León, revised the interior of Majorca Cathedral and carried out other minor works.
One important aspect is his capacity as an interior designer. This led him to design, in close collaboration with some of the very fine artisans of his time, all those elements making up architectural space within an organic concept of decoration and with the integration of these elements into the construction process.
In his own time Gaudí was both admired and criticised for the audacity and singularity of his innovative solutions. Now, after a period of being relatively ignored, his fame on a world scale has become an unquestioned fact, both in specialised circles and among the general public.
