Sagrada Família is the one must-see in town. This commission was originally for a modest orthodox church in a neo-Gothic style. Obviously, it went a different direction. Gaudì started this project when he was 31 and spent the rest of his life working on it, living in an on-site studio and becoming a recluse. For […]
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Casa Milà, or La Pedrera, Barcelona
Casa Milà is another one of Gaudì’s extraordinary designs, commissioned by the flamboyant developer Pere Milà and his wife. This apartment building shook the neighborhood in the early 1900s with its rippling limestone façade and wrought iron balconies and windows. It consists of two buildings, each nine stories, joined around a courtyard. Gaudì was a […]
Casa Batlló, Barcelona
Industrialist Josep Batlló hired Gaudí in 1907 to give his plain building a facelift. He ended up with a fantastic yet functional abode. I’ll let the images do most of the talking. Gaudí designed a new undulating façade of glass, stone and mosaics, complete with curvy windows and wavy balconies. Like the facade, the interior […]
La Catedral Basílica Metropolitana de Barcelona, or La Seu
Barcelona’s stunning 15th-century Gothic cathedral is dedicated to local martyr Santa Eulàlia, whose tomb rests in a crypt below the high altar. The cathedral sits on the site previously occupied by a Roman temple and a Christian basilica. The neo-Gothic façade is relatively new, having been completed in the 19th century. I didn’t get to […]
Palau Güell, Barcelona
Antoni Gaudí left his modernisme mark all over Barcelona. His very unique, very imaginative architectural and design style enlivens a number of buildings around town. Palau Güell is an example of Gaudì’s early work, when he was cultivating his own expression of form and space. Industrialist Eusebi Güell commissioned Antoni Gaudì to construct this unique, […]
Barcelona
Barcelona is a unique mix of urban life overlaid with Mediterranean charm. It’s a city best explored on foot, without an agenda. It’s easy to float from café to tapas bar to wandering the tight, labyrinthine streets in the medieval Gothic Quarter and the vast promenade, Las Ramblas, the long tree-lined pedestrian avenue. It rained […]
