Antoni Gaudí and his famous houses are a visiting card of the sights of Catalonia. Antonio Gaudi and his famous houses Gaudi's first house in Barcelona

16.03.2021

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In this article, we will tell you about the most famous houses of the architect Gaudi. There are many buildings he built in the city, but these are a must-see.

Gaudi's houses: addresses on the map

A. Gaudi's house is known all over the world. The history of this building dates back to 1877, when it was simply the home of the textile magnate Joseppe Batlló y Casanovas. At that time, the house was considered only by tenants and tenants. But everything changed when the maestro got down to business.

Address: Passeig de Gràcia street, 43.
How to get there: tourist bus on the Northern and Southern routes, city buses H10, V15, 7, 22 and 24, metro lines L2, L3 and L4.
Working hours: Mon-Sun 9.00-21.00.
Ticket price: € 23.50 /€20.50, entrance for children under 7 is not paid.
Waiting: 2-3 hours, long queue.

The landlord decided to demolish the building and build a new one in its place, but the master convinced him that he would transform the house into something special. The architect created new facades, meticulously worked on the mezzanine and ground floor, and created unique furniture. The author has embodied the idea of a courtyard, thereby adding light and air.

The main idea of the architect is to minimize the straight lines of the house. There are few of them both inside and outside. On the ground floor, round windows, frames, and stones with a wavy outline are striking. The facade is decorated with bright tiles of various colors. You can walk around the house for hours, but you never know it completely. It amazes with its uniqueness and brightness. This is where time stops. You find yourself in a fairy tale.

The main facade resembles a dragon. The fabulous creature is covered with tiles like scales, and the decoration features the shapes of skulls and bones. For this building has the names "House of the Dragon" and "House of Bones". The cross on the tower is a tribute to the patron saint of Catalonia, St. George and his victory.

Excursions with visiting houses

All Gaudí in 5 hours

The tour is designed for 1-5 people, time is about 5 hours. Gaudi's art covered by the program:

Bellesguard Castle;
The pavilions of the Guell estate in Pedralbes;
School at the Monastery of St. Teresa;
Lanterns in Royal Square and other notable creations of the author.

The walk will bring great emotions and valuable knowledge to all participants, so the presence of children is possible. It involves an external study of the buildings and a visit to Bellesguard Castle (the cost of a ticket for travel is calculated separately at 9 €). The journey is carried out by your car or it is possible to remove the transport (cost from 100 €). This proposal can be especially interesting if there are old people and children in the group. It is possible to visit the paid area of Gaudí Park or get to the Güell Palace.

The cost is 163 € or 75 € per person, if the number is more than stipulated.

Reviews:

Thanks to Eugene for a wonderful excursion to the unique places of the genius of Gaudi.
Very interesting and well organized with the car.
We spent 5 hours of an amazing journey with a person who loves and knows their job and are not tired. Recomend for everybody.

A car tour of Barcelona in search of Gaudí's masterpieces is a very good find. Otherwise, you would be simply deadly tired, or simply significantly limited the number of excursion objects of Gaudí. You would be introduced to 4-5 masterpieces, bypassing amazing houses and decor elements outside the main program. The expanded circle allowed me to destroy a certain stereotype of Gaudi, seeing his other architectural styles (school at the monastery). Eugene very thoughtfully builds the route, and the culmination moment (Sagrada Familia) becomes the peak that concludes the excursion: you are already saturated with the work of the master and here it is! We were on an excursion in the afternoon and did not have time to get inside, only the next day; I think if after the tour we saw the Sagrada from the inside, it would be an even more powerful IMPRESSION. Bottom line: not tiring, informative, professional, in addition to everything, you still get a full-fledged panoramic Barcelona. I give "excellent".

Modern and Gothic: the two faces of Barcelona

The program explores two Barcelona that is completely different in character and style. In 4 hours, you will get acquainted with the opposites - ancient Gothic and Barcelona Art Nouveau, the history of the city and interesting facts.

The acquaintance begins with the Eixample district, where the works of the master Gaudí and other representatives of Art Nouveau are located. The Quarter of Discord will become a ground for reflection on what the architects still wanted to convey with their buildings. See the chic houses of Mila and Batlló, the Palais des Music and learn their background. Going down to the old center to the famous boulevard, getting to know the Gothic quarter, seeing theaters, the famous market, palaces, cathedrals, taking stunning pictures, and enjoying drinks in the favorite place of famous artists - all this is possible within the framework of this excursion.

The individual program is designed for 1-6 people, the cost is 125 € for a walking tour.

Reviews:

We chose an excursion with Julia to get to know Barcelona and did not regret it! We had a very interesting and informative time! Four hours passed unnoticed, both adults and adolescents were satisfied. We recommend Julia's excursions in Barcelona!

Great guide! Excellent knowledge and mastery of the material, which is presented to you with the love and pride of a local. All of us, including a child of 11 years old, listened to and went through the excursion in one breath and even at the end of the excursion did not want to let Yulia go. They spoke from what they saw and heard all evening! Thank you, Julia. I recommend this guide to everyone who wants to get a bright, versatile, honest, indescribably fascinating and mesmerizing picture of this magnificent city!

Meet Senorita Barcelona

In more than 3.5 hours, the excursion covers a very large-scale program. The journey starts at the main square. Further - the Rambla with its Canaletas, Boccheria and the Palace of the Viceroy. A walk through the Gothic Quarter and a meeting with the works of the great architect will undoubtedly leave no one indifferent. The Church of Santa Maria del Mar is a prime example of Gothic and the Picasso Museum. The epogue of the journey will be: Casa Mila - a wavy house-prototype of nature itself and Casa Batlló - a graphic illustration of the legend about St. George.

Hearing unique stories, leaving many photographs as a keepsake, gaining valuable knowledge will be interesting for all ages. The walk includes only external acquaintance with the buildings and the metro ride, which is paid separately.

The price of walking is 125 € for 1-4 people, autonomously.

Reviews:

The excursion turned out to be very interesting and informative, Mila is an excellent guide and pleasant companion, even before the excursion she was always in touch and answered all questions! Mila, thank you very much, it was very nice to meet you and have a good time !!!

Many thanks to Mila! The excursion was very informative and 4 hours passed unnoticed.

Mila! THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU! We fell in love! Emotionally, energetically! Barcelona is a miracle! Very informative for the first visit! Thanks! Recommended for Mila: folded_hands_medium-light_skin_tone :: rose: 4 hours passed quickly !.

7 masterpieces of Barcelona in 4 hours by car

The duration of this walk is 4 hours, during which it is possible to get acquainted with the main exhibits of Barcelona. The comfortable transport of the guide comes to the rescue here.

Main points of auto walking:

temple - Sagrada Familia;
House of Amatlier, where you can taste a special chocolate, which is also prepared. Just like 100 years ago.
The heart of Barcelona is the Plaza de España.

Monument to the navigator Christopher Columbus and the Port of Barcelona and much more, no less significant and interesting.

During the excursion, it is possible to inspect the Batlló houses and the Sagrada temple. The decision must be made in advance and order tickets that are not included in the cost of the walk, since in order to get tickets to such popular places, you need to stand in a long queue. This is 15 and 21.5 €, parking is 5-10 €.

Price € 240, number of people up to 4.

Reviews:

Thanks for the interesting excursion! Everything was done and matched taking into account the fact that one older member of the group could not move quickly. However, we managed to do everything we had planned and even drank hot chocolate :)
Thank you, Olenka!

I liked the excursion very much! The route was adjusted according to our wishes. Beautiful locations, interesting story. Olga revealed to us the little secrets of the city - where to walk, where to eat, what else to see not far from our hotel. Thanks for the interesting excursion and advice!

The style of architectural creativity of Antoni Gaudi is usually attributed to the modernist trend. But you can see that in the projects of his creations, the architect used certain features of many other styles. At the same time, each of them was subjected to rethinking, and the architect took only those elements that he considered acceptable for his buildings.

Sagrada Familia Cathedral - the pinnacle of creativity of the brilliant architect

The personality remains mysterious and incomprehensible, despite the huge amount of information about the life and work of this genius. It would seem, what new can be said about a man who has bathed in glory and luxury all his life, not knowing the count of money and completely surrendering to creativity? So why did Antonio die alone, in extreme poverty and oblivion? The answer to this question is alas! - not known to anyone.

Gaudí buildings

Among the famous buildings of the brilliant architect, starting from his earliest works, the following can be distinguished:

(built in 1883 - 1888) - Casa Vicens - residential building of the Manuel Vicens family, one of the first large orders of Gaudí.

El Capriccio, Comillas(Cantabria) (built in 1883 - 1885) - Capricho de Gaudi - the summer residence of Maximo de Quijano, the Marquis de Comillas, who was a relative of Eusebio Güell, one of the architect's main customers. This mansion was built for the heir to the Marquis.

El Capriccio

, Pedralbes in Barcelona (built in 1884 - 1887) - unique buildings on the territory of one of the most prestigious areas of Catalonia, built in the style of wealthy Cuban estates.

Guell Palace in Barcelona (built in 1886 - 1889) - Palau Guell - the residential building of the wealthy industrialist Eusebio Guell, one of the earliest works of Gaudí. the palace contains features of a Venetian palazzo, mixed with a touch of eclecticism.

in Barcelona (built in 1888 - 1894) - Collegi de las Teresianes - a special educational institution, a college for girls who in the future became nuns. Today it is one of the main attractions of Catalonia.

Bishop's Palace in Astorga, Castile (Leon) (built in 1889 - 1893) - Palacio Episcopal de Astorga - a palace near the city of Leon, built by order of Bishop Joan Bautista Grau y Vallespinos.

in Leon(built in 1891 - 1892) - Casa de los Botines is a residential building with storage rooms in León, built in the Art Nouveau tradition with the addition of individual elements.

Expiatory Temple of the Sagrada Familia in Barcelona (1883 - the work was not completed by the architect). Of course, when it comes to the work of Antoni Gaudi, one of the most ingenious and bizarre buildings widely known throughout the world is remembered first - this is the Sagrada Familia Cathedral in Barcelona. Among Catholics, the name of the temple sounds like "Temple Expiatori de la Sagrado Familia".

(the project was developed in 1892 - 1893, but the mission was not built) - a small project of the architect, which was never implemented. In planning the future construction, Gaudi completely abandons tradition.

, Garraf (built in 1895 - 1898) - Bodegas Guell - an architectural complex in Sitges, consisting of two buildings - the entrance room and the cellar itself. The building was erected by order of the same industrialist Eusebio Güell.

House Calvet in Barcelona(built in 1898 - 1900) - Casa Calvet - the residence of the widow of the manufacturer Pere Martír Calvet y Carbonell, which was originally designed as a tenement house. In such buildings, the lower floors and basements are reserved for commercial establishments, the owners themselves live on the middle floors, and the rooms upstairs are rented out to guests. Today, the Calvet House is one of the landmarks of Barcelona.

Colony Guell Crypt, Santa Coloma de Cervelo (1898 - 1916) - a chapel built on the territory of the settlement of workers of the textile factory Eusebio Guell. A wealthy industrialist in his colony wanted to build a school, hospital and church for his workers. It was with the construction of the crypt that the implementation of the project began. However, things did not go further, and the church itself remained unfinished.

Figueres House on Bellesguard Street in Barcelona (1900 - 1902) - Casa Figueras or Bellesguard Tower - a beautiful house, crowned with towers, built by order of the widow of the merchant Maria Sages. The client wanted to build a new beautiful building on his land, and Antoni Gaudi fully coped with this task.

Park Guell in Barcelona(1900 - 1914) - Parque Guell - garden and park complex with residential areas with a total area of just over 17 hectares, built in the upper part of Barcelona.

(1901 - 1902) - Finca Miralles - a gate for the house of the manufacturer Miralles, built in the form of a fancy sea shell and harmoniously inscribed in an arched opening.

Villa Catllaras, La Pabla de Lillette(built in 1902) is a country house in Spain, designed by a talented architect. The uniqueness of the building is visible even in the drawing - no one had done anything like this before Gaudi.

La Pabla de Lillette

Artigas Gardens beforethe mountains of the Pyrenees(1903 - 1910) - Can Artigas gardens in Pobla de Lillet - magnificent buildings within the garden and park complex located at the foot of the Pyrenees mountains at a distance of 130 km from Barcelona.

For a long time, this pearl of Gaudi's architectural creativity remained unknown to the whole world, but in the early 70s of the XX century, the gardens were discovered, put in order and opened to tourists. Since then, the Can Artigas gardens have been one of the landmarks of Spain, as well as a unique example.

Warehouses of the Badia blacksmith's artel(1904) - were designed by order of Jose and Luis Badio - the owners of the blacksmith workshops, in which Gaudí ordered metal forged parts to decorate his architectural projects.
(built in 1904 - 1906) - Casa Batllo - the residential building of Josep Batllo y Casanovas, a wealthy textile magnate, rebuilt by Gaudí according to his own project.

Reconstruction of the Cathedral in Palma de Mallorca(1904 - 1919) - Catedral de Santa Maria de Palma de Mallorca - in this Catholic cathedral, Antoni Gaudi performed restoration and decorative work commissioned by the Bishop of Campins.

(1906 1910) - the house of the Mila family, the last secular work of Gaudí, after which he completely devotes himself to the creation of the Temple of the Atonement of the Sagrada Familia. Casa Mila is also one of the most important landmarks of the Catalan capital.

Parish school at the Temple of the Atonement of the Sagrada Familia in Barcelona(1909 - 1910) - Escjles de la Sagrada Familia - originally a school for the children of workers involved in the construction of the Sagrada Familia, it was planned as a temporary building. Subsequently, after the completion of the construction of the cathedral, they wanted to demolish the school. But the building turned out to be so expressive and unique that it still stands not far from the cathedral.

Gaudi's architectural work is not only multifaceted and interesting. It represents a truly rich legacy for all generations of future architects who can learn from these unique structures and create their own masterpieces.

Barcelona is a city of eternal smiles, sun and unique architecture. The sights of Antoni Gaudí are a separate chapter in the endless list of must-see places in the capital of Catalonia, and we will introduce them in our article.

Biography of Antonio Gaudi

The famous Catalan architect Antonio Placid Guillem Gaudí y Cornet was born in 1852 to the family of a blacksmith in the small town of Reus, Catalonia. Continuing the family business, the father of the future architect was engaged in forging and chasing on copper and from an early age instilled in his son a sense of beauty, drawing and depicting buildings with him.

Antonio grew up as a smart boy who achieved success in school without much effort. His favorite subject was geometry. Back in his school years, the young man began to think about his purpose and felt that his life would be somehow connected with art. Once, during a school play, Antonio tried himself as a theater artist and it was then that he realized what he wanted to devote his life to - "painting on stone", which in subsequent generations will be described as Gaudí's architecture.

After graduating from school, Gaudi went to a city that is now impossible to imagine without the works of the Catalan genius - Barcelona.

Architect Antonio Placid Guillem Gaudí y Cornet - creator of the most significant landmarks that Catalonia is proud of

Having entered an architectural bureau here for an initial position, the young man does not leave his dream of one day starting work on his own project and constructing his own building.

After four years of living and working in the Catalan capital, Gaudí finally enters the Provincial School of Architecture, where he takes up his studies with desperate zeal. Already from the first year, teachers celebrate Antonio, noting both his talent and his amazing stubbornness, non-standard vision and audacity. Even the rector of the educational institution speaks about these qualities, presenting the 26-year-old Gaudi with an architect's diploma.

Already in the last courses, the ambitious Catalan worked on serious projects and did not leave his business until the end of his life. In the summer of 1926 in Barcelona, the famous architect was hit by a tram on his way to the church. Mistaking the artist for a homeless person, witnesses to the incident sent him to a hospital for beggars. Only a day later, a famous architect was recognized in the exhausted old man, but his condition at that time worsened, and he soon died.

Style

From the moment he graduated from the school of architecture, Antonio's artistic quest began. At first, he turns to the neo-Gothic style, which was then popular in southern Europe, then changes course to more chamber modern, "pseudo-baroque" and gothic. Almost all of Antoni Gaudi's attractions, and there are 17 of them, are located in Catalonia.

Subsequently, each of these areas will leave their mark on the work of Gaudi. However, it will not be possible to characterize the Gaudi style by only one movement: from the first independent buildings of the artist it becomes clear that their creator is a person outside the rules and time. Such a concept as “Gaudí decor” was forever entrenched in it, the style of which is recognizable always and everywhere.

Smooth lines and unusual construction of space can be conditionally attributed to modernity, which is either approaching or moving away from neo-Gothic.

The buildings

Fountain in Plaza Catalunya - Fuente en la Plaza de Cataluña

(Catalan name -Font a la Plaça de Catalunya)

The fountain in Plaza Catalunya is considered the first independent work of Antoni Gaudi

Antonio's first independent work is recognized as the fountain in the central square of Barcelona - Plaza Catalunya, designed and built in 1877. Now every guest of the capital of Catalonia can admire it, having come to the main square of the city.

Free admission.

The address: Plaça de Catalunya.

How to get there: by metro, the nearest stations are Catalunya and Passeig de Gracia.

Workers' cooperative Mataronin

(Spanish and Catalan names are identical: Cooperativa Obrera Mataronense)

The first building, built by Gaudi himself, is located near Barcelona, in the city of Mataro. The novice architect received an order for the design of the cooperative in 1878, and worked on it for about four years. It was originally planned to build residential buildings, casinos and other side buildings as part of the complex, but ultimately only the factory and service buildings were completed.

Workers' cooperative Mataronin, whose building was designed by the genius of architecture

Now access to the building is open, and everyone can look at it, but it can only be of interest to true admirers and researchers of the history of the architect. After all, the cooperative, although it inevitably reminds of its creator in every detail, does not represent such artistic value as the rest of the buildings of the genius.

The building is now used as an exhibition area.

Opening hours:

From July 15 to September 15 - from 18:00 to 21:00, Monday is a day off.

All other months:

Free admission.

The address: Mataro, Carrer Cooperativa 47.

How to get there:

by train from Barcelons Stants station to Mataro station;
by bus from Pl Tetuan stop to Rda. Alfons XII - Camí Ral (stops 3 minutes walk to the Workers' Cooperative);
by car - drive along the coast to the north, the road will take no more than half an hour.

House Vicens

(Spanish and Catalan names are identical: Casa Vicens)

The Vicens House is the fateful brainchild of the great architect. Thanks to his bold design, Antonio drew attention to his future patron, patron of the arts, Eusebio Güell.

In 1883-1885, Gaudi designed a building that largely determined his fate. The manufacturer Manuel Vicens commissions a project of a summer residence for his family from an architect who has just received his diploma. The young artist decides to build a building with rough stone and colorful ceramic tiles.

The building itself is an almost perfect quadrangle, however, the simplicity of the form was transformed with the help of decorative elements. Facing east, he decorates the building in the Mudejar style. Here he is helped by colored tiles (which the customer at home specializes in) and a bold decision to lay them out in a checkerboard pattern.

Vicens house interior inside

Attention to the smallest details and the desire to maintain their work in a single style were already identified as a hallmark of Antoni Gaudi.

In 2005, the building was added to the UNESCO World Heritage List.

It was after the construction of the Vicens House that Antonio Gaudi was noticed by the patron of the arts, Eusebio Guell, who later became the main customer and patron of the young architect.

Private building, closed until 2017. In October 2017, the house for excursions was opened.

The address: Carrer de les Carolines, 22-24.

How to get there: take the metro to Fontana station (L3).

El Capriccio

(Spanish and Catalan names are identical: Capricho de Gaudí)

The summer mansion of the Marquis Masimo Diaz de Quihhano, created by the genius of architecture, still amazes with its originality and uniqueness

The next building is being built by the Catalan genius by order of the Marquis Masimo Diaz de Quijano, who was distantly related to the architect's friend Guell. The quaint summer mansion was created in Comillas between 1883 and 1885 and is still one of its top attractions. The building is now open to the public.

Opening hours: 10: 30-17: 30, with an hour break from 14:00 to 15:00.

The ticket price is 5 €.

The address: Comillas, Barrio Sobrellano.

How to get there: from Barcelona the fastest route is by plane to Santander (SDR airport) and from there by bus to Comillas (the Comilias stop is a five-minute walk from El Capriccio).

Guell Manor Pavilion - Pabellones Güell

(Catalan name -Pavellons Gü ell)

The beautiful and unique design pavilion of the Guell estate is another work of Gaudí

The first order, which Gaudi received directly from Guell, was a project for a complex of two pavilions and a gate, which was supposed to be the main entrance to the tycoon's country estate. Initially, the complex also included the house of the gatekeeper and stables, but they have not survived to our time.

The pavilion is located in Barcelona, near the Palau Reial metro station on the L3 line, and you can visit it with a ticket for 6 €.

The address: 7, Av. Pedralbes.

How to get there: by metro to Palau Reial station (L3).

Sagrada Familia - Templo Expiatorio de la Sagrada Familia

(catalan title- Temple Expiatori de la Sagrada Família)

The beginning of the construction of the most famous long-term construction is considered March 19, 1882. It was then that the foundation stone of the Atonement Temple of the Sagrada Familia was laid. The basilica began to be built under the leadership of the then eminent Spanish architect Francisco del Villar. A year later, he left the project due to disagreements with the church council, and the young Gaudí was entrusted with continuing the construction.

Antonio Gaudi will devote 42 years of his life to the construction of the Sagrada Familia, tirelessly improving the project, supplementing it with new details and gradually modifying the idea. The artist filled each new column, statue or part of the bas-relief with symbolism and sacred meaning, being a true Christian.

Its principal innovation was 18 pointed towers, each of which had a special meaning. The central and highest among them (not yet completed) is dedicated to Christ.

Facade of the Nativity

The three facades of the building also bear a sacred meaning, which is expressed by sculptures and images on it. The main facade is dedicated to Christmas, the other two - to the Passion of Christ and the Resurrection. According to the Spanish government, the construction of the temple will be completed approximately in 2026 (which is not certain), but now you should definitely visit the Sagrada Familia by Antonio Gaudi, once you are in the capital of Catalonia.

The building is listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. You can learn more about Gaudi's brilliant creation in a separate article at the link.

The expiatory temple of the Sagrada Familia is a unique creation of the Catalan architect Antoni Gaudí. The temple has become a symbol not only of Barcelona, but of the whole of Spain as a whole.

Opening hours:

November-February - 9: 00-18: 00;
March and October - 9: 00-19: 00;
from April to September - 9: 00-20: 00.

The price of the simplest entrance ticket is from 17 €.

The address: Carrer de Mallorca, 401.

How to get there: to Sagrada Familia metro station (L2 and L5).

Palacio Güell

( Catalan name -Palau Gü ell)

Palau Guell not only attracts the attention of numerous tourists, but is also deservedly recognized by UNESCO

The residential building, built by a Catalan master at the request of a friend and patron of Güell, became his only building in the Old Town of Barcelona. Antonio Gaudi spent five years building the Guell Palace, and it was at this time that his personal style was formed, which became recognizable throughout the world.

A non-standard approach to decorating the facade, an appeal to Byzantine motives and the statics of Venetian palazzo - each line of the building loudly declares its creator.

The interiors of the palace are also worth paying attention to: the quirky fireplaces, wooden ceilings, brightly colored stained glass windows and huge mirrors are definitely worth the time. Palau Guell is another building by Antoni Gaudi, included in the UNESCO list.

Opening hours:

from April 1 to September 30 - 10: 00-20: 00;
From October 1 to March 31 - 10: 00-17: 30;
Mon and Sun - days off.

Free admission.

The address: Carrer Nou de la Rambla.

How to get there: by metro to Drassanes station (L3).

College of Saint Teresa - Colegio Teresiano de Barcelona

(catalan title – Collegi de les Teresianes)

In 1888, Antoni Gaudí took on the continuation of the construction of the College of Saint Teresa. It is still unknown which of the architects of that time started this project and why he did not continue it.

The work on the building turned out to be difficult for the architect, because he constantly had to coordinate his ideas with the client and work with rather "boring" material, trying not to dilute it with decorative elements. Relentlessly arguing with Father Ossi, who oversaw the construction, the architect found justification for his decisions in biblical symbolism.

College of Saint Teresa is another popular attraction in Barcelona

Thanks to Gaudi's insistence and his categorical reluctance to adhere to absolute asceticism, the college building turned out to be restrained, but not devoid of recognizable author's features. The shape of the building has been complicated, decorative arches have been placed along the perimeter of the roof, and the facade has been decorated with unique elements.

You can get inside the school during excursions, which are held on weekends from 15:00 to 20:00.

The address: Carrer de Ganduxer, 85.

How to get there: by bus 14, 16, 70, 72, 74 to the Tres Torres stop.

Bishop's Palace in Astrog

(isp... Palacio Episcopal de Astorga,cat... Palau Episcopal d'Astorga)

Bishop of the city of Astrog (province of Leon) Jean Baptiste Grau y Vallespinos was a good sign not only with the work of Antoni Gaudi, but also with the architect himself. It is no wonder that it was he who was commissioned by the priest to design his new residence. Focusing on the Gothic style characteristic of Leon, Gaudí created a small castle with narrow windows, towers and gabled roofs.

Bishop's Palace in Astrog

The unique porch of the building and the entrance portico with recessed arches are a godsend of the architect. In order to create the impression of "elongation" and unreality, to dilute the usual Gothic style, the master decided to use solid elongated stone blocks in the installation.

At the moment, the palace is open to the public, the ticket price is 2.5 €.

The address: Plaza de Eduardo Castro, Astroga.

How to get there: from Barcelona the easiest way is to take the train to Astroga station (the Palace is a 10-minute walk from the station).

House Botines

(Spanish Casa Botines, cat... Casa de los Botines)

Not far from Astroga, in Leon, there is another attraction associated with the name of the Catalan master. The rich people of Leon, seeing the new residence of Bishop Astroga, decided that their new apartment building should be built by the same architect. The main customer was one of them - Joan Botines, the founder of the commercial union.

The house, like Jean Baptiste's palace, was designed with an eye on the local flavor. Returning to the Gothic style, Gaudí erects a rather restrained building with few decorative elements.

Dom Botines - a legendary creation by Gaudí outside Catalonia

The address: Leon, Plaza del Obispo Marcelo, 5.

How to get there:

by train to Ponferrada station;
by bus (follows from the train station) to the Ponferrada stop (a five-minute walk from the Botines House).

Wine cellar Guell

(Spanish.Bodegas Güell,cat... Celler Güell)

Guell Wine Cellar - one of the most original wine cellars in the world

In the suburbs of Barcelona, there is another Gaudí building, commissioned by Eusebio Guell. The master worked on it in 1895-1898. The complex includes a wine cellar, a residential building and a gatekeeper's house. They are all united by a recognizable style, as well as the general idea of building roofs - they resemble either tents or oriental pagodas, attracting all the attention to themselves.

The entrance to the complex costs 9 €.

The address: El Celler Güell, Sitges.

How to get there: by train to Garaff station.

House Calvet

(Spanish and Catalan names are identical: Casa Calvet)

In the years 1898-1890, Gaudí was engaged in the construction of a tenement house on the street Casp (Carrer de Casp) in Barcelona, ordered by the widow of an urban rich man, which later became a private residential building. In the style of the building, the maestro adhered to the neo-baroque style, abandoning medieval motives. It was this creation of the architect that received the Barcelona Municipal Award for the best building of the year in 1900.

The building can only be viewed from the outside.

The address: Carrer de Casp 48.

How to get there: by metro to Urquinaona station (L1, L4).

Colony Guell Crypt

(Spanish and Catalan names are identical:Cripta de la Colò nia Gü ell)

Gaudí began another church in the suburbs of Barcelona in 1898 as part of a project for the construction of a colony - a small complex provided with everything necessary for the life of a micro-society.

The Crypt of Colonia Guell is one of the most original buildings in Catalonia

Due to the protracted construction process, the architect managed to build only the crypt, and all other parts of the project remained unfulfilled.

The building is faced with colored glass, and its windows are decorated with needles from the weaving machines of the Guell factory. The building is decorated with bright stained-glass windows dedicated to church motives.

The crypt is open from 10:00 to 19:00, the ticket costs from 7 €. The attraction is listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

The address: Colonia Guell S. A., Santa Coloma de Cervello.

How to get there: by buses N41 and N51 to the Santa Coloma de Cervello stop.

House Figueres

(Spanish and Catalan names are identical: Casa Figueras)

One of the most recognizable houses of Antoni Gaudí is located on Bellesguard and is often named after her. Only on the project of the house, which in 1900 was ordered by the widow of a wealthy merchant Maria Sages, the architect worked for three years, and its construction continued until 1916.

Forming the style of the building, Gaudí returns to oriental motives, and combines it with neo-Gothic. As a result, he has a very light structure that rushes to the sky, decorated with bizarre stone mosaics and graceful broken lines.

House Figueres is open to visitors from 10:00 to 19:00 in summer and until 16:00 in winter. The ticket costs from 7 €.

The address: Carrer de Bellesguard, 16.

How to get there: by metro to Vallcarca station (L3).

Park Guell

(Spanish Parque Güell, cat. Parc Güell)

A huge park, with an area of 17.18 hectares, Gaudí's Park in Barcelona was built in the upper part of Barcelona in 1900-1914. Together with the customer Güell, they conceived a space for recreation, which was fashionable among the British at that time, the “garden city”. The designated area for the park was divided into 62 sections - for the construction of mansions.

It was not possible to sell them to wealthy Catalans, so they began to equip the territory as an ordinary park, and then sold them to the local authorities.

Now the house-museum of Anthony Gaudi is located here (his mansion was one of three purchased in the park). In addition to it, there is something to see in the park: the famous mosaic sculptures, the Hall of a Hundred Columns and, of course, the curved bench and the famous Gaudí tiles with which it is laid.

An adult ticket costs from 22.5 €.

The address: Passeig de Gràcia, 43.

How to get there: by metro to Passeig de Gràcia station (L3).

Mila's house

(Spanish and Catalan names are identical: Casa Milà)

The famous Casa Mila has long become almost the same symbol of Barcelona as the Sagrada Familia. This is the last "secular" work of the architect. After its completion, he finally plunged into the construction of the Sagrada Familia, sometimes mistakenly called SOBOR. Gaudí, again, gravitating towards smooth and curved lines, creates an amazing and memorable facade.

Mila House is one of the symbols of Barcelona

By the way, the inhabitants of Barcelona did not like it right away, and the building was nicknamed the Quarry for its heavy appearance. However, this did not prevent the House of Mila from becoming the first building of the 20th century, included in the UNESCO List.

The fact is that Gaudi, acting in accordance with his principles, thought over the smallest details, not only decorative, but also functional. In Casa Mila, Antonio Gaudí has thought about ventilation in the premises in such a way that to this day, it does not require air conditioning... And the owners can move the interior partitions in each apartment at their discretion.

And, of course, the main innovation of that time was the underground parking, also designed by the famous architect.

Interior inside the House of Mila

Mila House has been included in the World Heritage List since 2005.

The address: Provença, 261-265.

How to get there: take the metro to Diagonal station (L3, L5).

Buy tickets to Dom Mila skip-the-line with audio guide.

Sagrada Familia School

(Spanish Escuelas de la Sagrada Familia, cat.Escoles de la Sagrada Família)

Built as part of the Sagrada Familia complex, the school is striking in its simplicity and elegance at the same time. This is probably one of the most inconspicuous at first glance sights of Antoni Gaudi. In its design, beauty and functionality are surprisingly harmoniously combined.

So, the fancy roof serves not only as a decoration, but also drains rainwater without leaving a trace. In addition, the building fully complies with the church requirements.

The Sagrada Familia school can claim to be the most original in the world in terms of its design

A few years after the completion of the construction of the school, Gaudi himself moved here to live here in order to be as close as possible to the main business of his life - the Sagrada Familia.

The address: Carrer de Mallorca, 401.

How to get there: by metro to Sagrada Familia station (L2 and L5).

Do people live in Gaudí's houses?

The man with a hundred oddities and the great architect Antoni Gaudí was born in 1852. He lived for 74 years, and the peak of his work fell on the 1890-1910s.

At that time, Catalonia was experiencing a financial boom, closely intertwined with the ideological task of reviving the former glory of the region and the national language. Literary critics and politicians wrote about the Catalan soul, the poet Jacint Verdaguer created the long-desired epic in the true Catalan language - Atlantis. Textile tycoons tried to compete with London and Paris and wanted to think of themselves as little more than regional merchants. The Barcelona elite wanted to feel like a metropolitan elite, not a peripheral one; his companion and accomplice in this was the local national movement - Catalanism. Magazines and shops about Catalanism and the Fatherland sprang up like mushrooms after rain, and all art, willingly or unwillingly, was thrown into the task of glorifying Catalonia and all that this undoubtedly great land had spawned.

Casa Mila, aka La Pedrera. In 1984, it became the first building of the 20th century inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List

Architecture became the main art of the city. Wealthy people ordered their homes from Catalan architects, who glorified their homeland in stone and brick. Sometimes houses were built from scratch, sometimes they were artistically altered. As a rule, the owners of buildings lived on the second floor, which is why in Spain it is called principal, that is, the “main” where the owners live. The remaining three or four floors, which grew above the owners' quarters, were rented out - mostly to people who are also not poor. Therefore, they live in the houses of Antoni Gaudí's work: the houses were built for that.

This architect was the most Catalan of all the Pro-Salans. He was born in the city of Reus, spent his childhood there and eventually became the main attraction of this tiny town 100 km from Barcelona. Naturalness, unevenness, natural asymmetry are recognizable motifs of the Gaudi style in architecture, and Gaudí watched the endless curves of plants and life in Catalonia. For the devout master, nature embodied life and creation, this was God as he is, and this God was inseparable from the Catalan land. In the work of Gaudi, a radical believer and harsh, Catalonia, nature and God are a kind of reinterpreted Holy Trinity. The architect refused to speak Spanish and, even when he was introduced to King Alfonso XIII, answered all questions in Catalan, quite shocking the courtiers.

Central entrance to La Pedrera

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The corridor where Carmen Burgos-Bosc's apartment is located - Afisha Daily asked to visit her. The hostess flatly refused to be photographed in full face

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The front dining room, where guests used to be

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Wooden bench - according to the hostess, the work of Gaudi himself

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Living room that looks like a museum

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What happened to the houses

In Barcelona itself, not counting the Sagrada Familia (anticipating the question - it will be completed by 2026), there are seven buildings by Antoni Gaudi. These are the Casa Batlló and Mila, located on Avenue Gracia, the Vicens house, the palace and pavilions of Guell, the Calvet House and the Bellesguard Tower. Of these seven, four buildings were not rented out, but were wholly owned by the client's family. And Calvet, Batlló and Mila initially combined two functions: permanent residence of the owners and income from rent.

The Calvet House is still owned by private individuals - descendants of João Boyer-Vilaseca, who bought it from the Calvet family in 1927. The Boyer-Vilasek family is not interested in commercializing the building and does not open it to tourists. On the ground floor there is an elite restaurant Casa Calvet, where Hollywood stars allegedly dine. For example,.

Residence Carmen Burgos Bosc is one of the last two private apartments in the Mila house

The fate of the Mila and Batlló houses - the most spectacular in Gaudi's career and located five hundred meters from each other - turned out to be very similar. After the owners of the buildings died, their children and grandchildren followed them for a while. Then Gaudí's works were resold to various corporations.

Mr. Batlló's daughters Carmen and Mercedes sold the family house in 1954 to the insurance company Seguros Iberia, which used it as offices. At the time, Spain was under Franco's control and few people came to Barcelona to stroll around Las Ramblas in the relaxing atmosphere of a right-wing dictatorship. The situation changed dramatically in 1992, when the city hosted the Olympics: it was an unequivocal, overwhelming success, and Barcelona began its path to its current glory as the main resort in Europe.

Just a year after the Olympics, the Batlló house was bought by the Bernat family - the owners of Chupa Chups and, apparently, people with exceptional financial flair. They restored the building (in the Franco era, they did not restore houses that embodied the pride and claim to the exclusivity of Catalonia) and opened it to tourists. Today, few people leave Barcelona without paying their € 30 to enter the "dragon house". So it is called because of one of the versions of the interpretation of the decor: the facade looks like the scaly mounds of a dragon defeated by Saint George, the patron saint of Catalonia. There are rumors in the city that one old woman of about a hundred still lives in Batlló, but there is no documentary confirmation of this information.

House Mila - also known as La Pedrera, “The Quarry” - was originally conceived not only as a residence, but also as a luxury residential complex. Gaudí even designed an underground car park for future residents. Work began in 1906, La Pedrera was under construction with scandals and was somehow completed by 1912. The result of the conflict between Gaudí and the clients - Mr. Per Mila and Mrs. Ruser Sejimon - was the architect's refusal to ever work with private individuals and his subsequent move to a workshop in the Sagrada Familia.

During the Civil War, Mila and Sejimon were forced to flee, and the building passed into the possession of the republican government of Catalonia. After Franco's victory and the unification of Spain, La Pedrera changed hands many times, until in 1986 the building was bought by the main bank of the region - Caixa de Catalunya. In the house, as planned by Gaudí, people lived, renting premises for rent under perpetual contracts. Bank of Catalonia, having become the owner, decided to respect these contracts, and the bulk of the tenants remained in their apartments. All residents of La Pedrera received the right to occupy premises in the building until their death, without the right to transfer the contract to children, relatives or anyone else. There are two people living here now; they can get to their apartments through a separate elevator inaccessible to tourists.

Impressive ornament on the ceiling of the living room

Live in La Pedrera

With a resident of the Mila house, Carmen Burgos-Bosc, I made an appointment by phone. She is 87 years old and has verbal aphasia: she speaks in short, abrupt words, saving on articles, conjunctions and sometimes verbs. On the phone, she simply said the date and time - Tuesday, 10 am.

Carmen and Luis wedding

Carmen moved into La Pedrera in 1960, shortly after her marriage to the son of notaries in Barcelona, Luis Roca Sastre. “I was always very happy when we lived here with my husband,” says Carmen. - We had a daughter. And there was room for all of us. Guests came to us! They came to dine, dine with us. We had a concierge. We knew all our neighbors, everyone who lives here. Everyone lived in silence, in tranquility. When we left the house, a car was waiting for us downstairs at the entrance. Check-in was from Rue Provença, and we drove straight to Paseo de Gracia! There were also two Swiss rooms in La Pedrera. It was a family home. I knew everyone! "

The official nickname of the building - La Pedrera - as already mentioned, means "quarry". This giant house really looks like a rock dug up by caves. The canonical Australian author Robert Hughes compares to grottoes and apartment interiors. Curving, unpredictable, with phantasmagoric stucco moldings, they are designed to remind residents of the roots of Catalan life, primitive caves and earthy, earth-breathing Romanesque churches of the 10th century, which can still be found here and there on this earth.

View from the kitchen; Carmen Burgos-Bosc collects handicrafts from the table

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Cast iron stove, installed in the house during the life of the great architect

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Living room overlooking Paseo de Gracia

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Heart Pierced by an Arrow - Another Greetings from Gaudí

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Former servants' room. On the floor - tiles from the Gaudi workshop with marine motifs in patterns

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View from the balcony to Paseo de Gracia

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In such a corridor curving like the trail of an underground serpent, Carmen meets me with the photographer - an almost disembodied old woman in a peignoir. Aphasia makes her staccato speech sound very evil. The resemblance to an underground cave is reinforced by the lack of light: all the windows in her apartment - there are about two dozen of them here - have wooden shutters. All the walls of the corridor are densely hung with paintings - a study for Picasso, a study for Matisse, charcoal drawings in the style of Ramon Casas. All the paintings are signed in the corner - "L. Roca", Carmen's husband.

She first walks us through the apartment, explaining the function of each room and giving barking instructions: “Raise the blinds! 50 centimeters! Remove everything from the table! " The rooms seem to be endless and seem to appear by themselves in these naturalistic turns of the corridor-tunnel. The total area of housing is 300 square meters; many rooms have no purpose - someone just lived there before. Here lived a servant, there lived a cook, children once lived here.

In the last room, light suddenly bursts in through the window overlooking the patio - in the middle of the space in the center there is a piano. Beneath our feet is Gaudí's famous turquoise tiles, symbolizing the seabed. Between the bends of ceramic squids and starfish, seemingly not rinsing dirt was already huddled. The house is over a hundred years old. The inner patio features a glass roof, a kind of cafe with sun loungers and tables. "What is this restaurant?" - I ask Carmen. She replies that there is no restaurant here.

Room with nautical patterns and a view of the courtyard

The interiors give a strange impression - there is both luxury and decay at the same time. A decadence rarely seen in Barcelona in 2017, when the city is teeming with vegan cafes and craft beer halls. “Before, my salon was completely in the style of Catalan Art Nouveau,” says the owner. “Then I still lived with my spouse, and then I sold a lot.” She does not hear my questions and on the radio talks about how she lived when her husband was alive. There were neighbors - Dr. Puig-Verde, the Iglesias family with five daughters. Burgos Bosc is often interrupted in the middle of a phrase, sighs deeply, clenches her fist - as if she is annoyed by an illness, she does not want to succumb to it.

After showing the apartment, Carmen leaves to clean herself up. Returns in a silk cape with hair and scarlet lipstick. It is impossible to destroy the habits of the grand dame of the 20th century - you have to talk to journalists during the parade. She sits us down at the table and now answers questions. The rent is terribly expensive: she now pays 2,000 euros a month. That is why the whole modern had to be sold. Although she still has something - for example, the original work of the famous furniture designer of the Catalan Renaissance, Gaspar Omar. That is why it is dark in the house: direct sunlight will destroy antiques.

Patio view with tables and chairs

Suddenly Carmen apologizes: “Forgive me for shouting like that, I'm deaf. I'm lame. I have problems with speech. " We are silent. She smiles and leads us back to the salon, where she tells us to open the shutters - it's not easy. Carmen is indignant: “God, this is lightness! I would not have been 87 years old, I would have raised it myself! " Finally, the sun floods the room - the rays fall on a bust of the beginning of the century, a table, armchairs, photographs, stucco. Carmen calls to the balcony - Barcelona is seething below, Mount Tibidabo is visible, tourists can hear the noise. She complains about the restoration of the balcony: three lurid rods are stuck into the architectural monument. “They don't hold anything,” she explains, and shows the real leverage points. - Gaudí thought of everything, it was stupidly staged.

I ask what she likes best about the house. It shows the ceiling of the saloon with a spiral pattern - the vortex leading from the apartment above. "Gaudi!" - exclaims the old woman and points to the corner. There you can see a jumble of letters a, g, u, d, i - the author's signature. In the next corner there is a small bas-relief with a heart - a symbol of love. Behind it are four recognizable stripes of the Catalan flag. Then the carved letter f, which is read in the Catalan alphabet as "fe", which means "faith." It turns out love, Catalonia, faith - the Holy Trinity of the great architect.

Gaudí's magical houses are located mainly in Barcelona, since it was there that Antoni Gaudí lived and worked. Of course, Gaudí was not alone in creating modern Barcelona. The city has known many talented architects in a relatively short period of time called the Catalan Renaissance. In addition to Barcelona Gaudí, there is also modern Barcelona, Gothic Barcelona, and the Spanish Village district, which embodies the styles of all Spanish provinces, and the famous Rambla, the district of old Barcelona. But Gaudi's Barcelona is something special, incomparable. Thirteen objects (not always buildings), built by Gaudí in Barcelona, give it originality and charm and are an irresistible attraction for tourists.

At the beginning of Gaudi's independent work, his first, richly decorated projects related to the early Art Nouveau were built:

"Stylistic twins" - elegant House Vicens (Barcelona)

Quirky El Capricho (mood) (Comillas, Cantabria).

And also the compromise pseudo-baroque House of Calvet (Barcelona) - the only building recognized and loved by the townspeople during his lifetime (by the way, the house was built without a single load-bearing wall inside).

Gaudi was extremely uncommunicative and even withdrawn. It is even cruel to people. Gaudí has never married. Since childhood, he suffered from rheumatism, which interferes with play with other children, but does not interfere with long solitary walks, to which he was addicted all his life. He did not recognize luxury and wealth, he ate somehow and dressed somehow. - when it came to him personally. But at the same time he built luxurious buildings. from Gaudi there were no records, he had no close friends. And many of the circumstances of his life are still not clear. House Calvet inside:

Decisive for the flourishing of the young architect was his meeting with Eusebi Guell. Gaudí later became a friend of Guell. This textile magnate, the richest man in Catalonia, not alien to aesthetic insights, could afford to order any dream, and Gaudi got what every creator dreams of: freedom of expression without looking back at the estimate. Guell Palace:

A great architect who almost did not work with drawings, whose work is based on a scrupulous mathematical calculation, a subverter of authorities and a trendsetter who worked outside the established styles. His main tools were imagination, intuition and ... calculations in the mind. You could say he was an Einstein in architecture. Palau Guell, view from the roof:

Having found financial "independence", Gaudí transcends the dominant historical styles within the eclecticism of the 19th century, declaring war on the straight line and forever moving into the world of curved surfaces to form his own, unmistakable, style.

Antonio Gaudí y Cornet was born on June 25, 1852 in the small town of Reus, near Tarragona, in Catalonia. He was the fifth, youngest, child in the family of boiler houses of the master Francesc Gaudí y Serre and his wife Antonia Cornet y Bertrand. It was in his father's workshop, according to the architect himself, that a sense of space awakened in him.

Gaudi's Barcelona is a fairy tale embodied in architecture. Onlookers crowd in front of his residential buildings. It is strange that people live in these houses, rather than fairy-tale creatures; that under these raised roofs, behind these curved facades with bulging balconies, everyday life goes on. It is even more difficult to imagine that every detail of this excessively luxuriant decor carries not only an aesthetic, but also a functional load. That is, it was created not only in order to amaze the imagination: the rich Barcelona people are accustomed not only to luxury, but also to comfort.

With the completion of the construction of the palace, Antoni Gaudi ceased to be an unnamed builder, quickly becoming the most fashionable architect in Barcelona, and soon turned into "almost impermissible luxury." For the bourgeois of Barcelona, he built houses one more unusual than the other: a space that is born and develops, expanding and moving like living matter.

Mosaic ceiling in the house:

Gaudí is a genius far ahead of his time. A phenomenon that defies explanation, let alone imitation. Unique, incomparable, inconceivable.

But his main creation, the pinnacle of his art and the outlet of his heart was the Atonement Temple of the Sagrada Familia (Sagrada Familia). In 1906, his father died, and six years later - and his poor health niece, his last close person. Gaudí completely shut himself up, and made this temple his atoning sacrifice. Imagine, all the money that he earned as the architect of the temple, Gaudi invested in the construction itself. For many years he worked for free, not considering himself to have the right to appropriate the people's money - and the temple was built on donations from the rich and poor of Barcelona.

Gaudí did not hope to complete the Sagrada Familia during his lifetime. He dreamed of completing the Eastern façade of the Nativity so that the fruits of his efforts could be seen by his own generation. By this, he obliged future builders to continue working. He managed to finish the chapel, apse (semicircular part of the building), section of the monastery, part of the lobby<Розарий>and a parish school. The three bell towers of the Nativity façade were completed after his death. He left detailed drawings, models at a scale of 1:10, sketches of designs, so that followers would not deviate from his plan. But it turned out to be difficult to continue construction: it required huge funds. It was decided to mothball it during the civil war. Several times the Temple was under threat of destruction.

The school was destroyed, Gaudí's workshop was ruined. The controversy over whether to continue or freeze the work was a logical consequence of the authorities' attitude to the work of the great Catalan. The works were either unfolded in full front, or were closed due to lack of funds. But then His Majesty the people intervened. The Temple Construction Fund continued to receive money. On average, construction requires three million dollars annually.

Barcelona Jews donated 5 million this year. But even with a stable inflow of funds, construction is designed for at least another 65 years, although no one can name the exact date. Gaudí could not name her either. When asked when the Sagrada Familia would be finished, he answered: "My customer is in no hurry."

Now the arrow of a tower crane hangs over the Temple. The interior is a huge construction site: concrete mixers, iron structures, reinforced concrete blocks, plaster decorations, column capitals. The most advanced technologies and materials are used that Gaudi did not know. Computer analysis confirms the accuracy of his calculations, which he verified with sandbags suspended from a model. Skeptics doubt that the Temple of the Holy Family will ever be completed and that Gaudí's secret plan was to make its construction eternal.

Gaudí is considered to be Catalan Art Nouveau. He is its brightest representative. But it does not completely fit into any architectural trend. It can just as well be attributed to the Moorish Baroque, to neoclassicism or to the neo-Gothic. But he chose to arbitrarily mix all the architectural styles, creating his own eclecticism. What really sets it apart from everyone else is the connection between architecture and nature.

Gaudí died after being hit by the first running tram at the foot of Mount Tibidabo. He was almost 74 years old. Probably, he could have survived, but the cabbies refused to take an untidy, unknown old man without money and documents to the hospital, fearing non-payment for the trip. In the end, Gaudí was taken to a hospital for beggars, and no one could recognize the famous architect until friends found him the next day. When they tried to transport him to the best hospital, he refused, saying that "his place is here, among the poor." Gaudí died on the third day, June 10, 1926. In 1926, Antoni Gaudi, the greatest architect of the 20th century, whose creations have now and forever defined the face of Barcelona, was buried in the crypt of the cathedral, which he had not completed.

Gaudí deifies nature. His church spiers are completed with sheaves of cereals and ears of corn, the arches of the windows are crowned with baskets of fruit, bunches of grapes hang from the facades; drainpipes wriggle in the form of snakes and reptiles; the chimneys are twisted with snails, the grates are forged in the form of palm leaves. But Gaudi does something that no one before him dared: he transfers the laws of nature to architecture. He managed to achieve a continuous fluidity of architectural forms available only to living nature. It uses parabolic slabs and oblique tree columns. There is not a single straight line in his projects, just as there is none in nature.

Catalan Art Nouveau, the impetus for which was, in particular, Antoni Gaudi, emerged on a powerful ridge of national resistance. Catalonia has not always belonged to Spain. She became Spanish as a result of the royalist marriage of Ferdinand of Aragon and Isabella of Castile, the one who sent Columbus on the journey and expelled the Jews from Spain. Over the next three centuries, Catalonia gradually lost its privileges and increasingly became a Spanish province. Proud Catalans could not accept this. They strongly opposed the Spanish cultural expansion. The explosion of national identity touched all spheres of social life: music, literature, painting, sculpture, architecture, theater, language. In the end, the Catalans regained their language, Catalan, and achieved autonomy. Barcelona has become the most beautiful city in the country.

By the way, at the dawn of his career, Gaudi was associated with labor trade unions. The labor movement in industrial Catalonia, especially in the textile industry, was most acute. Gaudi's first major project was the creation of a workers' town in Montaro. Subsequently, Gaudi withdrew from the labor movement, became a devout Catholic and planted Christian symbols not only on cathedrals and residential buildings, but also on purely utilitarian buildings.

Among the residential buildings of Gaudi, the apartment building, which went down in history as "Casa Mila", is especially famous. This house is popularly nicknamed "Pedrera" ("Kamenyuka"), "Wasp's Nest" or, even worse, "Meat Pie".

But if of all the modern buildings in the world, only this one remained in the world, it would personify modernity in its perfect form. This six-story undulating building wraps around the intersection of Grazia Boulevard and Provenza Street. Visitors are allowed there, like a museum.

Anticipating the flow of visitors, Gaudí turned the roof into a terrace and at the same time an observation deck. In the basement, he placed the stables - this was the prototype of the garage. He first used a ramp (lifting from floor to floor) for horses and carriages - this principle was later used in multi-storey car parks.

A few months after the death of Gaudi, a young Japanese sculptor Kenji Imai visited Barcelona. He was so impressed by the Temple that he decided to create a cathedral in Nagasaki based on the study of Gaudi's works. Since then, the Japanese pilgrimage to Barcelona began.

There are many tourists here from other countries 🙂

Gaudi's magical houses inspire many people

Based on materials from http://www.uadream.com/tourism/europe/Spain/element.php?ID=20873