A "Gaudí" Day

Yesterday I wrote about Antoni Gaudí, the most famous of the "Modernista" architects who transformed the face of Barcelona in the late 1800s and early 1900s.  The strange and fanciful buildings of Gaudí have become major tourist attractions, and Gaudi without a doubt is a "cash-cow" for Barcelona.

Yesterday we visited the Guell Palace which was designed by Gaudí, and today we continued with the Gaudí theme.  We first took a taxi to the place that Phyllis was most interested in seeing... Park Guell.  Park Guell was originally intended as an upper class housing development by Eusebi Guell, a Barcelona industrialist and a patron of Gaudí.  The proposed development was begun in 1900 on a hillside overlooking the city.  Gaudí was hired to design the public areas of the neighborhood.  However the project never succeeded.   Only two houses were built... one as a model home for prospective buyers, and the other was bought by Gaudí, so that he could oversee the work.  After Guell's death, the family donated the land to the city, and it became a public park.  

I was concerned about how our visit would work out.  In an attempt to limit the number of visitors and to protect the park, admission is now charged (7 euros per person) and is limited to 450 people per half hour.  I had read that there were long lines to buy tickets and long waits to be allowed into the park.  As it turned out, there was no line at the ticket booth.  We arrived shortly after 10 AM, and we were allowed to enter at 10:30.  I guess we were just lucky, because in spite of the new restrictions, the park was very crowded with tourists.

At the entrance to the park are two whimsical buildings designed by Gaudí that look like they come from a children's fairy tale book.  One was to serve as a reception area for visitors to the development and the other was to be the gate house.

 

The mosaic decoration on the roofs of these buildings was created by recycling broken tiles, dishes and glass.  This type of mosaic is to be seen throughout the park.

From there a grand staircase leads up the hill.

 

  
Part way up the staircase is one of the most famous creations of Gaudí, this large, mosaic-covered statue of a salamander.  (Today, in every souvenir shop in Barcelona, you will find replicas of Gaudi's salamander.  In fact, you will find little statues of all sorts of animals covered with Gaudí-style  faux-mosaic.)

 

At the top of the staircase is a large area of columns (some of them deliberately tilting).  This was intended to serve as a marketplace for the would-be neighborhood.

Climbing another flight of steps, one comes to an open area that is on the roof of the marketplace.  This area was planned as a place for cultural events and festivities.  It is noteworthy for the long undulating bench that extends along the perimeter of the entire space.  Again, it is covered with Gaudi mosaics.

  

(photo taken by Phyllis)

From there, one can look out across the city all the way to the Mediterranean.

Following our visit at Park Guell, we took a taxi to see the most famous of Gaudí's buildings, although most of it was not built by Gaudí.  "La Sagrada Familia" (Church of the Holy Family) was begun in 1883.  Gaudi himself realized that he would not finish the project in his lifetime. His plans called for a massive church with 18 spires and which was larger than many cathedrals. 

When Gaudí died in 1926 in a streetcar accident, only 25% of the church had been completed.  Gaudí had left behind general descriptions of his vision for the completed church, as well as models of the project.  However, during the Spanish Civil War, anticlerical anarchists burned the models.  More than 130 years later, work still continues on the church, and there are hopes that it will be completed by 2026, the centennial of his death.  There has been much controversy surrounding the construction that has been done since Gaudí's death.  Many say that it bears no semblance to Gaudí's style, and is an insult to the architect.

The portion that Gaudí completed, the Nativity Facade, is, in my opinion, a strange but beautiful work of art.  Gaudí merges architecture with natural forms.  Statuary depicting the stories of the Nativity are set within a strange landscape of rock formations, caves dripping with stalactites and trees and flowers frozen in stone.

The opposite facade of the church, the Passion Facade, was completed in 1976.  It is very severe; the sculptures are very angular, and almost abstract in style.  Even though Gaudí wrote that the Passion Facade should be terrifying to the viewer, it seems completely unlike anything that the architect ever did.  I personally find it cold, devoid of feeling, and ugly.

 

The interior of the church is now largely complete.  It has been roofed over, and services are held in the church.  Tourists are allowed inside, but since the line for tickets stretched half-way around the church, we contented ourselves with viewing the exterior.

After our walk around "La Sagrada Familia" we took the subway to Barcelona's most elegant avenue, Passeig de Gracia.  This street contains a number of buildings designed by the city's "modernista" architects.  Among them is one of Gaudi's most famous designs, Casa Batlló, a private residence that he built in 1904.  

 

     

 

Casa Batlló is also open to the public for a rather hefty admission fee of nearly $30 US.  But by this time it was mid-afternoon, we were tired, and we were ready to bring our day of Gaudí to a close.