Palau Güell

Lonely Planet review

With this commission for wealthy patron Eusebi Güell, Antoni Gaudí first showed what he was capable of. Sombre compared with his later whims, it is still a characteristic riot of styles (Gothic, Islamic, Art Nouveau) and materials. After the civil war, the police tortured political prisoners in the basement. Up two floors you reach the main hall and its annexes. The hall is a parabolic pyramid - each wall an arch stretching up three floors and coming together to form a dome. The roof is a Gaudian riot of ceramic colour and fanciful design in the chimney pots.

Just a hop and a skip from La Rambla, this mansion is one of the few Modernista buildings in the Ciutat Vella. It was built in the late 1880s for Gaudí's patron, Eusebi Güell.

The compulsory guided tour starts grimly, in the subterranean stables where police tortured political prisoners after the Civil War. Dark grey marble stairs lead to a series of 1st-floor vestibules with columned galleries overhanging the street, designed to maximise space and natural light. The next floor contains the building's most sumptuous room, where the family used to entertain undaunted by the mammoth domed ceiling reaching three stories above them. Carry on up to the roof for a uniquely Gaudí-style flight of fancy.