Modernista Mansion sights in Barcelona
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Casa Batlló
If La Sagrada Família is his master symphony, then Casa Batlló is Gaudí’s whimsical waltz. The facade, sprinkled with bits of blue, mauve and green tiles, and studded with wave-shaped window frames and balconies, rises to an uneven blue-tiled roof with a solitary tower. The roof represents Sant Jordi (St George) and the dragon, and if you stare long enough at the building, it almost seems like a living being. Inside the main salon overlooking Passeig de Gràcia everything swirls. The ceiling is twisted into a vortex around a sun-like lamp. The doors, windows and skylights are dreamy waves of wood and coloured glass. The same themes continue in the other rooms and covered t…
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B
La Pedrera
Built between 1905 and 1910 as a combined apartment and office block, this is one of Gaudí’s undisputed masterpieces. Formally called the Casa Milà, after the businessman who commissioned it, it’s better known as La Pedrera because of its uneven grey-stone facade, which ripples around the corner of Carrer de Provença. The wave effect is emphasised by elaborate wrought-iron balconies. Queues are frequent, so early morning is the best time to try to get in.
Visit the lavish top-floor flat, attic and roof, together known as the Espai Gaudí (Gaudí Space). The roof is the most extraordinary element, with its giant chimney pots looking like multicoloured sci-fi versions …
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C
Palau Güell
Gaudí’s Palau Güell is the only major Modernista building in Ciutat Vella. Gaudí built it in the late 1880s for his most constant patron, the industrialist Eusebi Güell. It lacks some of Gaudí’s later playfulness but is still a characteristic riot of styles – art nouveau, Gothic, Islamic – and materials. After the civil war, police took it over and tortured political prisoners in the basement. Features to look out for include the carved wooden ceilings and fireplace, the stonework, the use of mirrors, stained glass and wrought iron, and the main hall with its dome reaching right up to the roof. The roof is a weird world of fantastically shaped and polychrome-tiled chimney…
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