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August 2003

Catalonia - Barcelona (Works of Gaudi)

David Aaronson
2005-09-27 22:42:17

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Our first full day in Barcelona involved seeing most of the major sites in town that are connected to Antoni Gaudi. Gaudi was a leading architect of the modernista movement and a large number of his works were done in his home province of Catalonia and in Barcelona in particular. In 1901, he began work on Parc Guell, the entrance of which is shown here (1).

The park was planned to be a mini-residential garden city by the Count Guell and Gaudi worked on it for 14 years before the project was abandoned. What's left is an elaborate city park with a series of cave-like walkways, bridges and tunnels.

The park climbs a hill which is already a fair ways above the city of Barcelona. Any terrace with a view to the east looks out over all of Barcelona and the Mediterranean beyond it.

The central terrace which is the roof of the colonnade in the first picture, has a wavy line of inset benches which are elaborately decorated (2). This is probably the prime photo spot in the park. Trails farther up the hill become increasingly less visited.

This is one of the walkways leading downward from the terrace (3) which you can then cross under if you're willing to brave the gauntlet of street musicians who gather here. Actually, it's not all that bad and a little Spanish guitar music gives the park extra ambience. (Not sure about the roving mariachi band though.)

This ceiling mural is found amidst the tiled columns under the main terrace (4). Gaudi intended for this area to be a market originally.

In the L'Eixample district of Barcelona is the Casa Mila apartment building, another of Gaudi's well-known works (5). Gaudi took an ocean wave as his inspiration for this one.

This view, from Mont Juic out across Barcelona shows how much Gaudi's best known work dominates the skyline of Barcelona (6). The full name ...