On the footsteps of Antoni Gaudí and the incredible work that you can't miss in your travels to Barcelona
By: Troy

Park Güell

PhotoBy a r i s t i

Seven properties built by the architect Antoni Gaudí (1852–1926) in or near Barcelona testify to Gaudí’s exceptional creative contribution to the development of architecture and building technology in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. These monuments represent an eclectic, as well as a very personal, style which was given free reign in the design of gardens, sculpture and all decorative arts, as well as architecture. The seven buildings are: Casa Vicens; Gaudí’s work on the Nativity façade and Crypt of La Sagrada Familia; Casa Batlló; Crypt in Colonia Güell.

Casa Milà

Photoby Jean-Bernard Reynier

Designed by the Catalan architect Antoni Gaudí and built during the years 1905–1910, being considered officially completed in 1912. It is located at 92, Passeig de Gràcia (passeig is Catalan for promenade) in the Eixample district of Barcelona.

The building is part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site "Works of Antoni Gaudí". The building is now owned by Caixa Catalunya.

Gaudi wanted the people who lived in the flats to all know each other therefore there were only lifts on every second floor so people had to communicate with one another on different floors.

Casa Vicens

PhotoBy calentadora

Casa Vicens is a family residence in Barcelona (Catalonia), designed by Antoni Gaudí and built for industrialist Manuel Vicens. It was Gaudí's first important work. It is added to the UNESCO World Heritage Site "Works of Antoni Gaudí" in 2005.

It was built in the period 1883-1889 and is located at Carrer de les Carolines 24, in the Gràcia district of Barcelona. The site was small (smaller today after the widening of the street) compared to similar structures in the area. Nevertheless, the house is sizeable, measuring some 12,500 square feet (1,160 m2) on four levels.

This early work exhibits several influences, most notably the Moorish (or Mudéjar) influence, particularly evident at the top. The house is constructed of undressed stone, rough red bricks, and colored ceramic tiles in checkerboard and floral patterns. The owner, Manuel Vicens, was the owner of a brick and tile factory, so the ceramic tiles pay tribute to his employment. The yellow, zinnia-flowered tile, designed by Gaudí, was manufactured by Vicens.

The plan is asymmetrical with protruding gables and buttresses. Galleries project even farther at the top. Rooftop towers are reminiscent of Moorish architecture.

Because the house is a private residence, its interior cannot be visited. Nevertheless, the house is generally open to "neighbours and citizens" on Saint Rita's Day, May 22.

Sagrada Família

PhotoBy oyseoyse

The expiatory church of La Sagrada Família is a work on a grand scale which was begun on 19 March 1882 from a project by the diocesan architect Francisco de Paula del Villar (1828-1901). At the end of 1883 Gaudí was commissioned to carry on the works, a task which he did not abandon until his death in 1926. Since then different architects have continued the work after his original idea.

The building is in the centre of Barcelona, and over the years it has become one of the most universal signs of identity of the city and the country. It is visited by millions of people every year and many more study its architectural and religious content.

It has always been an expiatory church, which means that since the outset, 125 years ago now, it has been built from donations. Gaudí himself said: "The expiatory church of La Sagrada Família is made by the people and is mirrored in them. It is a work that is in the hands of God and the will of the people." The building is still going on and could be finished some time in the first third of the 21st century.

Casa Batlló

PhotoBy papalars

A building restored by Antoni Gaudí and Josep Maria Jujol, built in the year 1877 and remodelled in the years 1904–1906; located at 43, Passeig de Gràcia , part of the Illa de la Discòrdia in the Eixample district of Barcelona, Spain. Gaudí's assistants Domènec Sugrañes i Gras , Josep Canaleta y Joan Rubió also contributed to the renovation project.

The local name for the building is Casa dels ossos (House of Bones), and indeed it does have a visceral, skeletal organic quality. It was originally designed for a middle-class family and situated in a prosperous district of Barcelona.

The building looks very remarkable — like everything Gaudí designed, only identifiable as Modernisme or Art Nouveau in the broadest sense. The ground floor, in particular, is rather astonishing with tracery, irregular oval windows and flowing sculpted stone work.

Church of Colònia Güell

Photo By Carlos Lorenzo

The Church of Colònia Güell, Antoni Gaudí's unfinished work, was built as a place of worship for the people in a manufactured suburb in Santa Coloma de Cervelló, near Barcelona . Colònia Güell was the brainchild of Count Eusebi de Güell. However with Güell losing profits from his business, the money ran out and only the crypt was completed.

In 2000, local architects set about repairing the crypt. This took away aspects of the unfinished nature of the buildings. However it did present a more tourist-friendly structure, and now visitors can stand on the roof, what would have been the church floor.

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