With a style that is original, fantastic and full of imagination, the Casa Batlló is one of the most representative works of the architect Antoni Gaudí. Situated on the Passeig de Gràcia in Barcelona and inspired by nature, it is a marvel of ornamental design and a masterpiece of form, colour and light. For all these reasons, it was declared a World Heritage Site by Unesco.
Without doubt, the most unique architectural element is the façade of Casa Batlló; the combination of stone, wrought iron, broken pieces of glass and polychrome ceramics that make it one of the most creative and original designs of the architect.
On the top, the roof is shaped like the back of animal with large iridescent scales. Crowning it all are large spherical pieces that look like ridges and remind one of the figure of a dragon or a similar fantastic animal. Another important element of the façade is the tower crowned by a cross with four arms, as well as the design of aquatic themes that decorate the walls. The mask-shaped balconies and main floor gallery simulating bones are two attractive additions to the building.
Highlights inside include, among other elements, the ceiling of the main hall, the groups of chimneys on the roof, the main staircase and the parabolic arches of the loft, creating open and ventilated spaces advanced for the time.
Famous mainly for its impressive Romanesque cloister, the Monestir de Sant Cugat (Monastery of Sant Cugat), run by the Benedictine order, contains pre-Romanesque, Gothic and Renaissance elements.
Constructed between the 9th and 14th centuries, the church features the classic basilica plan of three naves and three apses, which are based on the remains of a Roman castrum. The temple is characterised by the sobriety of the Romanesque period in the lack of decoration and low light, and the Gothic grandeur thanks to the thirteenth century dome: an eight-sided tower with large windows.
The prosperity of the twelfth century led to the construction of the first floor of the cloister, consisting of long galleries with arches that rest on pillars and several pairs of columns. However, the most eye-catching feature for visitors must be the 144 Romanesque capitals.
Made with stones from Montjuïc, they were carved between the late twelfth and thirteenth centuries and feature something completely unusual: the author's signature. As such, we know that the sculptor, Arnau Cadell, made a self-portrait on a Corinthian capital and wrote in Latin: "This is the image of Arnau Cadell, sculptor, who built this cloister for posterity".
To pass through the gates of the Palau Moja is to discover how the high bourgeoisie lived in the 18th and 19th centuries in Barcelona. The house was the property of two of the most important men of the city, which became a meeting point for the high society of the age.
Josep de Copons, Marquis de Moja, and his wife, Maria Luisa Descatllar, commissioned its construction from the architect Josep Mas. In 1784 he opened the building, which combines Baroque elements with influences of French Neoclassicism. Notable from this first stage, is the Grand Salon, with paintings by Francesc Pla, known as "El Vigatà", and the façades. Interestingly the main door is located in Carrer Portaferrissa. At this time the Ramblas was still a watercourse that had just began to be developed.
In 1870, the Marquis of Comillas, father-in-law of Eusebi Güell, bought the Palace and adapted it to the taste of the period. One of the most visible renovations was the Staircase of Honour. Also dating from then are the blue, pink and green salons. Jacint Verdaguer lived there for 15 years as a family chaplain and almoner.
After the fire of 1971, the Palace was abandoned for eleven years. It is currently the headquarters of the Cultural Heritage Department of the Catalan Government’s Ministry of Culture.
Pablo Picasso and Barcelona had a special connection. He lived there during his childhood and youth. For this reason, he chose this city to open, in 1963, the first Picasso museum in the world and the only one created during the artist's life. Its main legacy is the most comprehensive collection of works executed by the artist during his youth, comprising more than 4,000 items. That is why the Picasso Museum of Barcelona has become a reference centre for discovering the early stages in Picasso’s artistic career.
Most of the pieces that can be seen in the museum date back to the period between 1890 to 1917. The tour includes paintings from the artist’s childhood and school years (Man with Beret), from his
Particularly outstanding among the paintings executed after 1917, is the Las Meninas, series from 1957, a group of 58 paintings analysing the masterpiece by Velázquez. Here you will also find the collection of etchings, lithographs and ceramics.
The entire exhibition of avant-garde art is housed in the interior of five major palaces in the street Carrer Montcada, that date back to the 13th-14th centuries and are an excellent example of Catalan Gothic civil architecture.
The participation of the main artists, musicians and writers of the 19th century in the activities that the artist Santiago Rusiñol organised at his home-studio in Sitges from 1893 has been turned into a veritable temple of Modernisme.
It was so named Cau (hideout), because they wanted it to be a haven for lovers of poetry, and Ferrat (Iron), because he had a collection of wrought iron that he had collected on his travels around Catalonia. The building is now the Cau Ferrat Museum, one of the main museums of the region of Garraf.
It brings together the collections of ancient and modern art put together by the Catalan artist and writer. Painting, drawing, sculpture, wrought iron, ceramics, glass and furniture form a unique artistic collection, which includes some of the sculptural work of Rusiñol, as well as artists such as Casas, Picasso, El Greco, R. Pichot, Mas i Fondevila, Zuloaga, Regoyos i Degouwe de Nucques, Enric Clarasó, Manolo Hugué and Pau Gargallo, among others.
The Cau Ferrat Museum building was refurbished between 2010 and 2014 in order to strengthen the structure and restore the original historic elements.
Located in the Sierra de Godall of Ulldecona, the Abrics de l'Ermita (the hermitage rock shelters) are the most important set of Levantine cave paintings in Catalonia and have been on the Unesco World Heritage list since 1998 and form part of the Route of Rock Art.
In this exceptional complex, the Neolithic man drew a world of beliefs or mythical stories related to the hunt. The steep cliffs of Godall were a place conducive to capturing animals and so you can see in the paintings through the various species of animals in the area, of the archers and, even, of divinities and specialists in charge of carrying out rituals. Experts say that the Neolithic society used the cave painting as a means of communication with the aim to point out places of meeting and celebration of certain rites.
The first paintings of the Sierra de Godall were discovered in 1975 in a cave in the ravine. Currently we have located up to fourteen shelters decorated by man 8,000 years ago. Just next to the shelters, the Abrics de l’Ermita Interpretation Centre for Rock Art, created by the Museum of Archaeology of Catalonia, allows the visitor to discover the artistic and historical heritage of Ulldecona through graphical, photographic, audiovisual resources and replicas of the paintings.
Man has always needed to express his concerns and thoughts. When writing did not exist, artistic expression was the perfect resource to convey these ideas. The set of Rock Art of the Mediterranean basin on the Iberian peninsula consists of 757 sites with paintings, and was declared a World Heritage Site in 1998. This is the largest set of rock art sites in Europe. In Catalonia there are the hermitage shelters of the Serra de la Pietat (Ulldecona), Roca dels Moros (Montsià) and the Cave of Vilasos or Els Vilars (Os de Balaguer), among others.
The humans who inhabited the coastal and interior mountains of Aragon, Catalonia, Valencia, Castile-La Mancha, Murcia and Andalusia chose shallow caves and shelters in which to paint and engrave symbols and scenes from their daily life. In every way, the decorated walls also raise many questions about their beliefs, organisation and other aspects which are difficult to understand.
The paintings of the Mediterranean basin were made from the late Palaeolithic period up to the bronze or the iron age. Classified as Levantine art, they express ideas that until that point had been non-existent: man showing his relationship to his environment, the links with nature, beliefs and, at the same time, expressing his power and intervention in the environment in which he lives.
The creators of the cave paintings used different techniques and colours, creating various styles that scholars have classified as naturalist, schematic and macro-schematic. These last two were imposed in the final phase, and tend towards an increasingly accentuated stylisation of the expressions and by an increasing prominence of signs and symbols. The most widely used colour is red, in all its varied tones.
In 1900, the businessman Eusebio Guell commissioned Antonio Gaudi with a building consisting of 60 single-family homes for affluent families on the outskirts of Barcelona. Despite the project's modernity, it was a commercial failure that forced its promoters to close it in 1914. It is currently one of the most important public parks in Barcelona.
Gaudí experimented with architectural forms closely resembling the landscape and nature . The chosen site, with almost no vegetation, was stony and with significant ground irregularities. Gaudí took advantage of these characteristics by creating winding paths and using materials from the area, such as stones, to build covered spaces and porches supported with sloping columns.
Perhaps the most spectacular part of the park is a double set of steps with a central fountain in the shape of a dragon , all of which is covered in colourful "trencadís" mosaic (by the architect Josep Maria Jujol). The double set of steps leads to a large covered area that projects outwards like a large market, and is supported by 86 majestic Doric columns. The ceiling is adorned with colourful medallions. Above this area there is a large square, bordered by a long bench that defines an original meandering path.
The house that was built as a model of the dwellings of the future housing estate, and that was called Torre Rosa in reference to the Virgin of the Rosary, was inhabited by Antoni Gaudí himself from 1906 to 1925.
The Torre Glòries (The Glòries Tower), a modern office building located at the entrance of the 22@ (the technological district of Barcelona), has altered the city’s skyline since 2005. It is the work of French architect Jean Nouvel, who is inspired by the images of a geyser, the architecture of Gaudí and the mountain of Montserrat. A contemporary lighthouse that attracts the interest of locals and tourists in equal measure.
Rising from two elliptical, concrete cylinders, one inside the other, the Torre Agbar measures 142 metres high and is covered by two "skins". The innermost is an aluminium plate painted with earth tones, blues, greens and greys. The outermost is a transparent and translucent wall made up of nearly 60,000 sheets of glass. Thanks to this double façade an air chamber is created that allows the heating of the building to be delivered and provide ventilation. The glass used are pieces of a brie-soleil, a system that controls the sun's rays depending on the outside temperature.
These characteristics make the Torre Agbar an original, intelligent and sustainable building, the three principles on which Nouvel’s project is based. It is especially notable on weekend nights, when 4,500 points of LED light (the most efficient and least polluting system) illuminate the façade with colour.
With more than 300 works, the Fundació Antoni Tàpies (Barcelona) has the most comprehensive collection of the Catalan artist, which reflects all the creative periods of the artist. Driven by Antoni Tàpies, the Foundation is a Museum and cultural centre that also works for the study and promotion of contemporary art.
Including paintings, sculptures, drawings, prints and books, it displays all aspects of Tàpies’ artistic activity. The collection includes a selection of drawings and portraits from the 1940s (Creu de paper de diari - Newsprint Cross), an important example of the matter works of the 1950s and 1960s (Forma negra sobre quadrat gris - Black form on grey square) and a significant representation of the object works of the late sixties and early seventies (Palla i fusta - Straw and wood).
The visitor will discover the different typologies, techniques and materials used by Tàpies: works made of rubber-foam and spray, varnishes and sculptures in refractory clay and objects and sculptures made with metallic plates or bronze.
The Fundació Antoni Tàpies is located in a modernista building designed by the architect Lluís Domènech i Montaner. This construction is unique as it was the first in the Eixample district to combine the use of exposed brick and iron within the urban setting. Currently the building is crowned by the Núvol i cadira (Cloud and chair) sculpture by Tàpies himself, a work which has become a symbol of the Foundation.
