P A R K   G U E L L

Greetings from Chilly Barcelona,

Today it is in the low 50s and a bit breezy!

We had to bundle up a little as we headed out to Park Guell!  Another amazing Gaudi creation.

This park truly showcases Gaudi's love of architecture and nature.

​We spent our time solely in the monumental zone of the park.  There is another free, unrestricted zone that we will visit on our next visit.

Check out this site:  http://www.parkguell.cat/en/

EXCERPT FROM SITE ABOVE:  When Park Güell began to be built in 1900, Barcelona was a modern and cosmopolitan metropolis whose economy was based on the strength of its industry and which had over half a million inhabitants. Its walls had been knocked down nearly half a century earlier and the new city, the Eixample planned by engineer Ildefons Cerdà, had grown spectacularly from 1860 onwards, in what was the largest 19th century city development project in Europe.

Ildefons Cerdà had made a thorough study of the difficulties of modern growth within the walled Barcelona and the impact of technological changes, especially the railway. The plan for his Pla d’Eixample proposal increased the area of Barcelona tenfold, as the result of a practical vision of the city. Cerdà conceived the plan as a flexible instrument undertaken with a reformist spirit in order to foster the formation of a modern city that would be more effective, healthier and fairer.

Barcelona expanded very rapidly throughout the second half of the 19th century, with the Eixample spreading out over the plain. Its central area began to take shape as a large bourgeois centre, while development also advanced along its flanks, in the direction of the old manufacturing areas on the plain, with a more popular and industrial nature. 

The Universal Exhibition of 1888 showed Europe and the world the dynamic thrust of Barcelona, capital of a Catalan nation being reborn, and boosted the quest for a new artistic language and idiom of urban representation. That explained the success of the Modernisme movement, very much in evidence at the heart of the Eixample, and the work of an architect as singular as Antoni Gaudí.

In 1886 Eusebi Güell entrusted Gaudí with building his new house, the Palau Güell in Nou de la Rambla street in the old quarter of the city. Later, in 1895 Gaudí built a winery in Garraf county in collaboration with Francesc Berenguer. In 1898 he planned the church for Colònia Güell, home to the workers at the large textile factory that the industrialist owned on the outskirts of Barcelona. And finally, in 1900, Gaudí was given the assignment of designing Park Güell. 

Güell understood better than any of his contemporaries the meaning of Gaudí’s architecture. The relationship between the two men was not simply that of an artist and his patron, but a real story of friendship. 

For many years the Güell family lived in the large family house (now a school) that stood on the land where the development was located, while Gaudí lived in one of the two houses that were built there. 

In the businessman’s own lifetime, the park was already considered to be one of Barcelona’s great tourist attractions, and the large square was often let for staging Catalanist events, traditional Catalan sardanadancing and other civic and social events.

BELOW:  Interesting stairs as we entered the Park

BELOW:  This walkway was made to symbolize a wave on the inside and each of the columns resembles a tree (stones were used to resemble bark)

BELOW:  Girls posing for Gary!  If you can't leave the photo--stay in and look great!  Thanks girls!  Peace to you both!

BELOW:  The Porter's Lodge, a rare example of a modest Gaudi dwelling

BELOW:  Looking down on the school (Casa Larrard--was on the land that was purchased for the Park), this building retains the original classicist style, and Gaudi only retouched it a little to make it into the residence of Eusebi Guell and his family.  In 1931 when the park was open to the public, a school was installed in the building.

BELOW:  Closeup of Gaudi's Mosaics (he used leftover tiles for his structures)

BELOW:  This is the Nature Theatre (on top of the Hypostyle Room--see below), this was used for outdoor events

BELOW:  Yes...this is Gary photo...can you tell.... :)  Most of the photos below are his :)

BELOW:  Gaudi lived in this house (adjacent to the Park Guell) until his death

Below:  This is the Hypostyle Room, interior.  This was a covered space that was conceived to be a market area (the nature theatre is directly above this....

BELOW:  Guess Who?

BELOW:  This area of Barcelona has a different vibe from where we live.....Just a block or two outside of Park Guell

Love you all--tune in tomorrow--looking forward to you being here,

Ellie and Gary