62. Barcelona - Gaudí - Park Güell

Eusebi Güell was an industrialist who wanted to develop an English garden suburb on this hill overlokking Barcelona. He had used Gaudí as his architect on various other projects and once more engaged him. The development was a flop, but Güell was too rich to care, and lived there himself, and allowed charities to stage fund-raising parties. After his death in 1918 his family donated the park to the city. In 1984 it was listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Below: The Grand Staircase and Salamander


Below: The main entrance with two pavilions perhaps inspired by Hansel and Gretel. Topped by roofs of swirling coloured mosaics, supolas and mushroom forms.

Below: On Sundays people gather to dance the traditional Catalan dance, the Sardana, accompanied by a band playing the traditional tunes. Here's a Sardana in Park Guell on Youtube.




Below: the Serpentine bench. To form the mould of the seat Gaudí got a naked man to sit in wet plaster. The trencadi (smashed up ceramics, reassembled) design was the work og Jujol...he broke up his own cupid-painted dinnerware for the project.











Below: the Sepentine bench forms the perimeter of the roof of the Sala Hipóstila underneath. It was planned as a covered market. The columns are hollow, allowing water to run down the insides to a cistern to store water for irrigation.