La Casa Batllo

La Casa Batllo (the Catalans say “Batdjio”)

For more pictures: http://www.flickr.com/photos/bourlingue/sets/72157616363827182/

Took an hour at the end of the day (one of the good things in Spain is that museums and other attractions tend to stay open late) to go and visit this remarkable accomplishment by Gaudi. A private home remodelled for its new owner, textile industrialist Batllo, in the first decade of the 20th century (between 1903 and 1905 to be exact). Never seen anything like this: all in curves, the sea being the inspiration behind every bit of design: the stairways, the walls and ceilings, the windows (even their handles) and, most stunningly, the facade and the roof. It is soft architecture, where there is not a single straight line, except perhaps the floor which is levelled. It’s a building that wants to tell a story, that of the sea, that of St-George, the patron saint of Barcelona, slaying the dragon.

You can easily take the hour and more if you can, helped with the audio-guide that comes with the price of the entry ticket (Euro 16.50), meandering in the house, and going from one unique room to the other, from one floor to the other via the stairwell of a central atrium with walls covered of undulating blue ceramic. Until one reaches the roof which in itself is fascinating where chimneys –or are they rather ventilators – all covered with ceramic of a myriad of color are turned into a bunch of medieval chevaliers – they could have inspired the makers of The Lord of Ring movie – and an add-on “bump” at the front that looks like the trunk part of the body of a dragon, with scales and spine made of ceramic, right on top of the facade. Fascinating! Must have taken a lot of courage and desire to be different on the part of the owner to accept such an unconventional and unorthodox construction – to his benefit as he is likely remembered and known today, at least to the outsider, only because of his association to Gaudi’s work! (http://www.casabatllo.es/)