Palau de la Musica Catalana, et al

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

Palau de la Musica Catalana (Palace of Catalan Music) http://www.palaumusica.org/

Probably the best illustration of “non-Gaudi” Modernista (or Catalan Modernisme). Built in the first decade of the 20th century by another prominent architect of the period, Lluis Domènech i Montaner, at the request of two men, Lluis Millet and Amadeu Vives, founding members of the Orfeò Catala choral music society, it is one the most lavish concert halls of Europe, we are told. We were lucky to be able to get on-the-spot tickets for the (English) guided tour – it is recommended to book in advance their website advise. The decoration is extravagant and overwhelming: it is opulent and rich in colors and motifs, ranging from an incredible stained glass skylight, in the shape of a drop hanging above the main concert hall, letting the natural light filtering in, to the multitude of sculptured or moulded decorations – some 2000 large ceramic roses that punctuate the ceiling; 18 busts of women figures representing the spirits of music distributed along the walls of the hemicycle; countless and very colourful allegoric mosaics decorating the interior walls as well as the very charged exterior facade. It’s a feast for the eye, as much as I am sure it can be for the ear, had we had the chance to attend a concert (although we had a sample of what it can be as they were rehearsing an operetta when the guide took us to the hall and the piano was playing.)

I read that it got almost destroyed in the 1920’s as the architects of the day, in reaction to the exuberance of the Modernista movement, questioned its extravagance. However they did not prevail and it became a symbol of Catalan prowess, dear to# Barcelonans. It was enlarged a few times in the 80’s and more recently as part of a renovation in view of its 100th anniversary in 2008. The “modern touch” – a glass plate that cover the entirety of its side facade among other things – has not taken away any of its original splendour, but seems only to have conferred to it a modern relevance as a unique, and very active, stage of world culture for all kinds of performances (800 a year the guide tells us) ranging from classic Catalan song registry to hip-hop!

Not surprising that in 1997 it made the UNESCO World Heritage list (http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/804)

Spent a good deal of the Saturday walking to and discovering some of the other deeds of Gaudi:



Sagrada Familia. Probably the structure to which Gaudi’s name is most associated. With reason, as he worked, early on, on the design of this so-called “expiatory” church, and on which, from 1908 to his (accidental) death in 1926, he worked quasi exclusively, even sleeping on the site. Never finished; still “work in progress” more than 80 years after his death. And for how long yet – the subject of perennial discussions and dissensions in Catalonia! (http://www.sagradafamilia.cat/sf-eng/index.php);



Casa Milà; known also as La Pedrera, the stone quarry, a name given by its detractors. Built in 1905, it was commissioned to respond to the Casa Batllo on the other side of Passeig de Garcia, the last private commission Gaudi got (contrast with its first private commission, at the age of 31, Vincens house - http://www.casavicens.es/) Undeniably Gaudi; there is an aquatic feel to it. “It feels raw and primitive” as Robert Hughes puts it in his documentary. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Casa_Mil%C3%A0)



Park Güell; fantastically exuberant; Gaudi’s imagination is breathtaking! Harmony parallel to nature; serpentine bench with its “trecendis”: parts of broken ceramic tiles reassembled pêle-mêle, mixing colors and sizes and shapes into the most colourful and cubist-like pieces, an art that came from the Moors. It’s a magical place!) (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Park_Guell)