Gaudi projects in Barcelona. Antonio Gaudi: the most mysterious architect in history who worked miracles. Güell Wine Cellar
Antonio Gaudi: the most mysterious architect in history who worked miracles
We often hear about brilliant musicians, writers, and poets. When applied to architecture, the word “brilliant” is used much less frequently. Perhaps because it is much more difficult to realize such a talent than any other. All the more valuable for history is anyone who managed to replenish the architectural heritage of mankind with creations of unique beauty. The brightest and most mysterious among such geniuses is the Spanish architect Antonio Gaudi - the creator of the legendary Sagrada Familia Cathedral, Palace Guell, Casa Batllo and other unique masterpieces that adorn Barcelona today, making it a truly unique city.
Antonio Gaudi was born in Catalonia in 1852 in the family of the blacksmith Francisco Gaudi i Serra and his wife Antonia Curnet i Bertrand. In the family he was the youngest of five children. After the death of Antonio's mother, two brothers and sister, he settled in Barcelona with his father and niece. Since childhood, Gaudí was very sick; rheumatism prevented him from playing with other children. Instead, he took long walks alone, which he eventually grew to love. It was they who helped him become closer to nature, which throughout his subsequent life inspired the architect to solve the most incredible constructive and artistic problems.
The brilliant architect Antonio Gaudi.
While studying at Catholic college, Antonio was most interested in geometry and drawing. In his free time, he spent time exploring local monasteries. Already in those years, teachers admired the works of the young artist Gaudi. And he said with complete seriousness that his talent was God’s gift. In the process of creating his creations, he often turned to the theme of God, and did not deviate from it even when choosing the artistic aspects of his work. For example, he did not like straight lines, calling them a product of man. But Gaudi adored circles and was convinced of their divine origin. These principles can be clearly seen in all his 18 architectural creations, which today are the pride of Barcelona. They are characterized by a bold combination of materials, textures and colors. Gaudi used his own unsupported floor system, which made it possible not to “cut” the rooms into parts. Repeating his calculations became possible only after NASA created a calculation of the flight trajectories of spacecraft.
The architect’s first buildings were “House of Vicens”, “El Capriccio”, “Pavilion of the Güell Estate”. They differ significantly from each other, however, they are all decorated big amount decorative details in the neo-Gothic style.
"Pavilion of the Güell estate."
In general, the architectural style of Antoni Gaudi is phantasmagorical, difficult to define, although the architect was called a genius of modernism. Gaudi was the most prominent representative of his national-romantic movement, Catalan modernism. Incredibly, he was not helped by design engineers, he acted on instinct, relying only on his sense of harmony, often improvised and tried to convey his idea to his assistants using drawings on the board. His architectural creations have everything: bizarre structural forms, sculptures, paintings, mosaics, color plastics. They contain people and animals, fantastic creatures, trees, flowers.
Casa Batllo.
Antonio was very handsome, however, in his personal life he was lonely. Of course, he had affairs, but none of them ended in marriage or any kind of serious relationship. In essence, he was married to his creations. Antonio was a quite wealthy man and had the opportunity to rent any housing, but while working on the next project he invariably lived right at the construction site, equipping a small closet for himself, and wore old overalls.
Gaudí's architecture makes Barcelona unique.
This was the case during his work on his favorite and, perhaps, most grandiose creation - the Sagrada Familia Cathedral, the Expiatory Temple of the Holy Family, the construction of which he never had the opportunity to complete. It began in 1882, when Gaudí was 30 years old, and has not been completed to this day. The architect devoted 40 years of his life to this project. And on June 7, 1926, Gaudi left the construction site and disappeared. On the same day, on one of the streets of Barcelona, a poor man was run over by a tram. Only a few days later he was identified as the greatest architect Antonio Gaudi. He found his last refuge in one of the chapels of the Sagrada Familia.
Cathedral of the Sagrada Familia.
During Gaudi's funeral procession, in which probably half the city took part, a mystical thing happened. Many townspeople, among whom were very respected people, claimed that they saw ghosts in the crowd of people who came to say goodbye to the genius. For example, Salvador Dali spoke about this.
In the Sagrada Familia cathedral.
Today, this mystery, which once excited Barcelona, has already become history and the subject of excursions. But there are still people who believe that if you exactly repeat the route of Gaudi’s last journey, you can get a piece of his incredible talent. And we can simply be grateful to the genius for his selfless devotion to art and love for the people to whom he left a priceless architectural heritage.
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Gaudi is an outstanding Catalan architect who created many famous buildings in Barcelona. World history There are not many architects who have so greatly influenced the views of their cities and created something so significant for their national culture. Gaudi is the most famous architect in Spain. His work marked the peak of Spanish Art Nouveau. The peculiarity of his style is that the sources of the architect’s fantasies were natural forms (trees, clouds, animals, rocks). It was nature that primarily determined the work of the sculptor and architect Gaudi when he solved various problems - both artistic and constructive.
The architect did not like closed spaces, as well as geometrically correct forms. That’s why he fundamentally rejected straight lines. He believed that a straight line is a creation of man, while a circle is a creation of God. Therefore, Antoni Gaudi used only curved surfaces, creating his own original style. The architect Gaudi and his houses are known far beyond the borders of Catalonia and Spain.
Life and work of Gaudi
The architect was born on June 25, 1852, near Barcelona. His family belonged to a dynasty of hereditary masons. In 1868 he moved to Barcelona and there in 1873-78. studied at the Higher Technical School of Architecture, and also mastered various crafts (blacksmithing, carpentry, etc.) in the workshop of E. Punti.
In 1870-82. was engaged in the execution of applied orders (sketches of lanterns, fences, etc.) in the workshop of F. Villar and E. Sala. His first construction, which can be considered independent (the fountain on Plaça Catalunya in 1877), demonstrated the brightness and whimsicality of Gaudí's imagination.
Antonio Gaudi died tragically on 06/07/1926 in Barcelona. He was hit by a tram not far from the Sagrada Familia. At the end of his life, the architect behaved strangely, walked in an unkempt manner, so he was taken to a hospital for the poor, where he died. He was buried in the Cathedral of the Holy Family.
The origins of the architect's own style
IN Western Europe at that moment neo-Gothic reigned. In his youth, Gaudí adhered to the ideas of such representatives of the neo-Gothic style as the French architect Viollet-le-Duc (the largest restorer of Gothic churches in the 19th century, who restored, in particular, the Cathedral Notre Dame of Paris) and English art critic John Ruskin, author of the article “Decorativeness is the beginning of architecture,” which completely coincided with the thoughts of Gaudí himself and for many years was the code of his work. However, he was most influenced by Catalan Gothic, which interestingly combined European and Moorish motifs. It is this combination that permeates the architecture of Antoni Gaudi.
This building was built in 1880-83. During its construction, the architect used polychrome effects typical of ceramic cladding. Gaudí's buildings, built in his “mature” period, are distinguished by the use of this technique. This house by Gaudí was built for the owner of the ceramics factory M. Vicens and resembled fairytale palace. In an effort to realize the desire of the building’s customer, the industrialist Vicens, to see a “kingdom of ceramics” in this house, the architect used iridescent multi-colored majolica tiles to cover the walls, decorated the ceilings with stucco “stalactites,” and installed fancy gazebos and lanterns in the courtyard.
The residential building itself and the buildings in the garden formed a beautiful architectural ensemble, for the creation of which Gaudi for the first time tested his signature techniques: ceramic finishing in large quantities, plastic fluid forms, bold combinations of elements of different styles, contrasts of dark and light, vertical and horizontal elements, etc.
In 1891, the architect received an order for new cathedral in Barcelona - a temple (i.e. the temple of the “Holy Family”). This building became the maximum manifestation of his imagination. Realizing the enormous significance of this building as a symbol of the entire national revival of Catalonia, Gaudí concentrated entirely on its construction from 1910, setting up his own workshop here.
The style of the cathedral is similar to Gothic, but also contains something new, more modern. This building can accommodate a choir of 1,500 singers, 5 organs, and a children's choir of 700 people. The cathedral was to become a major center of Catholicism. Its construction was supported by the then Pope Leon 13th.
Although Gaudi was involved in the construction of this temple for 35 years, he only managed to build and decorate the Nativity façade, which structurally represents the eastern part of the transept, with 4 towers above it, while the western part of the apse, which makes up most of the entire monumental cathedral remains unfinished to this day. Construction of the Sagrada Familia continues to this day.
Casa Batllo
This is one of Gaudí's most famous buildings, built in 1904-06. and became the fruit of his original imagination, which was of purely literary origin. The house is the embodiment of the story of St. George slaying the dragon. The 2 lower floors resemble the skeleton of a dragon, the wall resembles dragon skin, the roof with a peculiar pattern resembles a dragon’s spine. On the roof there is a small tower and chimneys of various intricate shapes. They are decorated with ceramics and combined into several groups.
The project masterfully used color harmony and plasticity of the material. The sculptural decoration of the building looks as if it consists of living forms that froze only for a moment. The completion of this decor is the design of the roof, which resembles a dragon’s back.
TO architectural masterpieces Gaudí refers to (1906-10) – famous building Art Nouveau style, which received the nickname “La Pedrera” (i.e. “the quarry”) because of its whimsicality. It is a 6-story apartment building located on the corner, with 2 courtyards and 6 light wells.
The entire building as a whole and each individual apartment in it have a curved, complex layout. Initially, the architect tried to make each internal partition curved, but later he had to abandon this idea and give them a broken shape, which creates a contrast with the wavy facade. For Casa Mila, new design solutions were used: the absence of load-bearing internal walls, the support of interfloor floors by external walls and columns, and the important structural significance of balconies.
According to legend, Barcelona was founded by the famous hero ancient greek myths- Hercules and restored from ruins in the 3rd century BC by the Carthaginian Hamilcar Barca, who named the city in honor of his family - Barsino. Today Barcelona is the second largest city in Spain by the number of inhabitants and the tenth largest in the European Union.
The capital of Catalonia is located on the coast Mediterranean Sea. The hills on which the city was built gave the names to its five districts: Carmel, Monterolles, Puchet, Rovira and Peira. Like most European cities, Barcelona consists of an Old Town, which includes Gothic Quarter, the New Town, the construction period of the 19th century, and modern areas.
The architecture of Barcelona reflects the main historical and cultural periods of the formation of the Catalan capital. Old city includes both medieval buildings, made in the Gothic style, and more ancient buildings from the period of Roman antiquity. Eixample or New town is a classic example of modernism of the late 19th – early 20th centuries. On the Boulevard Gràcia you can admire the masterpieces of the famous Catalan architect Antoni Gaudí and the lanterns with benches designed by Per Falques.
The main attractions of Barcelona are located in historical center cities. On the Montjuic hill, located next to seaport, you can visit the ancient fortress (1640), the architectural museum under open air, known as the "Spanish Village", National Museum arts of Catalonia and Olympic venues built for the 1992 Summer Games. The site lonelyplanet.com introduces us to the most beautiful sights of Barcelona.
Architectural sights of Barcelona - PHOTOS.
1. Sagrada Familia
The Expiatory Temple of the Sagrada Familia, located in the Eixample of Barcelona, belongs to the architectural genius of the modernist era - Antoni Gaudi. Construction of the cathedral began in 1882. All work was paid for through private donations. Perhaps this is why the Church of the Holy Family was built over several centuries. From 1882 to 1926 it was built under the direction of Gaudí. Since 1926, patronage of the Temple was alternately taken over by other famous architects. The consecration of the temple took place only in the 21st century. The Church of the Holy Family is built in the shape of a Latin cross. The structure has five naves. The bell towers of the temple imitate the appearance of sand towers.
2. Church of Santa Maria del Mar
The Church of St. Mary of the Sea (and this is how the name of the pearl of Spanish architecture is translated into Russian) is located in the ancient quarter of La Ribela, located in the Old Town. The Gothic structure was erected during the mid-to-late 14th century - the time of the commercial and maritime heyday of Catalonia. Santa Maria del Mar is distinguished by its purity of architectural style, strictly adhering to traditional medieval norms. For example, the exquisite, at first glance, stained glass window of the western façade of the church belongs to the Flamboyant Gothic style.
3. Torre Akbar
The 34-story skyscraper, located in Plaza Glorias Catalanes, got its name from the owners, the Akbar Group company. The prefix “Torre” translated from Catalan means “tower”. A majestic building reminiscent of appearance spacecraft, was completed in June 2005. The uniqueness of the facade of Torre Akbar is associated with its special structure. The outer part of the skyscraper is covered with metal panels with LEDs built into them, and glass panels moving under the influence of temperature sensors. LED technologies form complex color combinations on the surface of Torre Akbar within 16 million options.
4. Palace of Catalan Music
Palau de la Musica Catalana is the most prominent representative of Catalan modernity. Famous concert hall Barcelona was built by the architect Luis Domenech i Montaner at the beginning of the 20th century. The Palace of Catalan Music is the only one in Europe with natural lighting. Palau de la Musica Catalana is located on a small street in the historical quarter of La Ribela. Architectural features Art Nouveau were manifested in the design of the Palace in curved lines, dynamic forms, bright artistic ornaments. The decoration of the façade additionally includes elements of classical Spanish and Arabic culture.
5.Hospital of the Holy Cross and St. Paul
The famous hospital complex of Barcelona is located in the New Town. Built in the first third of the 20th century according to the design of the famous Catalan modernist architect Luis Domènech i Montaner, it is included in the UNESCO World Heritage List. The first hospital of St. Paul appeared on this site back in 1401, when six medieval hospitals were combined into one. In its modern form, the hospital functioned until 2009, after which it was converted into Cultural Center and a museum. Currently, various exhibitions are held on its territory.
6. Santa Caterina Market
The Santa Caterina market got its name from the saint to whom the convent that previously stood on this site was dedicated. The religious institution was destroyed in 1835 by revolutionary events, after which the city council decided to give its lands for retail space, which the city needed more at that time. The first market building was designed by Joseph Mas Villa and opened in 1846. Santa Catarina acquired its modern appearance thanks to the work of Enrique Mirayes. It was he who suggested decorating the market roof in bright, catchy colors.
7. House "La Pedrera"
In fact, an unusual Barcelona house, built at the beginning of the 20th century according to the design of the architect Antonio Gaudi, is called La Casa Mila. “Pedrera”, that is, “Quarry”, he was nicknamed local residents, who at first did not accept modernism as an art form. The strange structure, completely devoid of straight lines, was perceived by Barcelona residents as something terrible. Meanwhile, Mila's house is unique not only from the outside, but also from the inside. It has natural ventilation, and the interior partitions can be moved at the request of the apartment owners.
8. House of Amalje
Built in late XIX– at the beginning of the 20th century, the Amalier house combines the architectural features of neo-Gothic and modernism. The building was built in 1875. In 1898, it was bought by Barcelona confectioner Antonio Amalle. On his instructions, the architect J. Puig i Cadafalca redesigned the decorative design of the building. The pediment of the latter acquired a stepped appearance, and an allegorical image of the owner appeared on the facade. Located in the Eixample district, the Amallier house is part of the "Quarter of Controversy", so named due to the stylistic heterogeneity of the buildings that make it up. Since 1976, the Amalje House has been a monument of national importance.
9. Casa Batllo
Casa Batlló bears the name of the textile magnate who commissioned the design of the building from the modernist architect Antonio Gaudi. The residential building was erected in 1877 in the Eixample area, next to the Amallier house. The second name of Casa Batllo - House of Bones - is associated with its unusual architectural form. Like La Pedrera, the design of this building does not have straight lines. The wavy curves of the façade give the building an allegorical image of a dragon, Gaudi’s favorite character. In fact, Casa Batllo, with its forms and decorative elements, recreates famous story killing the dragon by Saint George, patron saint of Catalonia.
10. Ludwig Mies van der Rohe Pavilion
German architect Ludwig Mies van der Rohe is one of the leading representatives of the international style that emerged within modernism in the 30-60s of the 20th century. The Barcelona Pavilion was built in the 1980s in exact accordance with its German predecessor. The original translucent building, made of glass and different types of marble, houses the Ludwig Mies van der Rohe Museum. In particular, it exhibits the most famous works architect: sculpture by Georg Kolbe and the Barcelona chair.
The world-famous Catalan architect Antonio Gaudi (1852-1926) managed to create 18 masterpieces, which for many decades have been considered the pinnacle of an innovative and unique style. To this day, some consider his fantastic constructions to be ingenious, while others consider them simply crazy. The bulk of these works are located in the master’s native Barcelona, which became not only his home, but also a kind of strange laboratory in which Gaudi conducted amazing architectural experiments.
Although it is generally accepted that the Spanish architect worked in the Art Nouveau style, it is impossible to fit his projects into the framework of any movement at all. He lived and created according to rules that only he understood, adhering to incomprehensible laws, so all the master’s work is better classified as “Gaudi style.”
Today we will get acquainted with several of his masterpieces, which are rightfully considered the pinnacle of architectural art. To be fair, it should be noted that out of 18 of his projects, seven were included in the UNESCO list of objects world heritage!
1. Casa Vicens (1883-1885), the first project of Antoni Gaudí
The Vicens residence, the first independent creation of the architect, was created by order of the wealthy industrialist Manuel Vicens. The house is still the main decoration of Carolines Street (Carrer de les Carolines), considered the most striking and unusual landmark of Barcelona, which is included in the UNESCO list of World Heritage Sites.
This house was built in the Art Nouveau style and forms a four-level architectural ensemble, in which even the smallest details play an important role.
Since Gaudi was a supporter of natural motifs and drew inspiration from them, every element of this unusual house was a reflection of his preferences.
Floral motifs are present everywhere, from the forged fencing, as well as the facade itself, to the interior. The creator's favorite images were yellow marigolds and palm leaves.
The structure of the Vicens house itself, including its decoration, shows the influence of oriental architecture. The decor of the entire unusual complex is made in the Moorish Mudejar style. It is clearly evident in the design of the Muslim turrets on the roof and in some details of the luxurious interior decoration.
2. Pavillons Guell
For Count Eusebi Güell, who after this grandiose project became not only the patron of the great master, but also a friend, Antonio Gaudi created an extraordinary estate, which is better known as the Guell pavilions (1885-1886).
Fulfilling the count's order, the extraordinary architect not only carried out a complete reconstruction of the summer country estate with the improvement of the park and the creation of stables and an indoor arena, but combined all these ordinary buildings so that they turned into a fairy-tale complex.
When creating these pavilions, Antonio was the first to use a special technology – trencadís, which consists in using irregularly shaped pieces of ceramic or glass to cover the façade. By covering the surfaces of all rooms with the same pattern in a special way, he achieved an amazing resemblance to dragon scales.
3. City residence Guell (Palau Guell)
This fantastic project for his friend Antonio Gaudi in 1886-1888 is an unusual palace that the master managed to create on an area of less than 400 square meters!
Knowing the main desire of the owner to amaze the city elite with the luxury of his home, the architect masterfully designed a very unusual project, which made it possible to create a truly extraordinary and fabulously rich castle. His style mixed centuries-old traditions, innovative techniques and ideas, which he applied with equal success in subsequent complexes.
The main highlight of this architecturally interesting palace is the chimneys, which look like bright, outlandish sculptures. Such splendor was achieved thanks to cladding with fragments of ceramics and natural stone.
The gables and roof terrace, which is designed for spectacular walks, delight visitors with incredible views of the city and the “magic garden” created by the amazing stove tubes.
4. Parc Guell
The project of the unusual Park Güell (1903-1910) was conceived in an effort to create a garden city, as a counterbalance to the growing industrialization of the country and protection from its dire consequences.
The huge plot was bought by the count for these purposes, but the townspeople did not support the author’s idea and instead of 60 houses, only three exhibition copies were built. Over time, the city bought these lands and turned them into a recreation park, where the delightful gingerbread houses of the architect Antoni Gaudi flaunt.
Since an elite village was planned here, Gaudi created not only all the necessary communications, but also planned picturesque streets and squares. The most striking structure was the “100 Columns” hall, to which a special staircase leads, and on the roof there is a stunningly bright bench that completely encircles the contours of the complex.
This garden city still delights its visitors with its extraordinary architecture and decoration; it is also included in the UNESCO list of World Heritage Sites.
5. Casa Batllo
Casa Batlló (1904-1906) resembles an ominous dragon figure, which is lined with mosaic scales and is able to change its color depending on the time of day. As soon as it is not called - “house of bones”, “dragon house”, “yawning house”.
And really, looking at its strange balconies, window grilles, pediments and a roof that resembles the back of a dragon, you will get rid of the impression that these are the remains of a huge monster!
Creating a fantastic patio, to improve and uniform illumination, he achieved a play of chiaroscuro by laying out ceramic tiles in a special way - gradually moving from white to blue and dark blue.
According to tradition, the roof of the house was decorated with its outlandish chimney towers.
6. Casa Mila - Pedrera
This is the last residential building created by the great architect. It is better known as “La Pedrera”, which means “the quarry”. It is considered the most incredible residential building project not only in Barcelona, but also in the world.
Initially, the masters did not accept this creation and considered it complete madness. Incredibly, Antonio and the owner of this building were even fined for non-compliance with existing urban planning regulations.
Over time, people got used to it and even began to consider it a brilliant creation, because during construction, without any calculations or designs, the architect managed to introduce technologies that were several decades ahead of their time.
Only a hundred years later, similar technology was developed by design institutes and began to be actively used in ultra-modern construction.
7. Cathedral of the Holy Family (Temple Expiatori De La Sagrada Familia)
The brilliant architect devoted the last forty years of his life to bringing his most unrealistic fantasy to life - enclosing the characters of parables and the main commandments of the New Testament in stone.
Its design is dominated by surreal Gothic style, the walls are decorated with images of saints and all sorts of God’s creatures, from turtles, salamanders, snails to the forest, the starry sky and the entire Universe.
Tall columns and unusual paintings decorate the interior of the temple (Temple Expiatori De La Sagrada Familia).
However, the construction of such a large-scale cathedral is still ongoing. Since the architect kept all the drawings and plans in his head, it took years to continue construction to make such complex calculations. Incredibly, only NASA’s program, which calculates the trajectory of space projects, could cope with this task!
Thanks to extraordinary architects, even today they are creating unique buildings, which can be considered pretentious forms.
Gaudi's Magic Houses are located primarily in Barcelona, as this is where Antoni Gaudi lived and worked. Of course, Gaudi was not the only one who created modern Barcelona. The city saw many talented architects during a relatively short period of time called the Catalan Renaissance. In addition to Gaudi's Barcelona, there is also modern Barcelona, Gothic Barcelona, and the "Spanish Village" area, which embodies the styles of all Spanish provinces, and the famous Rambla - an area of old Barcelona. But Gaudi's Barcelona is something special, incomparable. The thirteen objects (not always buildings) built by Gaudí in Barcelona give it its originality and charm and are an irresistible attraction for tourists.
At the beginning of Gaudí's independent work, his first, richly decorated, early Art Nouveau projects were built:
“Stylist Twins” - elegant House of Vicens (Barcelona)
Quirky El Capricho (mood) (Comillas, Cantabria).
And also the compromise pseudo-baroque House of Calvet (Barcelona) - the only building recognized and loved by the townspeople during his lifetime (by the way, the house was built without a single load-bearing wall inside).
Gaudi was extremely uncommunicative and even withdrawn. He's even cruel to people. Gaudí never married. Since childhood, he suffered from rheumatism, which prevented him from playing with other children, but did not interfere with long solitary walks, to which he had a passion all his life. He did not recognize luxury and wealth, ate and dressed haphazardly. - when it concerned him personally. But at the same time he built luxurious buildings. There were no records left from Gaudí; he had no close friends. And many of the circumstances of his life have still not been clarified. Calvet House inside:
Decisive for the flourishing of the young architect was his meeting with Eusebi Güell. Gaudí later became a friend of Güell. This textile magnate, the richest man in Catalonia, no stranger to aesthetic insights, could afford to order any dream, and Gaudi received what every creator dreams of: freedom of expression without regard to the budget. Palace Guell:
A great architect who almost never worked with drawings, whose work was based on scrupulous mathematical calculations, a subversive of authority and a trendsetter who created outside of established styles. His main tools were imagination, intuition and... mental calculations. You could say he was the Einstein of architecture. Palace Güell, view from the roof:
Having gained financial "independence", Gaudí goes beyond the dominant historical styles within the framework of eclecticism XIX century, declaring war on the straight line and moving forever into the world of curved surfaces to form their own, unmistakably recognizable style.
Antonio Gaudí i Cornet was born on June 25, 1852 in small town Reus, near Tarragona, in Catalonia. He was the fifth and youngest child in the family of boilermakers Francesc Gaudí i Serra and his wife Antonia Cornet i Bertrand. It was in his father’s workshop, as the architect himself admits, that the sense of space awakened in him.
Gaudi's Barcelona is a fairy tale embodied in architecture. In front of him residential buildings onlookers mill about. It is strange that people live in these tower houses, and not fairy-tale creatures; that under these raised roofs, behind these curved facades with swollen balconies, everyday life goes on. It is even more difficult to imagine that every detail of this excessively lush decor carries not only an aesthetic, but also a functional load. That is, it was created not only to amaze the imagination: rich Barcelonans are accustomed not only to luxury, but also to comfort.
With the completion of the palace, Antoni Gaudí ceased to be an anonymous builder, quickly becoming the most fashionable architect in Barcelona, soon becoming an "almost unaffordable luxury". For the bourgeoisie of Barcelona, he built houses one more unusual than the other: a space that is born and develops, expanding and moving, like living matter.
Mosaic ceiling in the house:
Gaudi is a genius far ahead of his time. A phenomenon that defies explanation, much less imitation. Unique, incomparable, unthinkable.
But his main creation, the pinnacle of his art and the outlet of his heart was the Expiatory Temple of the Holy Family (Sagrada Familia). In 1906, his father died, and six years later, his niece, who was in poor health, died, his last close person. Gaudi completely closed himself off and made this temple his atoning sacrifice. Imagine, all the money that he earned as the architect of the temple, Gaudi invested in the construction itself. He worked for free for many years, not considering himself to have the right to appropriate people’s money, and the temple was built with donations from rich and poor Barcelona residents.
Gaudí did not hope to complete the Sagrada Familia during his lifetime. He dreamed of finishing the East Facade of the Nativity so that his own generation could see the fruits of his efforts. By doing this, he obliged future builders to continue working. He managed to complete the chapel, the apse (the semicircular part of the building), a section of the monastery, and part of the vestibule<Розарий>and a parochial school. The three bell towers of the Nativity façade were completed after his death. He left detailed drawings, 1:10 scale models, and design sketches so that his followers would not deviate from his plan. But continuing construction turned out to be difficult: it required huge funds. For a while civil war it was decided to mothball it. Several times the Temple was under threat of destruction.
The school was destroyed, Gaudi's workshop was destroyed. The controversy over whether to continue or freeze the work was a logical consequence of the authorities’ attitude towards the work of the great Catalan. The work either progressed in full swing, or was curtailed due to lack of funds. But then His Majesty the people intervened. Money continued to flow into the Temple Construction Fund. On average, construction costs three million dollars annually.
This year, Barcelona's Jews donated five million. But even with a stable influx of funds, construction is designed for at least another 65 years, although no one can name the exact date. Gaudi couldn’t name her either. When asked when the Sagrada Familia would be completed, he replied: “My customer is in no hurry.”
Now the boom of a tower crane hangs over the Temple. The interior is a huge construction site: concrete mixers, iron structures, reinforced concrete blocks, plaster decorative parts, column capitals. The most Hi-tech and materials that Gaudí did not know. Computer analysis confirms the accuracy of his calculations, which he checked using sandbags suspended from a model. Skeptics doubt that the Sagrada Familia will ever be completed and that Gaudi's secret plan was to make its construction eternal.
Gaudi is considered to be part of Catalan Art Nouveau. He is its brightest representative. But it doesn’t fit completely into any architectural movement. With the same success it can be attributed to the Moorish Baroque, Neoclassicism or Neo-Gothic. But he chose to arbitrarily mix all architectural styles, creating his own eclecticism. What really sets it apart from everyone else is the connection between architecture and nature.
Gaudi died when he was hit by the first tram to be launched at the foot of Mount Tibidabo. He was almost 74 years old. He probably could have survived, but the cab drivers refused to take an unkempt, unknown old man without money or documents to the hospital, fearing non-payment for the trip. Gaudí was eventually taken to a hospital for the poor, and no one could recognize the famous architect until his friends found him the next day. When they tried to transport him to the best hospital, he refused, saying that “his place is here, among the poor.” Gaudí died on the third day, June 10, 1926. In 1926, Antonio Gaudi, the greatest architect of the 20th century, whose creations now and forever defined the appearance of Barcelona, was buried in the crypt of the cathedral he had not completed.
Gaudi deifies nature. His church spiers are topped with sheaves of cereals and ears of corn, the window arches are topped with baskets of fruit, and bunches of grapes hang from the facades; drainpipes writhe in the shape of snakes and reptiles; the chimneys are twisted with snails, the grates are forged in the shape of palm leaves. But Gaudi does something that no one had dared to do before: he transfers the laws of nature to architecture. He managed to achieve the continuous fluidity of architectural forms, accessible only to living nature. He uses parabolic floors and inclined tree columns. There is not a single straight line in his projects, just as there is none in nature.
Catalan modernism, the impetus for which was, in particular, Antoni Gaudi, arose on the powerful crest of national resistance. Catalonia did not always belong to Spain. It became Spanish as a result of the royalist marriage of Ferdinand of Aragon and Isabella of Castile, the same one who sent Columbus on his voyage and expelled the Jews from Spain. Over the next three centuries, Catalonia gradually lost its privileges and increasingly became a Spanish province. The proud Catalans could not accept this. They strongly opposed Spanish cultural expansion. The explosion of national self-awareness affected all spheres of public life: music, literature, painting, sculpture, architecture, theater, language. Eventually, the Catalans regained their language, Catalan, and achieved autonomous governance. Barcelona has become the most beautiful city countries.
By the way, at the dawn of his activity, Gaudí was associated with workers' trade unions. The labor movement in industrial Catalonia, especially in the textile industry, was most intense. Gaudí's first major project was the creation of a workers' town in Montaro. Subsequently, Gaudi moved away from the labor movement, became a devout Catholic and erected Christian symbols not only on cathedrals and residential buildings, but also on purely utilitarian buildings.
Among Gaudí's residential buildings, the apartment building that went down in history under the name "Casa Mila" is especially famous. This house was popularly nicknamed "Pedrera" ("Kamenyuka"), "Wasp's Nest" or, even worse, "Meat Pie".
But if, of all the modern buildings in the world, only this one remained in the world, it would personify modernity in its perfect form. This six-story undulating building wraps around the intersection of Grazia Boulevard and Provenza Street. Visitors are allowed there as if they were in a museum.
Anticipating the flow of visitors, Gaudi turned the roof into a terrace and at the same time observation deck. He placed stables in the basement - this was a prototype of a garage. He was the first to use a ramp (lifting from floor to floor) for horses and carriages - this principle was later used in multi-story parking lots.
A few months after Gaudi's death, the young Japanese sculptor Kenji Imai visited Barcelona. He was so shocked by the Temple that he decided to create a cathedral in Nagasaki based on studying the works of Gaudí. Since then, the Japanese pilgrimage to Barcelona began.
There are a lot of tourists here from other countries :)
Gaudi's magical houses inspire many people
Based on materials from http://www.uadream.com/tourism/europe/Spain/element.php?ID=20873