In this article we will take a short trip to Spain. Barcelona, Park Guell annually attract thousands of tourists from all over the world. He commissioned an original project by Eusebio Guell, who dreamed of creating a territory that would harmoniously combine garden areas with residential areas.
Park history
The architect of the Park Guell in Barcelona is the famous master Antonio Gaudi. He started to work when there was a wasteland in this territory.
Park Guell is located in the Gracia district. In 1900, Eusebio Guell bought an empty area of fifteen hectares. He planned to build 70 mansions on this earth. As a result, only two plots were sold and two houses were built with the money of Guell himself. According to witnesses to this construction, one of the reasons for the failure was the location of the facility. It was not liked either by those who wanted to live outside the city, or by those who were more attracted to the center of Barcelona. The completion of the project was the sale of land by the heirs of Guell to the municipal authorities and the opening of a city park on this territory.
In one of the houses that was built on this territory, Antonio Gaudi lived almost until his tragic death. A few months before his death, he moved to live in the Sagrada Familia Cathedral. Today, here is the house-museum of the great master, where for an additional fee you can see his old books, unusual furniture, drawings. In the second house lived the family of Eusebio Guell. Now here is the municipal school.
Park or village
Park Guell in Barcelona, the photo of which you see in our article, on the idea of the industrialist Gaudi was to become a housing estate for very wealthy citizens. He was to be surrounded by an English park. Mansions and villas were going to be built on a hill, from which a magnificent view of Barcelona opened.
It was also planned to separate the private buildings with the sections of the park. Antonio Gaudi acted as the architect of the entire landscape design and recreation areas.
Architecture
Guell's failure to build mansions and sell land did not stop the great Gaudi from realizing his part of the project. He created a highly artistic sculptural landscape, in which he embodied the idea of the unity of man and nature.
Knowing the tastes of his customer and preserving the style of the English park, Gaudi harmoniously combines bright and expressive architecture with a strict landscape. As a result, a peaceful walking variant of the Park Guell arose.
Spain, Barcelona: Park Guell
The famous architect designed all communications, the lands were divided into 60 plots with a garden, the streets were planned, the viaducts and squares were built.
Gaudi paid special attention to the enclosure of the park. The hilly landscape also suggested the picturesqueness of the wall that surrounded it. Gaudi highlighted several sections, and built a canopy over the wall, covered with brown and white ceramic tiles. Such a solution turned the wall into a fence sparkling under the sun and in reliable protection from rain.
This unity of style with the practical side of the decor is characteristic of all the works of Antonio Gaudi. Barcelona, in which Guell Park is one of the most popular and visited attractions, is very proud of this building, the guides of all excursion groups always strive to show it to guests of the city. Thanks to the efforts of a wonderful master, every detail is thought out in the park.
Gingerbread houses
Tourists enter the most decorated part of the park through the entrance from Olot Street. At the main entrance there are two pavilions that look like fairy huts. They are made in the same architectural gamut with the wall and are its logical conclusion. A single building material, matching the beautiful roof of the houses with the decor of the top of the wall enhance harmony.
One of these houses is crowned by a toadstool, and the other is a cross. Pavilions were built for gatekeepers, now they have a souvenir shop and cafe.
Only a ten-meter tower, which is installed in one of the pavilions, is knocked out of the general order. Tiled tiles of white and blue colors, arranged in a checkerboard pattern, symbolize the clouds and the sky.
Outside the gate you can see a huge lizard decorated with mosaics, which has become a symbol of Barcelona. Together with the coat of arms of Catalonia and fountains, it is on the stairs leading to the top of the hill. The lower platform of this staircase is decorated with a dragon - a favorite character of Antonio Gaudi. On the middle ground, the Catalan flag flutters. On the upper terrace there is a long bench located around the perimeter. It is called "Jouzep-Maria Jujol."
The workers employed at the construction site were instructed to collect different dishes, bottles, tiles on the streets of the city. All these finds were brought to the hill, where one team carefully crushed them, and the other laid shards on the parapet and stairs.
So the first collage appeared, which later became a source of inspiration for the works of Juan Miro. Here he spent a lot of time looking for ideas for creativity.
The profile of the bench coincides with the outlines of the human body. Gaudi managed to achieve this by setting the worker in the wet clay.
Hall “100 columns”
Barcelona (Park Guell in particular) is a vivid example in the history of world architecture, allowing you to see how many different combinations there are in combining stone architectural buildings with vibrant green plants. Here every now and then on the way there are numerous columns that resemble a petrified forest. The architect highlighted some sections of the park in color.
First of all, this applies to all seven gates, including the main entrance. The hall, which is called "100 columns", actually has only 86 of them. They support the upper terrace, on which there is a parapet bench. The vaults of the hall are decorated with fragments of bottles with a predominant saturated blue color. Antonio Gaudi conceived this grotto as a kind of market square in the village-park. Today it is a wonderful concert hall.
Three galleries are created in the park, very similar to aqueducts. Their columns are decorated with raw brown stone. Antonio Gaudi emphasized the Mediterranean area by planting palm trees. During the creation of the park, trees were transplanted many times from place to place.
Roads
A unique structure is the Park Guell. Barcelona (Spain) holds many valuable monuments of culture, history, architecture. But this complex invariably causes increased interest of tourists from all over the world.
The final touch that the great architect in the park managed to do is lay a complex road system. It connects mansions and stone arcades, the props of which are somewhat tilted to the ground at different angles.
Park Guell today
Before the outbreak of World War I, most wealthy residents of Barcelona did not want to invest in the mansions of the village-park. Eusebio Guell passed away in 1914. In connection with these construction works in this area were stopped.
After the death of his customer, Antonio Gaudi devoted himself entirely to the construction of the Holy Family Cathedral.
Since 1962, Park Guell received the official status of the Artistic Monument of Barcelona. And seven years later (1969) it was declared a national monument. Since 1984, the Park Guell in Barcelona (we will explain how to get to it later), like many other masterpieces of the great Antonio Gaudi, is under the protection of UNESCO. This is a truly unique building. A special pleasure from his visit is received by children who seem to plunge into a fairy tale.
How to get to Park Guell in Barcelona
This is not at all difficult to do. Take the metro to Lesseps Station. Go up, then turn right on the street Travessera de Dalt and then follow the clearly visible signs. You will have to go uphill, because parents with young children should choose a different route.
You can get to the metro station "Joanik" and transfer to bus number 116. In addition, the bus number 24 from Plaza Catalunya will deliver you to the park. Another, very common way is a tourist double-decker sightseeing bus that will take you to the Park Guell stop. From it you need to go up the street for 8-10 minutes.
Many of our compatriots know Barcelona well. Park Guell was not visited by everyone during the trip. Therefore, we strongly recommend that you visit this amazing place at the next opportunity. We are sure that you will not regret the time spent.