First thing this morning, my mom, Madeleine, Henry and I visited Gaudi's Sagrada Familia cathedral. I had toured this cathedral 20 years ago, and there has been a lot of progress since then. I remember it as more of a shell, no roof, and we were able to explore through the towers, up and down spiral staircases. No more free-run of the towers now. It is looking quite finished, although it is expected to take 20 more years to complete. It is visually stunning, and I appreciate the fresh take on the traditional cathedral. What a cool thing for one's life work and passion to be carried on after death. Gaudi died after being struck by a streetcar in 1926. He had worked on this cathedral for 40+ years.
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| Madeleine took this picture of the stained glass in Sagrada Familia. |
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Madeleine also took this one of the Nativity facade of Sagrada Familia.
Very joyous with lots of images from nature. |
After meeting Nik and Sully and having an amazing lunch (by far the best lunch of our trip!), my mom and I headed off for more Gaudi worship. First we toured the Palau Guell, the house that Gaudi built (1886-1890) for his good friend and patron, Eusebi Guell, who also later commissioned Parc Guell. Palau Guell apparently just finished a 21 year renovation, and it is gorgeous! A very ornate, but so very appealing palace, with carriage house and stables built into the lower floors. As my mom pointed out, Gaudi must have appreciated having such wealthy clients so that he could really express himself using the finest materials.
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| Entryway to Palau Guell, where guests would enter in horse-drawn carriages. This is a caternary (parabolic) arch, the upside down shape a chain makes when hanging from its ends. Gaudi used a LOT of these. |
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| Domed ceiling in the main hall of Palau Guell. |
Next we toured Casa Batllo, a house which Gaudi rennovated in 1906. This house is full of surprises, lots of carved wood, curving surfaces, fish scale and water designs, gorgeous windows and doors and stained glass, innovative and wonderful design elements. The facade, the large back patio and roof top chimneys are highly decorated in the trencadis style, mosaics of broken ceramic pieces, perfect for covering curved surfaces. For those of you who visited us in Berkeley, this reminded me of the "fish house", and I bet that architect was a Gaudi fan too.
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| Facade of Casa Batllo. So much to love. |
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| Maryann on the back patio of Casa Batllo. |
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| Light shaft inside the Casa Batllo. The tiles are lighter blue at the bottom and transition to darker blue at the top, so that when viewed with light from above, the colors look the same. The windows get larger toward the bottom, where more light is needed. Gaudi thought of everything; nothing was left to chance. |
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| Hallway in the attic. More caternary arches that look like whale bones. |
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| Some of Gaudi's famous chimneys. Why not make chimneys beautiful? |
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View of roofline/ top of facade, Casa Batllo.
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I am sending Nik to see the Palau and the Casa tomorrow, so he can continue the Gaudi love fest!
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Ah, your family is soooooo active! I agree, why not have colorful chimneys? I am learning about Gaudi the architect. Not sure I like so much ornate detail, but perhaps that pleases the Spanish sensibility. My heart leapt when I saw those sleek whale-bone arches. I guess I'm just a simple guy, perhaps even a simpleton. I was happy to spot Maryann. Haven't been able to open her blog as yet. I do love these posts. Thanks for sharing your experiences and adventures. You probably have heard that Steve Jobs will move from CEO to board chairman at Apple. I was interested in one comment about his pervasive influence in our society. Without his achievements, a blog like this might not have been possible or even conceivable.
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