Palau Güell

C/ Nou de la Rambla 3
Barcelona
Catalunya

Type: Historical Interest
Addmission Fee: entry with mandatory guided tour 2.50 Euro
Hours: Mon.-Sat. 10 am-1:30 pm and 4-6:30 pm

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By 1888 Gaudí’s career prospects were assured after he designed this remarkable Modernist palace in Raval for the wealthy industrialist Count Eusebi de Güell, the architect’s staunchest patron and benefactor. It is remarkable for its fluidity, curvilinear iron, parabolic arches and the ingenious cupola of the main hall which emerges as a conical spire on the roof to bring light back down into the hall. The perforated honeycomb of the cupola is intended to mimic the movement of stars in the sky. From bottom to top, the palace shows Gaudí’s emerging genius at integrating past architectural styles with religious and naturalistic concepts, heavy-handed as the result may be. The former stables of the basement were transformed through spell binding brickwork similar to techniques put forth by skilled Moorish craftsmen centuries before. The interior salons and living rooms, all situated around the main hall, exhibit ornate Neo-Mudéjar and Gothic motifs. Organic columns frame the windows beneath these salons’ intricately carved wood ceilings. The roof – always a favorite playground for Gaudí – is a forest of sculpted chimneys and ventilators embellished by irregular shaped colored ceramics, the first time he is said to have used this common Modernist technique known as trencadís. Spinning atop the roof is a weather vane spiked through a star, bat and cross. And on the staunch stone façade the city’s coat of arms, a mammoth iron construct, discreetly emulates a centipede crawling to the top. Gaudí struggled with the main façade and created over 30 different plans for it before presenting Eusebi Güell with two to choose from. When the count chose the more unorthodox plan for a parabolic façade, the architect was assured of the creative license that would ensure his legacy, inspiring biographer Gijs van Hensbergen to write, “His imagination burnt holes through the musty pattern books.” Eccentric old Eusebi had a fondness for holes himself. While hosting orchestral concerts and dinner parties at the palace, Güell is rumored to have eavesdropped on his guests’ conversations through holes carved in the ceiling of the waiting rooms. Not urprisingly, some guests were never invited back.