Parc Guell in Barcelona - An Antoni Gaudi Work

In Barcelona city, you may come across many tourist attractions and may be sometimes your agenda will be full during your stay in Barcelona. In this article we tried to give information about an engineering marvel located in Barcelona. Park Guell in Barcelona city is one of these most fantastic places to see when you are on holiday. As we told before Antoni Gaudi is the greatest architecture of Catalan world and Park Guell is an artisanal project again belongs to Antoni Gaudi. Park Guell is located on the hill of El Carmel in the Gracia district of Barcelona. Earlier, the park wasn't intended to be a park.

When we have a look at the history of Parc Guell we see that actually this area was thought to include many residential garden village similar to English model including sixty-single houses. Eusebi Guell one of Antoni Gaudi's friend asked him to carry out this project. Gaudi started building the houses in this area until 1914 when they understood that this project was totally a failure as Guell couldn't sell a single house. The project was carried out 14 years. After this failure Gaudi wanted to buy a house with his savings which was built by one of his collaborators. Gaudi and his family with his father lived in this park until 1926. That's why there is Gaudi House Museum in Park Guell.

After 1922, Park Guell was opened to public visit and since then it's possible to visit Gaudi House Museum, the houses and the park itself. There are magnificient mosaic constructions in Park Guell. The park offers you a peaceful and relaxing atmosphere while wandering around. As in all Gaudi's work, he incorporated many religious, nationalism, mysticism and ancient poetry to the park. Gaudi was a real Catalan architecture. Stairs and pavilion parts of the park were designed by Gaudi. The parts of pavilion look like Hansel and Gratel's house. The houses in the park remind you wandering in a fairy tale. The stairs on the entrance of the park were designed by Gaudi and lizard figure became symbol of the Park and Barcelona city also. Here on the stairs you will see a marvelous trencadis ceramic patterns. They are worth to see while you are in Barcelona city travel.

To be able to visit the park area and houses you don't have to pay anything but if you would like to visit monumental area of the park it's necessary to pay around 8€. Please remember that if you visit Sagrada Familia Basilica, too you can buy economical ticket to visit both Park Guell and the basilica. There are two houses which were completed during Gaudi's time for housekeepers and visitors.

You will need to pay for Gaudi House Museum but it's worth to see while you are in Park Guell. You may feel Gaudi's life a little bit as he and his family lived in that house between 1906 and 1926. The house was designed by another architecture called Francesc Berenguer. In the museum you can see some Gaudi's furniture and drawings. 

From the Park there is a fantastic Barcelona city scenery which offers you a panoramic view. You can access Park Guell by metro or touristic buses but when you get off the metro ( Lesseps metro stop) you need to walk for a while and go up the hill. There are escalators to access the upside of the park so it won't be hard to wander around. Due to its unique design, Park Guell was declared a world heritage site by UNESCO in 1984. In Park Guell, you will see library, a playground for children, cafe and fountains. You can bring your dog with you if you like. The Park is open all year from 8.00 am to 21.00 pm. 

While you plan a Barcelona city travel try to find out best places to visit. As there are lots of things to do in Barcelona city we suggest you follow a real Barcelona city travel guide so that you will have a great and unforgettable vacation in Barcelona city. When we discover a new place it's good idea to see all the structures, monuments or art of works which symbolize the city itself. As Antoni Gaudi is one of the best symbols of Barcelona city, it may be necessary to see all works of him. Here is a great video explaining every little detail about Park Guell so after you watch that video you may want to visit Park Guell much more:). Enjoy watching...

The Great Artist: Antoni Gaudi

When we decide a Barcelona travel and if we do some check on internet, Antoni Gaudi will be one of the first subjects that you come across. He is the most known and successful artist, architecture and pioneer of Art Nouveau of Spain, Barcelona city. 
In this article we will try to tell everyting about this unforgettable master Antoni Gaudi with full name Antoni Placid Guillem Gaudi i Cornet who lived in Barcelona city throughout  his whole life. Life of Antoni Gaudi, works of his art, his childhood and his disease which led him to be the greatest at his works.... All about Antoni Gaudi is below with his pictures. So who is Antoni Gaudi?

( In front of Sagrada Familia)

Antoni Gaudi's Birth and Childhood:

Antoni Gaudi was born on 25th July 1852 in Reus town of Catalunia as a son of craftsman. He is known as Catalan architecture in the world. He later became the pioneer of Barcelona city's most famous architectural works. In the world-wide childhood of many artists, authors or poets is really outstanding when compared to people who are not in literature or art world. Is it because interesting childhood makes them splendid and well known or talented artists? When someone has a different childhood, that means he generally will have unique life. Antoni Gaudi had a tough childhood. He had rheumatic problem and this illness made him miss the school, hang out with his friends. He missed an ordinary childhood. Gaudi generally observed everything around him such as animals, stones, plants or the nature. We will explain the natural symbols in his works below in other title. All these observations reflected in his works later. 

Antoni Gaudi's School Years:

Antoni Gaudi studied at architecture and it lasted nearly 8 years due to military and other issues but his school years started in the preschool of teacher Francesc Berenguer. There is an anecdote told by his teacher about how Gaudi's unique vision shows itself in his early childhood. His teacher at one of his lectures says that birds have wings to fly and Gaudi says that but chickens in our garden have wings too. They don't use it for fly but to run faster! 

At the age of eleven he attended to Escola Pia in Reus. Here, Gaudi gained his religious vision and proved how excellent student he was especially in geometry. At this school every Saturday, the Oficio Del Parvo De La Virgen was recited and his perception about the value of the divine history of the salvation of man through Christ incarnate and now in his works anyone can realise these reflections today.

In 1868 Gaudi moved to Barcelona in order to study architecture. After passing some entrance exam, Gaudi could have the chance to study at Upper Technical School of Architecture. Beside studying architecture Gaudi was interested in Philosophy, History, Economics and Aesthetics. He attended these classes at Provincial School and explained that having various architectural styles depend on not only aesthetic ideas but also social and political atmosphere. He improved himself nearly in every discipline.

In his youth Gaudi had to work to pay his school expenses. His first projects were for the church of Monastery of MontSerrat. Antoni Gaudi never compromised on quality. He was called 'Dandy'. He bought all his clothes from the first class stores. He had private barber. Only he didn't wear new shoes as he thought old shoes were more comfortable. He used to give his new shoes to his brother to wear for a while and after that he would wear those shoes.

Thanks to his innovative and daring ideas, Gaudi could work with many famous people and he had many famous projects. Nearly many old buildings were designed or built by Gaudi such as Park Guell, La Sagrada Familia, Palau Guell, Casa Mila, Casa Battlo, Casa Celvet, etc. We will explain these works in seperate articles in the following days.

When you make your Barcelona travel, it's too easy to come across one of the works of Gaudi. Barcelona city is surrrended by his splendid buildings and you can't take your eyes off them.

Antoni Gaudi wouldn't like to be popular and in his old age he didn't dress with much care and when he laid on the ground after the accident, nobody recognized him at the first look. On June 7, 1926 he was run over by a tram. It's said that Gaudi was walking back to see his work of art and he didn't realise the tram coming. After his tragic death at the age of 74, the taxi drivers refused to take him to hospital as they couldn't recognize him. On June 12, 1926 Antoni Gaudi died. Many people in Barcelona dressed in black for his funeral and his body was buried in the crypt of the edifice in which he worked for 43 years in Sagrada Familia.

Works of Antoni Gaudi:

El Capricho de Comillas (1883-1885)
Casa Calvet (1898-1899)
Bellesguard (1901-1908)
Palacio Episcopal de Astorga (1889-1893)
La Obrera Mataronense (1878-1883) 
Lampposts for the City of Barcelona (1878)
College of the Teresians (1888-1890)
Schools of Sagrada Familia  (1908-1909)
Casa Vicens (1883)
Finca Güell (1884-1887)
"Casa Botines", León (1891-1892)
The Crypt of the C hurch ofColònia Güell (1898-1916)
The Palau Güell (1886-1890)
Finca Miralles (1901-1902)
The Casa Batlló (1906-1908)
The Park Güell (1900-1914)
La Pedrera (Casa Milà, 1906-1910)
T he "Sagrada Família"