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El parc Güell
The Parc
Güell is situated on the Carmel hill, which, along with that
of La Creueta and the Muntanya Pelada, separates the district
of Gràcia from that of Horta. The financier Eusebi Güell decided
to construct a garden city on the old estate of Can Montaner,
and commissioned the project to Gaudí. Only two houses came to
be built within the enclosure of the Park, which was conserved
as such and which is now a municipal garden. The whole of the
urban development part was realised between the years 1900 and
1914.
Modernism
Modernism is a cultural movement which had its heyday in the West
in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, embodying the most
renovative tendencies in literature, theatre, architecture, fine
arts, decoration and the design of furniture and other objects.
The movement received different names in different countries.
In the Catalan Countries it was known as Modernisme; in the rest
of Spain as Modernismo; in France and Belgium, Art Nouveau; in
the Anglo-Saxon countries, Modern Style; in Austria, Sezessionstil;
in Germany, Jugendstil; and in Italy, Liberty or Floreale.
All of these styles are parallel, but not identical. Nor are they
unitary styles; instead, each one includes various tendencies,
particularly the Catalan variant, which is the most varied, the
most popularised, the richest and longest-lasting of all: it flourished
between 1888 and 1906, with a prologue in 1882 and an epilogue
lasting until the First World War.
Modernism is one of the principal attractions of Barcelona, to
the extent that many of the city’s modernist buildings are acknowledged
by UNESCO as World Heritage sites.
Passeig de Gràcia
In this boulevard, between the streets Consell de Cent and Aragó
on the south-western side, stands the famous street block popularly
known as l'illa de la discòrdia ('block of discord'), due to the
contrast in the architecture of its buildings, all from the first
decade of the 20th century. The building at the seaward end of
the block is the Lleó
Morera house, by Lluís Domènech i Montaner, in modernist floral
style. There follow two buildings of a modernised Louis XV type,
by Enric Sagnier, and the neo-Gothic Amatller
house , with ornamentation of polychrome tiles, by Josep Puig
i Cadafalch, followed by the Batlló
house , with a mosaic façade and a tiled roof, by Antoni Gaudí.
A little further up the street, on the right-hand side on the
corner with Carrer Provença, there is the Milà
house 'La Pedrera', designed by Gaudí shortly after the termination
of the Batlló
house . The originality of La Pedrera is not limited to the
sculptural forms of its façade, but also extends to the interior
of the building.
The Modernism Route
The Modernism Route, promoted by the Barcelona City Council and
by other institutions such as the Barcelona Provincial Council,
has been created with the ambition of offering both residents
and visitors the chance to discover this rich heritage in a walking
itinerary which includes prestigious shops, emblematic restaurants,
museums and the necessary information for understanding the genesis
and urban development of the city.
Visitors can enter the principal buildings and places of interest
of the Route: the Palau Güell, the Palau de la Música Catalana,
the buildings included in what is popularly known as the ‘block
of discord’, the Antoni Tàpies Foundation, the ‘Pedrera’, the
Holy Family Temple, the Parc Güell, the Gaudí House-Museum and
the Museum of Modern Art.
The Art
Nouveau Route aims to extend the model of the The Art Nouveau
Route of Barcelona to all European cities with a heritage of modernism
or related styles.
This new cultural network embraces 69 cities in 29 countries
on three continents, including Latin America and even Africa,
represented by the city of Lüderitz (Namibia).
Lluís Domènech i Montaner
The architect, historian and politician Lluís Domènech i Montaner
studied in Barcelona and at the Madrid School of Architecture,
where he graduated in 1873. In 1875 ha was named head of the department
of composition and projects of the Barcelona School of Architecture,
of which he was the director from 1901 onwards and in which he
carried out a highly productive teaching activity. Professionally,
the Universal Exposition of 1888 gave him the opportunity to construct
the first works which made him popular: the Hotel Internacional
and the restaurant of the Parc de la Ciutadella (known popularly
as the ‘Castle of the Three Dragons’). With this work he took
a step ahead of the architectural currents of his time.
He constructed other monumental buildings, including the Palau
de la Música Catalana (1905-1908), the Lleó Morera house (1905)
and the Fuster house (1908), and, between 1902 and 1912, the great
monumental complex of the Hospital de Sant Pau.
He was the winner three times (in 1903, 1905 and 1912) of the
Barcelona City Council’s prize for the best building of the year.
Year 2000: "Year Domènech i Montaner"
On 29 December 1999, the acting Mayor and President of the Municipal
Institute for the Urban Landscape and Quality of Life , Jordi
Portabella, presented at the Palau de la Música the Domènech i
Montaner Year, which has been held during the year 2000 coinciding
with the 150th anniversary of the birth of this great architect.
El Palau de la Música Catalana
On the corner of Carrer Amadeu Vives stands this work by the architect
Domènech i Montaner, a follower of Gaudí. The Palau
de la Música dates from 1908, and its interior is the most
important testimony of the modernist style. Here we find polychrome
materials (pottery mosaics, stained glass); the floral theme and
the figures with the body of mosaic and the bust in relief are
by Eusebi Arnau. To the left of the stage there is a stone sculpture
by Pau Gargallo, evoking Catalan folk song in the person of Anselm
Clavé and the girls of his song The Flowers of May. The sculpture
to the right evokes international music, with the bust of Beethoven
and the ride of Wagner’s Valkyries. The Palau de la Música was
created as the home and concert hall of the Orfeó Català, a large
choral society founded some years earlier by Lluís Millet, which
has been of great importance in the revaluation of Catalan popular
music.
Josep Puig i Cadafalch
Architect, art historian and politician, Josep Puig i Cadafalch
(Mataró, 1867) studied architecture (1883) and exact sciences
in Barcelona and gained his doctorate in Madrid in 1888.
As the municipal architect of Mataró, in 1889 he designed the
covered market and the sewerage network. After settling in Barcelona,
he directed the construction of the Martí House – Els Quatre Gats
(1895) – which has the characteristics of his early style: the
original adoption and adaptation of forms of Nordic Gothic, without
forgetting the ancestral tradition, with a predominance of the
applied arts.
Of his extensive work, we can highlight in Barcelona the Ametller
House (1900), influenced by Flemish architecture; the Macaya House
(1901), where he fully exploited the stuccoed finish of the façade,
which he also did in the Trinxet House (1904, disappeared) and
in the Sastre i Marquès de Sarrià House (1905), while still taking
inspiration from medieval Catalan forms in the restoration of
the residence of the Barons de Quadras.
We can also highlight in Barcelona the block of three unitary
buildings which he constructed for the Terrades family in 1905
(the “Casa de les Punxes”, “House of Spires”), where he adopted
the flamboyant Gothic style.
Due to the political circumstances of the time, in 1924 he suffered
a campaign of discredit, and the dictatorial municipal council
of Barcelona of the time dismissed him from his position of architect
of the 1929 Universal Exposition. The uprising of 1936 forced
him to flee into exile and settle in Paris.
After the Spanish Civil War he was prohibited from exercising
his profession of architect.
Year 2001: "Year Puig i Cadafalch"
On 4 December 2000, the Municipal Councils of Barcelona, Mataró
and Argentona signed a collaboration agreement to commemorate
during the year 2001 the figure of the great Catalan modernist
architect Josep Puig i Cadafalch.
This agreement provides for the constitution of a Council of Honour
and an Executive Council, the latter presided by Mr. Jordi Portabella,
the third deputy mayor and president of the Institute of Urban
Landscape and Quality of Life of the Barcelona City Council, and
an Advisory Committee composed of experts on the work of Puig
i Cadafalch.
On 12 December, in a solemn ceremony presided by the Mayor of
Barcelona, Mr. Joan Clos i Matheu, a total of 30 Municipal Councils
and institutions signed the agreement of adhesion to this initiative.
During the Puig i Cadafalch Year various events have been organised
in order to foster the greater knowledge and maximum dissemination
of the architectural, artistic and cultural elements related with
his life. The principal activities agreed include the signing
of collaboration agreements with institutional representatives
and private individuals from other localities having works by
Puig i Cadafalch and wishing to participate in the commemoration,
and also the holding of exhibitions and symposia and the creation
of a Route articulating visits to the most emblematic works of
this architectural genius, an activity which will include the
publication of a guide and the staging of a commemorative exhibition
in the Casa Amatller.
Likewise within the frame of the activities commemorating the
Puig i Cadafalch Year, the restoration has begun on the Mulei
Afid house, an Art Nouveau mansion situated at number 55 of Passeig
de la Bonanova. The celebrated architect built this house in 1914.
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