MODERNISMA ARCHITECTURE: BARCELONA

"There are no straight lines or sharp corners in nature. Therefore, buildings must have no straight lines or sharp corners." - Antonio Gaudi

Gaudi's Sagrada Familia

Another day in Spain, more architecture. This time, it is buildings designed by Antonio Gaudi, whose name has become inextricably linked with Barcelona, where much of his work can be found.

Gaudi designed about a dozen structures around Barcelona, including public and private spaces. I visited three of these: an apartment building known as Casa Battlo, the large cathedral at the center of the city known as Sagrada Familia, and a crypt that is now used as a church in an industrial estate known as Colonia Guell.

Casa Battlo exterior

Casa Battlo was designed by Gaudi as a home for the Battlo family, and was later converted to apartments. Today, it is a tourist attraction displaying style of Gaudi: at once whimsical and practical, with twists, turns, and no corners—only circles and swells. One private apartment remains in the building. The rest is rooms and balconies open to the public.

Casa Battlo rooftop

 Sagrada Familia is the second-best-known landmark of Barcelona, behind the walking street Las Ramblas. It was originally designed by another architect and construction started in 1882, but Gaudi took over its design in 1883, changing what had been started as a traditional gothic design into an explosion of color and imagination. It was still under construction in 1926 when Gaudi was killed after being hit by a tram, and remains under construction to this day. Barcelona’s goal is to finish construction by 2026, to commemorate the 100^th anniversary of Gaudi’s death. I had been in Barcelona last year, and could see progress on the building from then to now, as well as progress on renovation and repair of the older portions of the building.

To fully appreciate the exterior of this cathedral, one must walk the full circle around it, as each perspective brings more details and surprises.  Above one entrance to the cathedral is a nativity scene carved in traditional gothic style; the other side features the crucifixion carved in a more modern style. These are just two of the many carvings on the building. Spires are topped with abstract designs or carvings of bunches of fruit. All is worth seeing. Below are some photos of just some of the views:

Nativity

Crucifixion

The final visit was to the suburbs, where an industrialist named Guell had engaged Gaudi to design a church for the town (known as an industrial estate) he was forming to support his textile factory. Founded in 1890, the town was a form of labor reform in an attempt to provide a livable community for the mill workers. The church at the center of Colonia Guell was an ambitious project, and ultimately was stopped before the planned upper portion could be completed. Today the lower portion, known popularly as the crypt (though no bodies are buried there), is used as the community church. Like other Gaudi properties, no straight lines can be found, but color and light are used extensively to give the interiors and exteriors life. Photos below:

Notable architecture is not the only thing Barcelona has in common with Bilbao. Both cities are in regions in which the people identify more strongly with their local regions than with the nation of Spain. For Bilbao, it is the Basque region; for Barcelona, it is Catalan. In both cities are signs of this regional identity, with the area flags flown throughout the city and slogans and symbols expressing separatist sentiment. Since these are some of Spain’s most prosperous and resource-rich areas, the movements pose a difficult quandary for the country, which seems to be moving toward more autonomy rather than independence, a compromise that may not be sufficient for those urging secession.