Antoni Gaudi

 

It is difficult to believe that the most famous modern Spanish architect met his death when, at age 73, he was run over by a tram.  Because he had stopped worrying about his appearance and health, he was poorly dressed and appeared quite gaunt, it was assumed that he was homeless and was ignored as he lay there, injured. After eventually being taken to a hospital, he reportedly only received basic care until the Chaplain of the Sagrada Familia discovered him. He died of his wounds on 10 June, 1926. 

Antoni Gaudi's pious Catholicism and devotion to a spartan regimen had come to define his character almost completely by the last decade of his life, which he devoted almost exclusively to the construction of his most famous work, the Sagrada Familia church in Barcelona.

A Catalan architect and designer, widely known as the greatest exponent of Catalan Modernism, his works have a unique style and most are located in Barcelona. His work was influenced by his passions in life: architecture, nature and religion. He considered every detail of his creations and combined crafts such as ceramics, stained glass, wrought ironwork, forging and carpentry. He introduced new techniques in the treatment of materials, such as trencadis which used waste ceramic pieces.

Over Gaudi's nearly fifty years of independent practice, he created some of the most imaginative, distinctive, idiosyncratic and recognisable architectural forms in history. Influenced by neo-Gothic art and Oriental techniques, Gaudi became part of the Modernista (Art Nouveau) movement, which peaked in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Essential features of Modernisme included: an anticlassical language inherited from Romanticism with a tendency to lyricism and subjectivity; the determined connection of architecture with the applied arts and artistic work, yielding an overtly ornamental style; the use of new materials, rich in contrasts, that sought a plastic effect for the whole; a strong sense of optimism and faith in progress that reflected the atmospherity of prosperity of the time, a bourgeois aesthetic.

Gaudi's work eventually transcended mainstream Modernisme, developing into a unique style inspired by natural forms. He rarely drew detailed plans, preferring to create three-dimensional scale models and mold the details as he conceived them.

Gaudi was a fervent proponent of Catalan culture but was not politically active. On 11 September 1924, National Day of Catalonia however, he was beaten at a demonstration against the Catalan language ban. He refused to speak Spanish and kept responding in Catalan, stating that 'my profession obliges me to pay my taxes, and I pay them,  but not to stop speaking my own language'. He was taken to prison and was eventually released after paying bail.

Gaudi was buried on 12 June 1926 in the crypt of the Sagrada Familia, after a multitudinous final farewell from residents of Barcelona, who filled the streets of the city in recognition of his work.

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Our trip to Barcelona was in a lot of ways a homage to Gaudi and his work, as were the other four times I had visited the city. This time, we managed to see some of his most important works, but not as many as in some other visits and certainly not during the first time we visited the city when we went with friends who were ardent admirers of Gaudi's work and who introduced us to it.

This time we visited:

Guell Palace

Casa Battlo

Casa Vincens

La Pedrera

La Sagrada Familia

Guell Park.

There will be posts on all of them.

Las Ramblas - Barcelona

Just before Christmas we spent a week in Barcelona. This was the fifth time I had visited the city, but I had not been for a long while, so, even though everything was familiar, it also felt like new. We had a wonderful time. We booked a hotel near Las Ramblas as this was the area we wanted to be around, not just because it's a wonderful avenue for exploring, but it's also near the Barri Goric (Gothic Quarter), as well as lots of other areas we wanted to explore.

I guess I should say here, that Las Ramblas can be considered a series of shorter streets, each differently named, hence the plural form Las Ramblas. The street is successively called: Rambla de Canaletes (the site of the Font de Canaletes fountain);  Rambla dels Estudis (the site of the former Jesuite University, whose only remainder is the Church of Bethlehem); Rambla de Sant Josep (the site of an open-air flower market); Rambla dels Caputxins (site of the former Capuchin monastery, now dominated by the Liceu opera-house); Rambla de Santa Monica. But, maybe this is too much information...

We arrived in the evening, booked into our hotel and then went out to explore, and find somewhere to have a drink and to eat.

First thing we heard as we exited our hotel was chanting about the IDF. We asked and were told that there was a picket of the Carrefour supermarket (situated almost next to our hotel) every evening for three hours. They are protesting over company ties to illegal Israeli settlements on Palestinian land. Furthermore, its Israeli subsidiary publicly supported soldiers involved in Israel's ongoing genocide against the Palestinian people.

They were there every evening indeed. For the whole week of our stay we were amazed by the support the Palestinian people's plight is getting in Spain, be it protests, flags hanging out of balconies, 

watermelons drawn on buildings, the wearing of keffiyes, graffiti. There is widespread awareness of the genocide of the Palestinian people in Barcelona and real concern and worry about it.

Las Ramblas is a tree-lined pedestrian street, stretching for 1.2 kilomnetres connecting the Placa de Catalunya with the Christopher Columbus Monument by the sea. It forms the boundary between the neighbourhoods of the Barri Gotic (the old town) to the east and the El Raval to the west. The Spanish poet Federico Garcia Lorca once said that Las Ramblas was 'the only street in the world which I wish would never end'.

This is one of the side streets that leads to Barri Gotic, the Gothic Quarter

What we did not know when we booked is that in 2017 the city of Barcelona approved a plan to redevelop Las Ramblas giving it a new image and function. Construction for the development started in late 2022, and was in full flow when we were there. The plan includes more space for pedestrians by reducing the number of car lanes; traffic to be restricted to use only by service vehicles and people who live in the area; and the introduction of more green spaces. 

This will certainly be more welcome for both locals and visitors alike but it certainly made things not as pleasant for us as they could have been.

There were whole sections that were not affected by the works however, and with the lit up trees for Christmas it all looked wonderful.

despite signs of the works that were ever present.

Las Ramblas hosts a number of stalls and markets. There used to be a site of an open-air market for caged birds and other small animals here during our first visit. I remember how one of the friends we were with, used to feel so outraged that he could hardly walk down that section. Fortunately, animal protection laws made it difficult for the market to continue and after years of fighting the legislation, the market was forced to close.

A lot of other stalls selling all kinds of stuff are to be found here.

The first trees lining La Rambla were planted in 1730. They were 280 birch trees and later on, those were replaced by elm trees. The currently standing plane trees started being planted from 1859.

During the late 19th century, many Catalans who had made their fortunes from trading in slaves or owning slave plantations in Spanish America returned to Barcelona after the abolition of slavery in 1886. Several of them invested their new-found fortunes in constructing opulent mansions in areas such as Las Ramblas.

There are some grand buildings indeed

and they are part of the reason why it's such a pleasure walking there

The house of the umbrellas

and one more view

but there are some newer looking buildings as well

Next to our hotel was the Parroquia Mare de Deu de Betlem

which we visited

and which is quite grand.

One of the tourist attractions of Las Ramblas is the Mercat de la Boqueria

where you can sit and have something to drink or eat

buy ham

pasties

mussels

and all kinds of other foods

This shop is such an Art Nouveau classic

that I never tired of looking at it

and the pastries they sold were definitely unusual.

The Theatre del Liceu, the opera house, had queues of people outside waiting to get in most evenings

The wonderful Art Nouveau gate that comes down at night when the opera closes

The whole of Las Ramblas is full of cafes, bars and restaurants. The Cafe de l'Opera is one of the oldest ones in the area.

One of the side streets which is only a few metres long, leads to the Placa Reial (Royal Square)

a lively, 19th century square with tall palm trees, porticoed buildings. The place is full of bars and restaurants. Stamp and coin collectors gather on the weekends here.

I remembered this square very well from our previous visits as we have always liked it a lot. This is also, where we sat for a drink during our first visit, before heading out to the Barri Gotic where our friend had his bag snatched from his shoulder. I remember Ken and I ran after the thief but lost him in the narrow lanes of the old town.

Two of the street lamps here were designed by Antoni Gaudi.

There are four short entrance passages that lead out of the square. One of them leads to the Barri Gotic where the Cathedral is situated, and to the Placa Sant Jaume that houses the buildings of the Generalitat of Catalonia and Barcelona's City Council.

The square was beautifully lit up for Christmas.

We came here most evenings and sat outside for our pre-dinner drink(s).

To the West of Las Ramblas and near the port, is the El Raval quarter. The Palau Guell is situated here, a Antoni Gaudi building which will be the subject of the next post.