The Barcelona Pavilion

Having explored the Montjuic area and visited the Miro Museum, we descended the majestic steps of the Museu Nacional de Catalunya into Montjuic park, so that we could visit Mies van der Rohe's iconic pavillion. It is one of the buildings I never tire of visiting, and being inside it is immensely relaxing.

It was designed by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe and Lilly Reich. It was originally built as the German Pavilion of the 1929 International Exposition in Barcelona and was used for the official opening of the German section of the exhibition. It's a very important building in the history of modern architecture, because of its simple form and its spectacular use of extravagant materials such as marble, red onyx and travertine. The original structure was demolished in 1930 and it was reconstructed in 1986. The structure has laid the foundations of modern architecture and consequently inspired many important modernist buildings.

The pavilion was designed to 'block' any passage through the site, rather,  one would have to go through the building and then enter by going up a few stairs

which lead to the large water basin.

The floor plan is very simple. The entire building rests on a plinth of travertine. A southern U-shaped enclosure helps form a service annex and this large water basin. The floor slabs of the pavilion project out and over the pool, thus connecting inside and out. 

Another U-shaped wall on the opposite side of the site also forms a smaller water basin which you can see on the far right in this picture,

and this is where the statue by George Kolbe sits, the only sculpture in the whole site  as the pavilion was to be bare, with no exhibits, leaving only the structure accompanying this single sculpture and the especially designed furniture, the Barcelona chairs. This lack of accommodation enabled Van der Rohe to treat the Pavilion as a continuous space, blurring the inside and outside.

Van der Rohe wanted this building to become 'an ideal zone of tranquility' for the weary visitor, and this has certainly been achieved.

The roof seems to be hovering.

We decided to start our exploration from the right side of the S, the one nearer the steps we had just come up on. 

We noted the Tinos verde antico marble on the wall

and once we entered the one and only main room of this building we noticed the golden onyx of the spatial divider.

The Barcelona chairs and stools the only furniture in this minimalist space.

The Pavillion was not only a pioneer for construction forms with a fresh, disciplined understanding of space, but also for modelling new opportunities for an association of free art and architecture. Van der Rohe placed George Kolbe's Alba (Dawn) in the small water basin, leaving the larger one all the more empty.

The sculpture also ties into the highly reflective materials he used - he chose the place where these optical effects would have the strongest impact; the building offers multiple views of Alba. 'From now on, in the sense of equality for juxtaposing building and visual work, sculptures were no longer to be appllied retrospectively to the building, but rather to be a part of the spatial design, to help define and interpret it. To the day, one of the most notable examples is the Barcelona Pavillion'.

I have a poster of this sculpture in our bathroom in the house in England, and as I lie in the bath I can look at it. It's the most relaxing, calming thing, and that is precisely because the sculpture is part of the design. I bought the poster during our first trip to Barcelona all those years ago, and I get the same pleasure every time as if I was looking at it anew. 

We left the small basin through the other part of the S

you can see the larger basin and the second smaller room of the building which serves as the shop.  We turned right into the small garden

view of the building

we left the garden, and on our right the area of the large basin

the main area in front of us

the corridor leading to the small basin and Alba on our left.

We are not meant to be led in a straight line through the building, but to take continuous turnabouts. The walls not only create space, but also direct our movement. This is created by wall and glass surfaces being displaced against each other, running past each other, and creating a space that becomes narrower or wider.

A last look

and we left this amazing place

into the park

towards the Museo Nacional d'Art de Catalunya, and then Placa de Espanya to get the metro.

Montjuic

Montjuic is a broad, shallow hill on the edge of  Barcelona. It has been the site of various fortifications, including the Castle of Montjuic which dates back to the 17th century. The area was also associated with political imprisonments and executions and was significant during the Spanish Civil War.  The hill was also chosen as the site for the 1929 International Exposition which led to the construction of several buildings, including the Palau Nacional and the Estadi Olimpic. The Estadi Olimpic was intended to host an anti-fascist alternative Olympics in 1936, in opposition to the 1926 Olympics. These plans were cancelled due to the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War. The hill is now home to the Museu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya, the Fondacion Miro and various parks and gardens. 

The top of the hill can be reached using the Funicular de Montjuic, a funicular railway that operates as part of the Barcelona Metro and then the Montjuic Cable car, a gondola lift.

We decided to take the metro to Plaza del Espagna, one of Barcelona's biggest squares and the junction of several major thoroughfares. There was building work going on around the fountain that dominates the square.

The square is surrounded by majestic buildings

and two tall towers flank the road that leads to the Museu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya.

From here we decided to take the bus to the top of the hill and then to walk back down. 

Unfortunately we missed the stop at the top of the hill where the castle is situated but got off the bus here, by this statue.

We started exploring one of the many parks on the hill

which is gorgeous

very good views from here

including of the Sagrada Familia.

Our destination was the Fondacion Miro

which is situated on this wide avenue, half way down the hill

We spent a very pleasant three hours here

 

and then moved on

We really wanted to explore some of the parks on the way but kept going as our next destination was the Mies Van der Rohe pavillion, something I had been looking forward to all week - I was desperate to see it again as it is one of my favourite buildings in the whole world.

So we just peered through the various gates and moved on

the Ethnological Museum

one of the gardens of the area

We got to a plateau

that afforded excellent views of the city

The ornate Palau Nacional which houses the Museum Nacional d'Art de Catalunya, an excellent museum but unfortunately, we did not have time to visit 

and now we would start our descent to Placa d'Espagna - for the purposes of this post it would have been much better if we had done this the other way around, as the magnificence of the Palau and the fountains leading up to it would have been spectacular, but there you go...

leading up from the Plaza del Espagna to the Palau Nacional is a series of fountains - when we arrived, they were all on, water cascading in various directions. On our return, they were all off - so frustrating. Here, for instance, water would have been exploding all the way up the wall

An  escalator like the ones we saw in Garcia, there to help people get to the top

looking back to the Palau - the fountains still turned off

The four columns there to remind people of the dictatorship of 1928

further down, another fountain that looked magnificent when the water was turned on

looking back at the four columns and the three fountains at their feet

we had reached the park at the bottom of the hill, and in the distance we could see the pavillion designed by Mies van der Rohe

It was such a pleasure seeing this iconic building again and we spent a considerable amount of time here. (Post will follow)

We then walked around the park

and by then the fountains were back on

The fountain at the centre of the square which was designed by Josep Maria Jujol, a collaborator of Antoni Gaudi looked spectacular

the four columns

water cascading from everywhere

heading towards Placa del Espagna

looking back at the Palau and more cascading water

more water as we neared the Placa

we had reached the magnificent buildings that surround the square, and we took the metro back to Las Ramblas.