Antoni Gaudi
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One hundred years ago, on June 10, 1926, Catalan architect Antoni Gaudí tragically died in a tram accident in Barcelona. In his 73 years of life, the designer left his mark on the Spanish city, from his emblematic basilica, the Sagrada Familia, to Casa Batlló, Casa Vicens, Park Güell and numerous other sites.
Has anyone visited any of his buildings?
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Re the Sagrada Familia, Orwell totally blasts it in Homage to Catalonia. He calls it ‘one of the most hideous buildings in the world’ and said ‘the anarchists showed bad taste in not blowing it up when they had the chance’. I don’t agree but find it funny that he took a break from narrating his time in the civil war to go on a big diatribe about this building.
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Love Gaudi’s work but must say the Sagrada Familia is not my favorite (although what they’ve done with the interior looks quite nice.)
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I was there two years ago. Took a few days in Barcelona before heading to the Pyrenees for our annual ladies hiking trip.
Having seen photos, I thought, ick. But standing inside the Sagrada was a completely different experience. It was beautiful and serene really. I did also visit his lesser known, Casa Vicens, his first private home project. It was off the beaten path and just lovely and shows off in smaller scale some of his experiments with materials (a set of tiles made of cardboard!)
Casa Batlló was everything wrong with tourism in Barcelona..HUGE crowds outside in clumps with placards for entry times. Skipped it and visited the house museum next door instead, Casa Amatller.
But my fav Gaudi was La Pedrera aka Casa Milà, an apartment building. It has a bit of a museum in the attic to show off Gaudi's methods, his furniture design etc. The roof rafters were exposed, each one a slightly different dimension, it was like being in the belly of a whale.
I went home with a new respect and admiration for Gaudi that photos alone would never have given me.
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Re the Sagrada Familia, Orwell totally blasts it in Homage to Catalonia. He calls it ‘one of the most hideous buildings in the world’ and said ‘the anarchists showed bad taste in not blowing it up when they had the chance’. I don’t agree but find it funny that he took a break from narrating his time in the civil war to go on a big diatribe about this building.
@jon-nyc that is hysterical!!
For whatever reason, Japanese TV is (or used to be) obsessed with Sagrada Família. When we still lived there, it seems like there was always some TV show where a Japanese celebrity would visit Spain and they would do a segment on Sagrada Família and its history etc. It made me want to visit there!
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