ANTONI GAUDÍ I CORNET, HYPERBOLOID & 'TRENCADÍS'

Today, The Grandma has visited one of her favourited places, the Crypt of Colònia Güell in Santa Coloma de Cervelló, an incredible place designed and built by Antoni Gaudí, the Catalan architect who is considered one of the greatest of all time, who was born on a day like today in 1852.

The Grandma wants to talk about Antoni Gaudí, his works and his life to commemorate his birthday and to pay homage to his legacy.

Antoni Gaudí i Cornet (25 June 1852-10 June 1926) was a Catalan architect known as the greatest exponent of Catalan Modernism.

Gaudí's works have a highly individualized, sui generis style. Most are located in Barcelona, including his main work, the church of the Sagrada Família.

Gaudí's work was influenced by his passions in life: architecture, nature, and religion.

He considered every detail of his creations and integrated into his architecture such crafts as ceramics, stained glass, wrought ironwork forging and carpentry. He also introduced new techniques in the treatment of materials, such as trencadís which used waste ceramic pieces.

Under the influence of neo-Gothic art and Oriental techniques, Gaudí became part of the Modernist movement which was reaching its peak in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. His work transcended mainstream Modernisme, culminating in an organic style inspired by natural forms.

Gaudí rarely drew detailed plans of his works, instead preferring to create them as three-dimensional scale models and moulding the details as he conceived them.

Gaudí's work enjoys global popularity and continuing admiration and study by architects. His masterpiece, the still-incomplete Sagrada Família, is the most-visited monument in Catalonia. Between 1984 and 2005, seven of his works were declared World Heritage Sites by UNESCO.

Gaudí's Roman Catholic faith intensified during his life and religious images appear in many of his works. This earned him the nickname God's Architect and led to calls for his beatification.

More information: Antoni Gaudí

Antoni Gaudí was born on 25 June 1852 in Riudoms or Reus, to the coppersmith Francesc Gaudí i Serra (1813–1906) and Antònia Cornet i Bertran (1819–1876). He was the youngest of five children, of whom three survived to adulthood: Rosa (1844–1879), Francesc (1851–1876) and Antoni.

Gaudí's family originated in the Auvergne region in southern France. One of his ancestors, Joan Gaudí, a hawker, moved to Catalonia in the 17th century; possible origins of Gaudí's family name include Gaudy or Gaudin.

Gaudí's first projects were the lampposts he designed for the Plaça Reial in Barcelona, the unfinished Girossi newsstands, and the Cooperativa Obrera Mataronense building. He gained wider recognition for his first important commission, the Casa Vicens, and subsequently received more significant proposals.

At the Paris World's Fair of 1878 Gaudí displayed a showcase he had produced for the glove manufacturer Comella. Its functional and aesthetic modernista design impressed Catalan industrialist Eusebi Güell, who then commissioned some of Gaudí's most outstanding work: the Güell wine cellars, the Güell pavilions, the Palau Güell, the Park Güell and the crypt of the church of the Colònia Güell.

Gaudí also became a friend of the marquis of Comillas, the father-in-law of Count Güell, for whom he designed El Capricho in Comillas.

In 1883 Gaudí was put in charge of the recently initiated project to build a Barcelona church called Basílica i Temple Expiatori de la Sagrada Família.

Gaudí completely changed the initial design and imbued it with his own distinctive style. From 1915 until his death he devoted himself entirely to this project. 

Given the number of commissions he began receiving, he had to rely on his team to work on multiple projects simultaneously. His team consisted of professionals from all fields of construction.

Several of the architects who worked under him became prominent in the field later on, such as Josep Maria Jujol, Joan Rubió, Cèsar Martinell, Francesc Folguera and Josep Francesc Ràfols.

In 1885, Gaudí moved to rural Sant Feliu de Codines to escape the cholera epidemic that was ravaging Barcelona. He lived in Francesc Ullar's house, for whom he designed a dinner table as a sign of his gratitude.

The 1888 World Fair was one of the era's major events in Barcelona and represented a key point in the history of the Modernisme movement. Leading architects displayed their best works, including Gaudí, who showcased the building he had designed for the Compañía Trasatlántica. Consequently, he received a commission to restructure the Saló de Cent of the Barcelona City Council, but this project was ultimately not carried out.

In the early 1890s Gaudí received two commissions from outside of Catalonia, namely the Episcopal Palace, Astorga, and the Casa Botines in León. These works contributed to Gaudí's growing renown across Spain.

In 1891, he travelled to Málaga and Tangiers to examine the site for a project for the Franciscan Catholic Missions that the 2nd marquis of Comillas had requested him to design.

In 1899 Gaudí joined the Cercle Artístic de Sant Lluc, a Catholic artistic society founded in 1893 by the bishop Josep Torras i Bages and the brothers Josep and Joan Llimona. He also joined the Lliga Espiritual de la Mare de Déu de Montserrat, another Catholic Catalan organisation. The conservative and religious character of his political thought was closely linked to his defence of the cultural identity of the Catalan people.

At the beginning of the century, Gaudí was working on numerous projects simultaneously. They reflected his shift to a more personal style inspired by nature.

In 1900, he received an award for the best building of the year from the Barcelona City Council for his Casa Calvet. During the first decade of the century Gaudí dedicated himself to projects like the Casa Figueras, better known as Bellesguard, the Park Güell, an unsuccessful urbanisation project, and the restoration of the Cathedral of Palma de Mallorca, for which he visited Majorca several times.

More information: Antoni Gaudí Works

Between 1904 and 1910 he constructed the Casa Batlló and the Casa Milà, two of his most emblematic works.

As a result of Gaudí's increasing fame, in 1902 the painter Joan Llimona chose Gaudí's features to represent Saint Philip Neri in the paintings for the aisle of the Sant Felip Neri church in Barcelona. Together with Joan Santaló, son of his friend the physician Pere Santaló, he unsuccessfully founded a wrought iron manufacturing company the same year.

After moving to Barcelona, Gaudí frequently changed his address: as a student he lived in residences, generally in the area of the Gothic Quarter; when he started his career he moved around several rented flats in the Eixample area.

Finally, in 1906, he settled in a house in the Güell Park that he owned and which had been constructed by his assistant Francesc Berenguer as a showcase property for the estate. It has since been transformed into the Gaudí Museum. There he lived with his fatherand his niece Rosa Egea Gaudí. He lived in the house until 1925, several months before his death, when he began residing inside the workshop of the Sagrada Família.

The decade from 1910 was a hard one for Gaudí. During this decade, the architect experienced the deaths of his niece Rosa in 1912 and his main collaborator Francesc Berenguer in 1914; a severe economic crisis which paralysed work on the Sagrada Família in 1915; the 1916 death of his friend Josep Torras i Bages, bishop of Vic; the 1917 disruption of work at the Colònia Güell; and the 1918 death of his friend and patron Eusebi Güell. Perhaps because of these tragedies he devoted himself entirely to the Sagrada Família from 1915, taking refuge in his work.

Gaudí devoted his life entirely to his profession. Those who were close to him described him as pleasant to talk to and faithful to friends. Among these, his patrons Eusebi Güell and the bishop of Vic, Josep Torras i Bages, stand out, as well as the writers Joan Maragall and Jacint Verdaguer, the physician Pere Santaló and some of his most faithful collaborators, such as Francesc Berenguer and Llorenç Matamala.

Gaudí was always in favour of Catalan culture but was reluctant to become politically active to campaign for its autonomy.

In 1920 he was beaten by police in a riot during the Floral Games celebrations.

On 11 September 1924, National Day of Catalonia, he was beaten at a demonstration against the banning of the Catalan language by the dictatorship of Primo de Rivera.

Gaudí was arrested by the Civil Guard, resulting in a short stay in prison, from which he was freed after paying 50 pesetas bail.

On 7 June 1926, Gaudí was taking his daily walk to the Sant Felip Neri church for his habitual prayer and confession. While walking along the Gran Via de les Corts Catalanes between Girona and Bailén streets, he was struck by a passing number 30 tram and lost consciousness. Assumed to be a beggar, the unconscious Gaudí did not receive immediate aid. Eventually some passers-by transported him in a taxi to the Santa Creu Hospital, where he received rudimentary care.

By the time that the chaplain of the Sagrada Família, Mosén Gil Parés, recognised him on the following day, Gaudí's condition had deteriorated too severely to benefit from additional treatment.

Gaudí died on 10 June 1926 at the age of 73 and was buried two days later. A large crowd gathered to bid farewell to him in the chapel of Our Lady of Mount Carmel in the crypt of the Sagrada Família.

More information: Antoni Gaudí's Sagrada Família-A Monument to Nature

Gaudí is usually considered the great master of Catalan Modernism, but his works go beyond any one style or classification. They are imaginative works that find their main inspiration in geometry and nature forms.

Gaudí studied organic and anarchic geometric forms of nature thoroughly, searching for a way to give expression to these forms in architecture.

Some of his greatest inspirations came from visits to the mountain of Montserrat, the caves of Mallorca, the saltpetre caves in Collbató, the crag of Fra Guerau in the Prades Mountains behind Reus, the Pareis mountain in the north of Mallorca and Sant Miquel del Fai in Bigues i Riells.

This study of nature translated into his use of ruled geometrical forms such as the hyperbolic paraboloid, the hyperboloid, the helicoid and the cone, which reflect the forms Gaudí found in nature.

Ruled surfaces are forms generated by a straight line known as the generatrix, as it moves over one or several lines known as directrices. Gaudí found abundant examples of them in nature, for instance in rushes, reeds and bones; he used to say that there is no better structure than the trunk of a tree or a human skeleton. These forms are at the same time functional and aesthetic, and Gaudí discovered how to adapt the language of nature to the structural forms of architecture. He used to equate the helicoid form to movement and the hyperboloid to light.

Trencadís, also known as pique assiette, broken tile mosaics, bits and pieces, memoryware, and shardware, is a type of mosaic made from cemented-together tile shards and broken chinaware used by Gaudí in his works.

Several of Gaudí's works have been granted World Heritage status by UNESCO: in 1984 the Park Güell, the Palau Güell and the Casa Milà; and in 2005 the Nativity façade, the crypt and the apse of the Sagrada Família, the Casa Vicens and the Casa Batlló in Barcelona, together with the crypt of the Colònia Güell in Santa Coloma de Cervelló.

More information: Art & Mathematics in Antoni Gaudí's Architecture

 Paraboloids, hyperboloids and helicoids,
constantly varying the incidence of the light,
are rich in matrices themselves,
which make ornamentation and even modelling unnecessary.

Antoni Gaudí i Cornet

ANTONI GAUDÍ I CORNET, HYPERBOLOID & 'TRENCADÍS'

Today, The Grandma talks about Antoni Gaudí, the Catalan architect considered one of the greatest of all time, who was born on a day like today in 1852.

Antoni Gaudí i Cornet (25 June 1852-10 June 1926) was a Catalan architect known as the greatest exponent of Catalan Modernism. Gaudí's works have a highly individualized, sui generis style. Most are located in Barcelona, including his main work, the church of the Sagrada Família.

Gaudí's work was influenced by his passions in life: architecture, nature, and religion.

He considered every detail of his creations and integrated into his architecture such crafts as ceramics, stained glass, wrought ironwork forging and carpentry. He also introduced new techniques in the treatment of materials, such as trencadís which used waste ceramic pieces.

Under the influence of neo-Gothic art and Oriental techniques, Gaudí became part of the Modernist movement which was reaching its peak in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. His work transcended mainstream Modernisme, culminating in an organic style inspired by natural forms.

Gaudí rarely drew detailed plans of his works, instead preferring to create them as three-dimensional scale models and moulding the details as he conceived them.

Gaudí's work enjoys global popularity and continuing admiration and study by architects. His masterpiece, the still-incomplete Sagrada Família, is the most-visited monument in Catalonia. Between 1984 and 2005, seven of his works were declared World Heritage Sites by UNESCO.

Gaudí's Roman Catholic faith intensified during his life and religious images appear in many of his works. This earned him the nickname God's Architect and led to calls for his beatification.

More information: Antoni Gaudí

Antoni Gaudí was born on 25 June 1852 in Riudoms or Reus, to the coppersmith Francesc Gaudí i Serra (1813–1906) and Antònia Cornet i Bertran (1819–1876). He was the youngest of five children, of whom three survived to adulthood: Rosa (1844–1879), Francesc (1851–1876) and Antoni.

Gaudí's family originated in the Auvergne region in southern France. One of his ancestors, Joan Gaudí, a hawker, moved to Catalonia in the 17th century; possible origins of Gaudí's family name include Gaudy or Gaudin.

Gaudí's first projects were the lampposts he designed for the Plaça Reial in Barcelona, the unfinished Girossi newsstands, and the Cooperativa Obrera Mataronense building. He gained wider recognition for his first important commission, the Casa Vicens, and subsequently received more significant proposals.

At the Paris World's Fair of 1878 Gaudí displayed a showcase he had produced for the glove manufacturer Comella. Its functional and aesthetic modernista design impressed Catalan industrialist Eusebi Güell, who then commissioned some of Gaudí's most outstanding work: the Güell wine cellars, the Güell pavilions, the Palau Güell, the Park Güell and the crypt of the church of the Colònia Güell.

Gaudí also became a friend of the marquis of Comillas, the father-in-law of Count Güell, for whom he designed El Capricho in Comillas.

In 1883 Gaudí was put in charge of the recently initiated project to build a Barcelona church called Basílica i Temple Expiatori de la Sagrada Família. Gaudí completely changed the initial design and imbued it with his own distinctive style. From 1915 until his death he devoted himself entirely to this project. 

Given the number of commissions he began receiving, he had to rely on his team to work on multiple projects simultaneously. His team consisted of professionals from all fields of construction.

Several of the architects who worked under him became prominent in the field later on, such as Josep Maria Jujol, Joan Rubió, Cèsar Martinell, Francesc Folguera and Josep Francesc Ràfols.

In 1885, Gaudí moved to rural Sant Feliu de Codines to escape the cholera epidemic that was ravaging Barcelona. He lived in Francesc Ullar's house, for whom he designed a dinner table as a sign of his gratitude.

The 1888 World Fair was one of the era's major events in Barcelona and represented a key point in the history of the Modernisme movement. Leading architects displayed their best works, including Gaudí, who showcased the building he had designed for the Compañía Trasatlántica. Consequently, he received a commission to restructure the Saló de Cent of the Barcelona City Council, but this project was ultimately not carried out.

In the early 1890s Gaudí received two commissions from outside of Catalonia, namely the Episcopal Palace, Astorga, and the Casa Botines in León. These works contributed to Gaudí's growing renown across Spain.

In 1891, he travelled to Málaga and Tangiers to examine the site for a project for the Franciscan Catholic Missions that the 2nd marquis of Comillas had requested him to design.

In 1899 Gaudí joined the Cercle Artístic de Sant Lluc, a Catholic artistic society founded in 1893 by the bishop Josep Torras i Bages and the brothers Josep and Joan Llimona. He also joined the Lliga Espiritual de la Mare de Déu de Montserrat, another Catholic Catalan organisation. The conservative and religious character of his political thought was closely linked to his defence of the cultural identity of the Catalan people.

At the beginning of the century, Gaudí was working on numerous projects simultaneously. They reflected his shift to a more personal style inspired by nature.

In 1900, he received an award for the best building of the year from the Barcelona City Council for his Casa Calvet. During the first decade of the century Gaudí dedicated himself to projects like the Casa Figueras, better known as Bellesguard, the Park Güell, an unsuccessful urbanisation project, and the restoration of the Cathedral of Palma de Mallorca, for which he visited Majorca several times.

More information: Antoni Gaudí Works

Between 1904 and 1910 he constructed the Casa Batlló and the Casa Milà, two of his most emblematic works.

As a result of Gaudí's increasing fame, in 1902 the painter Joan Llimona chose Gaudí's features to represent Saint Philip Neri in the paintings for the aisle of the Sant Felip Neri church in Barcelona. Together with Joan Santaló, son of his friend the physician Pere Santaló, he unsuccessfully founded a wrought iron manufacturing company the same year.

After moving to Barcelona, Gaudí frequently changed his address: as a student he lived in residences, generally in the area of the Gothic Quarter; when he started his career he moved around several rented flats in the Eixample area.

Finally, in 1906, he settled in a house in the Güell Park that he owned and which had been constructed by his assistant Francesc Berenguer as a showcase property for the estate. It has since been transformed into the Gaudí Museum. There he lived with his fatherand his niece Rosa Egea Gaudí. He lived in the house until 1925, several months before his death, when he began residing inside the workshop of the Sagrada Família.

The decade from 1910 was a hard one for Gaudí. During this decade, the architect experienced the deaths of his niece Rosa in 1912 and his main collaborator Francesc Berenguer in 1914; a severe economic crisis which paralysed work on the Sagrada Família in 1915; the 1916 death of his friend Josep Torras i Bages, bishop of Vic; the 1917 disruption of work at the Colònia Güell; and the 1918 death of his friend and patron Eusebi Güell. Perhaps because of these tragedies he devoted himself entirely to the Sagrada Família from 1915, taking refuge in his work.

Gaudí devoted his life entirely to his profession. Those who were close to him described him as pleasant to talk to and faithful to friends. Among these, his patrons Eusebi Güell and the bishop of Vic, Josep Torras i Bages, stand out, as well as the writers Joan Maragall and Jacint Verdaguer, the physician Pere Santaló and some of his most faithful collaborators, such as Francesc Berenguer and Llorenç Matamala.

Gaudí was always in favour of Catalan culture but was reluctant to become politically active to campaign for its autonomy.

In 1920 he was beaten by police in a riot during the Floral Games celebrations.

On 11 September 1924, National Day of Catalonia, he was beaten at a demonstration against the banning of the Catalan language by the dictatorship of Primo de Rivera.

Gaudí was arrested by the Civil Guard, resulting in a short stay in prison, from which he was freed after paying 50 pesetas bail.

On 7 June 1926, Gaudí was taking his daily walk to the Sant Felip Neri church for his habitual prayer and confession. While walking along the Gran Via de les Corts Catalanes between Girona and Bailén streets, he was struck by a passing number 30 tram and lost consciousness. Assumed to be a beggar, the unconscious Gaudí did not receive immediate aid. Eventually some passers-by transported him in a taxi to the Santa Creu Hospital, where he received rudimentary care.

By the time that the chaplain of the Sagrada Família, Mosén Gil Parés, recognised him on the following day, Gaudí's condition had deteriorated too severely to benefit from additional treatment.

Gaudí died on 10 June 1926 at the age of 73 and was buried two days later. A large crowd gathered to bid farewell to him in the chapel of Our Lady of Mount Carmel in the crypt of the Sagrada Família.

More information: Antoni Gaudí's Sagrada Família-A Monument to Nature

Gaudí is usually considered the great master of Catalan Modernism, but his works go beyond any one style or classification. They are imaginative works that find their main inspiration in geometry and nature forms.

Gaudí studied organic and anarchic geometric forms of nature thoroughly, searching for a way to give expression to these forms in architecture.

Some of his greatest inspirations came from visits to the mountain of Montserrat, the caves of Mallorca, the saltpetre caves in Collbató, the crag of Fra Guerau in the Prades Mountains behind Reus, the Pareis mountain in the north of Mallorca and Sant Miquel del Fai in Bigues i Riells.

This study of nature translated into his use of ruled geometrical forms such as the hyperbolic paraboloid, the hyperboloid, the helicoid and the cone, which reflect the forms Gaudí found in nature.

Ruled surfaces are forms generated by a straight line known as the generatrix, as it moves over one or several lines known as directrices. Gaudí found abundant examples of them in nature, for instance in rushes, reeds and bones; he used to say that there is no better structure than the trunk of a tree or a human skeleton. These forms are at the same time functional and aesthetic, and Gaudí discovered how to adapt the language of nature to the structural forms of architecture. He used to equate the helicoid form to movement and the hyperboloid to light.

Trencadís, also known as pique assiette, broken tile mosaics, bits and pieces, memoryware, and shardware, is a type of mosaic made from cemented-together tile shards and broken chinaware used by Gaudí in his works.

Several of Gaudí's works have been granted World Heritage status by UNESCO: in 1984 the Park Güell, the Palau Güell and the Casa Milà; and in 2005 the Nativity façade, the crypt and the apse of the Sagrada Família, the Casa Vicens and the Casa Batlló in Barcelona, together with the crypt of the Colònia Güell in Santa Coloma de Cervelló.

More information: Art & Mathematics in Antoni Gaudí's Architecture

 

 Paraboloids, hyperboloids and helicoids,
constantly varying the incidence of the light,
are rich in matrices themselves,
which make ornamentation and even modelling unnecessary.

Antoni Gaudí i Cornet

'LA COLÒNIA GÜELL', WHERE ALL THE DREAMS STARTED

The Watsons visit La Casa del Mestre, Colònia Güell

Today, The Watsons and The Grandma have visited the neighboured Colònia Güell in Santa Coloma de Cervelló.

They have spent the day visiting this incredible site and learning more things about Antoni Gaudí and his influence in this textile colony, and near it, in Sant Boi Mental Hospital, where all indicates, he started his works.

The Watsons have continued their English for Sales courses surrounded by nature in this amazing and unforgettable place, a must for Antoni Gaudí's admirers but also for everyone who likes Architecture and History. They have revised the irregular forms of the Past Simple.

More information: Past Simple-Irregular Forms

The Colònia Güell, one of the most pioneering purpose-built industrial villages of the 19th century is located in the town of Santa Coloma de Cervelló, 23 Km to the south-west of Barcelona.

Gaudí developed the architectural innovations of his later works in the church crypt, which has been designated a Unesco World Heritage Site.

The Church of Colònia Güell, in Catalan Cripta de la Colònia Güell, is an unfinished work by Antoni Gaudí. It was built as a place of worship for the people on a hillside in a manufacturing suburb in Santa Coloma de Cervelló, near Barcelona, Catalonia.

More information: Portal Gaudí

Colònia Güell was the brainchild of Count Eusebi Güell; who enlisted the help of architect Antoni Gaudí in 1898. However, work was not started until 1908, 10 years after commission. The plan for the building consisted of constructing two naves, an upper and a lower, two towers, and one forty-meter-high central dome.

In 1914, the Güell family halted construction due to the death of Count Güell. At the time, the lower nave was almost complete so between the years of 1915 and 1917, it was completed and readied for use.

The Watsons visit La Cripta, Colònia Güell

The Church is one of the seven properties Gaudí built near Barcelona that are Unesco World Heritage Sites. Collectively, these sites are known as the Works of Antoni Gaudí, and show his, exceptional creative contribution to the development of architecture and building technology in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

At the age of 28, the Church of Colònia Güell was one of several commissions Gaudí received from Count Güell in the suburb of Santa Coloma de Cervelló.

To start the designing process of the church, Gaudí used his very unique process of gravity and rope, known as a funicular system. As seen in the planning of La Sagrada Família, Gaudí hung hemp ropes attached to lead-filled sacks from the ceiling. By doing this, it allowed him to reproduce the curves of the church at a 1:10 scale.

Gaudí also used canvas sheets to imitate the vaults and walls of the structure. By weighing down the ropes with lead-filled sacks, it allowed him to see the loads that would be exerted on the actual structure. To turn this hanging structure into his actual design, Gaudí photographed his model, flipped the image, and traced over it while adding some ornament and design. All that remains of the model for Church of Colònia Güell is an image in a book written by architect Josep Francesc Ráfols i Fontanals.

More information: Catalunya

This method of planning led to the development of a new architectural vocabulary, such as hyberbolic paraboloids and hyperboloids, which are prominent elements in many of Gaudí's designs.

The crypt portion of the church, constructed from 1908 to 1915, was the only segment of the church that was fully completed. It was built partially below ground, due to being on a hillside, and it was designed so that it would feel like it belonged in the surrounding nature. There are pillars on the exterior of the crypt, made of many bricks, while others were made of a solid block of stone. The roof of the structure has a geometric shape that is morphed by the connecting of the various pillars.

The crypt is very dimly lit, due to it being built partially underground since the structure is on a hillside. There are however, 22 lead stained glass windows in the crypt, to let in some colorful lighting.

Although it remains unfinished, the chapel is a very important aspect of the church. The designs of the chapel is similar to that of the Sagrada Família. This is a common theme seen throughout the church, since Gaudí used it in preparation for the building of the Sagrada Família. He tested many of his ideas and theories here, since Güell gave him the liberty of being as creative as possible.

The shape of the worship area was planned in extensive detail, right down to the pews. All of the furniture in the Church was designed by Gaudí himself, and have been preserved. Very few pieces of his furniture have been saved, though some examples are still seen in the Sagrada Família and private homes.

More information: The Culture Trip

Color in certain places has the great value of making

the outlines and structural planes seem more energetic.

Antoni Gaudí

THE SAGRADA FAMÍLIA: A MONUMENT TO SPIRITUALITY

Antoni Gaudí in the Sagrada Família

The Basílica i Temple Expiatori de la Sagrada Família is a church in Barcelona, designed by Antoni Gaudí (1852–1926). Although incomplete, the church is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Construction of Sagrada Família commenced in 1882 and Gaudí became involved in 1883 taking over the project and transforming it with his architectural and engineering style, combining Gothic and curvilinear Art Nouveau forms. Gaudí devoted his last years to the project, and at the time of his death at age 73 in 1926, less than a quarter of the project was complete.

Sagrada Família's construction progressed slowly, as it relied on private donations and was interrupted by the Spanish Civil War, only to resume intermittent progress in the 1950s.

 

Construction passed the midpoint in 2010 with some of the project's greatest challenges remaining and an anticipated completion date of 2026, the centenary of Gaudí's death.

More information: The Sagrada Família Official Web

The towers on the Nativity façade are crowned with geometrically shaped tops that are reminiscent of Cubism, they were finished around 1930 and the intricate decoration is contemporary to the style of Art Nouveau, but Gaudí's unique style drew primarily from nature, not other artists or architects, and resists categorization.

Antoni Gaudí inside The Sagrada Família

Gaudí used hyperboloid structures in later designs of the Sagrada Família, more obviously after 1914, however there are a few places on the Nativity façade—a design not equated with Gaudí's ruled-surface design—where the hyperboloid crops up.

All around the scene with the pelican there are numerous examples, including the basket held by one of the figures.

There is a hyperboloid adding structural stability to the cypress tree by connecting it to the bridge. And finally, the bishop's mitre spires are capped with hyperboloid structures. In his later designs, ruled surfaces are prominent in the nave's vaults and windows and the surfaces of the Passion façade.

More information: Antoni Gaudí Official Web

Themes throughout the decoration include words from the liturgy. The towers are decorated with words such as Hosanna, Excelsis, and Sanctus; the great doors of the Passion façade reproduce words from the Bible in various languages including Catalan; and the Glory façade is to be decorated with the words from the Apostles' Creed.

The three entrances symbolize the three virtues: Faith, Hope and Love. Each of them is also dedicated to a part of Christ's life. The Nativity Façade is dedicated to his birth; it also has a cypress tree, which symbolizes the tree of life. The Glory façade is dedicated to his glory period. The Passion façade is symbolic of his suffering. The apse tower bears Latin text of Hail Mary. All in all, the Sagrada Família is symbolic of the lifetime of Christ

Download Antoni Gaudí's Works & Barcelona's Natural Wonder

Those who look for the laws of Nature as a support

for their new works collaborate with the creator.

Antoni Gaudí

VISITING GAUDÍ'S PARK GÜELL & GRÀCIA WITH MAYTE

Mayte visited Gràcia in Barcelona

Last August, Mayte & The Grandma were enjoying the popular festivities of Gràcia, one of the most famous neighbourhoods of Barcelona. Both friends were visiting its main streets decorated by the own neighbours and they were enjoying beautiful performances and lots of popular activities.

The Grandma was very interested in investing. She uses to buy buildings to give them other uses, especially social ones. Mayte and The Grandma were visiting one of the last acquisitions, the Casa Vicens, a wonderful building designed and built by Antoni Gaudí, the genius of Modernist architecture.

After visiting Casa Vicens, Mayte and The Grandma visited Park Güell, another Gaudí's work. It is a public park located on Carmel Hill that belongs to La Salut neighbourhood, in Gràcia district. Park Güell was assigned to Antoni Gaudí by Eusebi Güell, his main patron and mentor.

After some weeks of studies and big decisions, today, The Grandma has bought another building. It is located near Park Güell and she wants to transform it in a great centre to take care of the old people of Gràcia, these people who have kept popular traditions year after year despite difficulties, who explain the importance of traditions to new generations, who participate in a constant social activism and who keep the dignity of all neighbours alive against vulture funds and speculators.

The Park Güell is a public park system composed of gardens and architectonic elements located on Carmel Hill, in Barcelona, Catalonia. Carmel Hill belongs to the mountain range of Collserola -the Parc del Carmel is located on the northern face.

Park Güell is located in La Salut, a neighborhood in the Gràcia district of Barcelona. With urbanization in mind, Eusebi Güell assigned the design of the park to Antoni Gaudí, a renowned architect and the face of Catalan modernism.

The park was built from 1900 to 1914 and was officially opened as a public park in 1926. In 1984, UNESCO declared the park a World Heritage Site under Works of Antoni Gaudí.

Park Güell is the reflection of Gaudí's artistic plenitude, which belongs to his naturalist phase, first decade of the 20th century.

During this period, the architect perfected his personal style through inspiration from organic shapes. He put into practice a series of new structural solutions rooted in the analysis of geometry. To that, the Catalan artist adds creative liberty and an imaginative, ornamental creation. Starting from a sort of baroquism, his works acquire a structural richness of forms and volumes, free of the rational rigidity or any sort of classic premises. 

Mayte visited Gràcia in Barcelona

In the design of Park Güell, Gaudí unleashed all his architectonic genius and put to practice much of his innovative structural solutions that would become the symbol of his organic style and that would culminate in the creation of the Basilica and Expiatory Church of Sagrada Família.

Güell and Gaudí conceived this park, situated within a natural park. They imagined an organized grouping of high-quality homes, decked out with all the latest technological advancements to ensure maximum comfort, finished off with an artistic touch. They also envisioned a community strongly influenced by symbolism, since, in the common elements of the park, they were trying to synthesize many of the political and religious ideals shared by patron and architect: therefore there are noticeable concepts originating from political Catalanism -especially in the entrance stairway where the Catalan countries are represented -and from Catholicism- the Monument al Calvari, originally designed to be a chapel. The mythological elements are so important: apparently Güell and Gaudí's conception of the park was also inspired by the Temple of Apollo of Delphi.

On the other hand, many experts have tried to link the park to various symbols because of the complex iconography that Gaudí applied to the urban project. Such references go from political vindication to religious exaltation, passing through mythology, history and philosophy. Specifically, many studies claim to see references to Freemasonry, despite the deep religious beliefs of both Gaudí and Count Güell. These references have not been proven in the historiography of the modern architect.

The multiplicity of symbols found in the Park Güell is, as previously mentioned, associated to political and religious signs, with a touch of mystery according to the preferences of that time for enigmas and puzzles. 

More information: Park Güell Official Website

The park was originally part of a commercially unsuccessful housing site, the idea of Count Eusebi Güell, after whom the park was named. It was inspired by the English garden city movement; hence the original English name Park, in Catalan the name is Parc Güell.

The site was a rocky hill with little vegetation and few trees, called Muntanya Pelada. It already included a large country house called Larrard House or Muntaner de Dalt House and was next to a neighbourhood of upper-class houses called La Salut.

The intention was to exploit the fresh air, well away from smoky factories, and beautiful views from the site, with sixty triangular lots being provided for luxury houses.

Count Eusebi Güell added to the prestige of the development by moving in 1906 to live in Larrard House. Ultimately, only two houses were built, neither designed by Gaudí.

One was intended to be a show house, but on being completed in 1904 was put up for sale, and as no buyers came forward, Gaudí, at Güell's suggestion, bought it with his savings and moved in with his family and his father in 1906.

 

Mayte visited Gràcia in Barcelona

This house, where Gaudí lived from 1906 to 1926, was built by Francesc Berenguer in 1904. It contains original works by Gaudí and several of his collaborators. It is now the Casa Museu Gaudí, a museum, since 1963. In 1969 it was declared a historical artistic monument of national interest.

Park Güell is designed and composed to bring the peace and calm that one would expect from a park. The buildings flanking the entrance, though very original and remarkable with fantastically shaped roofs with unusual pinnacles, fit in well with the use of the park as pleasure gardens and seem relatively inconspicuous in the landscape when one considers the flamboyance of other buildings designed by Gaudí. One of these buildings houses a permanent exhibition of the Barcelona City History Museum MUHBA focused on the building itself, the park and the city.

The focal point of the park is the main terrace, surrounded by a long bench in the form of a sea serpent. The curves of the serpent bench form a number of enclaves, creating a more social atmosphere. Gaudí incorporated many motifs of Catalan nationalism, and elements from religious mysticism and ancient poetry, into the Park. Much of the design of the benches was the work not of Gaudí but of his often overlooked collaborator Josep Maria Jujol.

More information: Park Güell

 

Roadways around the park to service the intended houses were designed by Gaudí as structures jutting out from the steep hillside or running on viaducts, with separate footpaths in arcades formed under these structures. This minimized the intrusion of the roads, and Gaudí designed them using local stone in a way that integrates them closely into the landscape. His structures echo natural forms, with columns like tree trunks supporting branching vaulting under the roadway, and the curves of vaulting and alignment of sloping columns designed in a similar way to his Church of Colònia Güell so that the inverted catenary arch shapes form perfect compression structures.

The large cross at the park's high-point offers the most complete view of Barcelona and the bay. It is possible to view the main city in panorama, with the Sagrada Família and the Montjuïc area visible at a distance.

The park supports a wide variety of wildlife, notably several of the non-native species of parrot found in the Barcelona area. Other birds can be seen from the park, with records including short-toed eagle. The park also supports a population of hummingbird hawk moths.

More information: The Culture Trip

Eusebi Güell i Bacigalupi, 1st Count of Güell (15 December 1846-8 July 1918) was a Catalan entrepreneur who profited greatly from the industrial revolution in Catalonia in the late 19th century. He married Luisa Isabel Lopez y Bru, a daughter of Antonio López y López first Marquis of Comillas, in 1871 and the couple had ten children. One of Güell's daughters, Isabel Güell i López, became a noted composer.

Eusebi Güell & The Grandma visiting Park Güell

Güell was born in Barcelona and was the son of Joan Güell i Ferrer, a wealthy industrialist from Torredembarra who had amassed considerable riches during his stay in Cuba and thanks to the numerous activities established at his return in Barcelona. His mother, Francesca Bacigalupi i Dolcer, was a member of an ancient merchant family from Genoa who had moved to Catalonia in the late 18th century.

Güell took over his father's business, which was predominantly in textiles, and added to the family's wealth. Güell met the young architect, Antoni Gaudí, following a visit to the World Fair held in Paris in 1878. The pair become lifelong friends and associates and found that they had mutual interests, including religion, both were devout Catholics.

Güell became a Mediciesque patron to architect Antoni Gaudí. Their many collaborations began at the start of Gaudí's career, when Güell saw Gaudí as the man who could provide him with uniquely designed buildings.

Among Güell's early commissions for the aspiring architect were the Bodega Güell (winery) at Garraf, the Pavellons Güell de Pedralbes and Park Güell which was originally the Güell family home and only later bequeathed to the state.

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In 1890, Güell moved his textile factory from Sants to Santa Coloma de Cervello, north of Barcelona. There he established a worker's colony along the lines of the British worker's colonies which had been built in the late nineteenth century. The colony or village at Santa Coloma, now known as Colonia Güell, was built with high socialist ideals; homes with larger than average rooms, wide windows and good ventilation so that the textile workers and their families could enjoy comfortable living conditions. The village was to be relatively self-contained and included shops, cafes, a theatre, library and a school (only for boys).

In 1890, Gaudí was commissioned to build a church and crypt on the hill overlooking the village.  However, Güell ran into financial difficulties and the project was eventually abandoned. In spite of its unfinished status, the work is a masterpiece and demonstrates many of Gaudí's signature architectural devices including catenary arches and tessellated finishes. The village, which is still fully operational boasts many fine examples of modernist architecture.

Reportedly on one occasion Gaudí said to Güell, Sometimes I think we are the only people who like this architecture. Güell replied, I don't like your architecture, I respect it.

In 1900, Güell bought land in Gràcia, Barcelona and employed Gaudí to build an estate for the rich. At that time, the area was considered to be remote and the project failed to realize commercial success. Only two houses were built. In 1923, the Güell family gave the land to the city, as Park Güell.

Eusebi Güell died in his house in Park Güell in 1918.

More information: The Culture Trip

There are no straight lines or sharp corners in nature.

Therefore, buildings must have no straight lines or sharp corners.

Antoni Gaudí

VISITING STONEHENGE, A MYSTERIOUS CERCLE OF LIGHT

Today, The Fosters and The Grandma have visited Stonehenge, the prehistoric monument on Salisbury Plain in Wiltshire, England. 

They have chosen this place because today is February, 2, the day of the light, the feast of Candelaria, and Groundhog Day, that marks roughly half of the period between the winter solstice and the vernal equinox, similar to All Saints' Day or All Souls' Day, which marks the middle of the period between the autumnal equinox and the winter solstice.

Before visiting this mysterious ancient site, they have been talking about Prepositions of Time, and sharing some stories that create a link between Antoni Gaudí, Sant Boi de Llobregat and the incredible magic of light in Architecture.

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More information: Prepositions of Time (II)

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Antoni Gaudí (25 June 1852-10 June 1926) was a Catalan architect and designer as the greatest exponent of Catalan Modernism. 

Gaudí's works have a highly individualized, sui generis style. Most are located in Barcelona, including his main work, the church of the Sagrada Família.

Gaudí's work was influenced by his passions in life: architecture, nature, and religion. He considered every detail of his creations and integrated into his architecture such crafts as ceramics, stained glass, wrought ironwork forging, and carpentry. He also introduced new techniques in the treatment of materials, such as trencadís which used waste ceramic pieces.

His work transcended mainstream Modernisme, culminating in an organic style inspired by natural forms. Gaudí rarely drew detailed plans of his works, instead preferring to create them as three-dimensional scale models and moulding the details as he conceived them.

He is nicknamed God's Architect.

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Those who look for the laws of Nature as a support

for their new works collaborate with the creator.

Antoni Gaudí

Stonehenge is a prehistoric monument on Salisbury Plain in Wiltshire, England, 3 km west of Amesbury. It consists of an outer ring of vertical sarsen standing stones, each around 4.0 m high, 2.1 m wide, and weighing around 25 tons, topped by connecting horizontal lintel stones. Inside is a ring of smaller bluestones. Inside these are free-standing trilithons, two bulkier vertical sarsens joined by one lintel. The whole monument, now ruinous, is aligned towards the sunrise on the summer solstice. The stones are set within earthworks in the middle of the densest complex of Neolithic and Bronze Age monuments in England, including several hundred tumuli (burial mounds).

Archaeologists believe that Stonehenge was constructed from around 3000 BC to 2000 BC. The surrounding circular earth bank and ditch, which constitute the earliest phase of the monument, have been dated to about 3100 BC. Radiocarbon dating suggests that the first bluestones were raised between 2400 and 2200 BC, although they may have been at the site as early as 3000 BC.

One of the most famous landmarks in the United Kingdom, Stonehenge is regarded as a British cultural icon. It has been a legally protected scheduled monument since 1882, when legislation to protect historic monuments was first successfully introduced in Britain. The site and its surroundings were added to UNESCO's list of World Heritage Sites in 1986. 

Stonehenge is owned by the Crown and managed by English Heritage; the surrounding land is owned by the National Trust.

Stonehenge could have been a burial ground from its earliest beginnings. Deposits containing human bone date from as early as 3000 BC, when the ditch and bank were first dug, and continued for at least another 500 years.

More information: English Heritage

The Oxford English Dictionary cites Ælfric's tenth-century glossary, in which henge-cliff is given the meaning precipice, or stone; thus, the stanenges or Stanheng not far from Salisbury recorded by eleventh-century writers are stones supported in the air. 

In 1740, William Stukeley notes: Pendulous rocks are now called henges in Yorkshire... I doubt not, Stonehenge in Saxon signifies the hanging stones. Christopher Chippindale's Stonehenge Complete gives the derivation of the name Stonehenge as coming from the Old English words stān stone, and either hencg hinge (because the stone lintels hinge on the upright stones) or hen(c)en to hang or gallows or instrument of torture (though elsewhere in his book, Chippindale cites the suspended stones etymology).

The henge portion has given its name to a class of monuments known as henges. Archaeologists define henges as earthworks consisting of a circular banked enclosure with an internal ditch. As often happens in archaeological terminology, this is a holdover from antiquarian use.

Despite being contemporary with true Neolithic henges and stone circles, Stonehenge is in many ways atypical -for example, at more than 7.3 m tall, its extant trilithons' lintels, held in place with mortise and tenon joints, make it unique.

The twelfth-century Historia Regum Britanniae (History of the Kings of Britain), by Geoffrey of Monmouth, includes a fanciful story of how Stonehenge was brought from Ireland with the help of the wizard Merlin. Geoffrey's story spread widely, with variations of it appearing in adaptations of his work, such as Wace's Norman French Roman de Brut, Layamon's Middle English Brut, and the Welsh Brut y Brenhinedd.

According to the tale, the stones of Stonehenge were healing stones, which giants had brought from Africa to Ireland. They had been raised on Mount Killaraus to form a stone circle, known as the Giant's Ring or Giant's Round. The fifth-century king Aurelius Ambrosius wished to build a great memorial to the British Celtic nobles slain by the Saxons at Salisbury. Merlin advised him to use the Giant's Ring. The king sent Merlin and Uther Pendragon (King Arthur's father) with 15,000 men to bring it from Ireland. They defeated an Irish army led by Gillomanius, but were unable to move the huge stones. With Merlin's help, they transported the stones to Britain and re-erected them as they had stood.

Mount Killaraus may refer to the Hill of Uisneach. Although the tale is fiction, archaeologist Mike Parker Pearson suggests it may hold a grain of truth, as evidence suggests the Stonehenge bluestones were brought from the Waun Mawn stone circle on the Irish Sea coast of Wales.

Another legend tells how the invading Saxon king Hengist invited British Celtic warriors to a feast but treacherously ordered his men to massacre the guests, killing 420 of them. Hengist erected Stonehenge on the site to show his remorse for the deed.

More information: History

 Hello, Stonehenge!
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