Barcelona Part 2 Gaudi

Gaudi was an architect who lived and worked in Barcelona from around the late 1880's to the 1920's. There was quite a lot of modernism going on then and a trend to build some rather wild homes. Gaudi is very famous for a couple of them. One is all about St. George the dragon slayer. If you look at the balconies on the house, you can see the dragon skulls. He is also famous for his moasic work, flowing lines and whimsical shapes. In this photo, you can see some of the pillars look like dragon bones.

This second house looks like waves from the ocean, seaweed balconies and the chimneys look like swirls of ice cream. Remember how long ago these were built. Then there is the the Sagrada Familia, the sacred family cathedral. It's really amazing. Gaudi did a design for the whole thing, but died before it could be completed. He finished one side of it. They have had other architects work on other sides and in some ways it looks like 4 different buildings depending on which side you are looking at. Gaudi's side is fabulous though. There is an incredible amount of detail. His side is all about the birth of Christ. There is a nativity scence, the announciation, etc, all in a very original style. The Cathedral has really tall spires, 8 so far, but will have 12, one for each apostle when it is finished. Yes they are still working on it.

After the cathedral we went to another area where Gaudi was supposed to build a subdivision for rich people. Only a few houses were ever built, but there were some drives, a plaza and other public areas included. He is famous for this huge serpentine mosaic bench that goes all the way around the plaza. He made it wavy so people would be facing each other when they talked. He also had an area that was supposed to be a market. There are big mosaics on the ceiling of the sun, moon and sun and moon together. I got a reproduction of one of them. It was all pretty cool.

I'll write one more installment on Barcelona later. This is the back of the famous bench. It's on in the plaza which is located over the market area.