Attractions in Barcelona

The Church of Santa Maria Barcelona
At the foot of the Carrer Montcada, where it meets Passeig del Born, is the back of what many consider to be the most beautiful Gothic church in Barcelona if not in all Spain. Once the preserve of the city's wealthy shipbuilders and merchants, the church dates mostly from the 14th century. Walk around to the front entrance on the Plaça Santa Maria and note the perfectly pro­portioned and simply (but attractively) detailed facade. The interior of the church draws its great beauty from its simplicity and its high, slender proportions.


The Catalan Music Palace Barcelona

The Catalan Music Palace is not far from the Barri Gotic, this is quintessential modernisme, the Catalan variation on the Art Nouveau theme. Designed by Luis Domenech i Montaner (considered a modernista genius on par with Antoni Gaud!) and built from 1905 to 1908, this concert hall is every bit as colourful as anything designed by the more famous GaudL But it's also less bizarre and, therefore, in the opinion of many, more beautiful. Gaudi himself is said to have likened it to what heaven must be like.

The interior, which was renovated and expanded by noted Barcelona architects Oscar Tusquets and Carlos Diaz, is partially illuminated by an elaborate stained glass dome, and is full of mosaics and rife with ceramic rosettes, garlands, and winged beasts. Tours are given in several languages and schedules vary, but attendance at a portion of a rehearsal by the Orquesta Municipal de Barcelona (Barcelona Municipal Orchestra) often is included.
The Passeig de Gracia Barcelona

Running from Plaça de Catalunya to Plaça de Joan Carles I, where it is cut off by Avinguda Diagonal, this is the widest boulevard in the grid-patterned district that grew up in the 1860s and 1870s after Barcelona's old walls were torn down. Lined with boutiques, banks, hotels, cinemas, and art galleries, it links the Barri Gotic to what once was the old village of Gracia, and it provides a pleasant backdrop for a stroll. Note the [anals­bane, combined lampposts and mosaic benches. Of much greater interest, however, are the modernista buildings located here; the clashing styles of the three avant-garde structures on one block, between Carrer del Consell de Cent and Carrer d'Arago, has earned it the nickname manzana de la diseordia ("apple of discord," a pun which can also mean "block of discord").



Casa Lleo Morera

On the corner of Passeig de Gracia and Carrer del Consell de Cent, this is one of the three noteworthy modernista buildings occupying the "block of discord." Designed by Domenech i Montaner, and built in 1905 at the peak of the Catalan modernista movement, it has stone balconies carved in flower designs and winged lions. The facade is monochromatic, but step across the street to see the ventilator on top, which looks like an elaborate bonnet with a green, pink, and yellow flowered hat band. The interior is not open to the public.

Casa Amatiller and Casa Batillo

These two buildings, both designed as apartment complexes, make up the remainder of the "block of discord." The Casa Amatller (41 Passeig de Gracia), completed in 1900, was designed by Josep Puig i Cadafalch, perhaps the best-known and most prolific of modernista architects and designers after Gaudi and Domenech i Montaner. With its Italian-style grafitto decoration and Flemish-style stepped gable adorned with fanciful sculpted animals engaged in human activities, the building contrasts dramatically with its immediate neighbour, the Casa Batllo (43 Passeig de Gracia), which was designed by Antoni Gaudi, leader of the modernista movement. Built circa 1907, it's a fairy-tale abode with mask­shaped balconies, sensuous curves in stone and iron, and bits of broken tile in its upper levels. Both buildings are closed to the public, though it may be possible to take a peek in the lobby.

Casa Mila

Casa Mila is only a few blocks from the "block of discord," on the other side of the Passeig de Gracia, is this apartment house, which is regarded as the classic example of Gaudi's modernista architecture. Popularly known as La Pedrera (the "stone quarry"), this sinuous yet geometric building seems to be making an almost sculptural attempt to distance itself from the harsh, square lines of its turn-of-the-century neighbours. Barcelona novelist Joan Pirucho once wrote that the Casa Mila "gives the impression of a mountain eroded by the wind and the ruin, excavated right into its entrails by the pIercing blast of atmospheric accIdent." Be sure to visit the rooftop terrace, wIth Its strange chImney caps. There is no elevator, but the six flights of staIrs are worth the effort to see details of doorknobs and banisters en route.

Park Goel Barcelona

Originally planned as a real estate development by Gaudl and his frend Count Eusebi Giiell, a noted Barcelona industrialist and civic leader, Pare Gilell is now a public park, located to the north and west of The Eixample. At its core, resting on 86 pillars and edged with a stone bench "upholstered" with a mosaic quilt of broken glass and tIles, is a plaza that was meant to be the development project's marketplace. Only two of the development's houses-the gingerbread cottages flanking the park entrance-were ever built; a third, not designed by Gaudi but his home for the last two decades of his life, has been turned into the Casa-Museu Gaudi, containing drawings, models, furniture, and a number of his .belongings. South of the park, the Passeig de Gracia ambles past some Impish turn-of-the-century houses.

The Church of the Holy Family Barcelona

Antoni Gaudi was killed in a tram accident in 1926 before he could complete this religious edifice, his most famous and controversial work and a structure that has come to be an emblematic symbol of Barcelona in much the same way that the Eiffel Tower is of Paris or Big Ben is of London. Started in 1884 by Francesc de Pau Villar in a neo-Gothic style, in 1891 it was taken over by Gaudi, who changed the style dramatically. Sagrada Famlia is in the great Gothic tradition of Flamboyant swirls, jutting gargoyles, allegorical facades and lifetimes of construction. Gaudi's estimate that the completion of his final project would take 200 years may prove to be overly optimistic. Under construction for more than a century, the church still doesn't have four complete walls or a roof. Only the tall spires, stained-glass windows, and sculpted figures of the Virgin Mary, Joseph, and the infant Christ was actually completed before Gaudi died.

Take the elevator up to the dizzying heights of the spires for views of the city and close-ups of the amazing architectural details. Steps go even higher, but beware if you suffer from vertigo (or from claustrophobia, as the stairways are dark and close). The audiovisual show in the Museu Monografic, located in the crypt, traces the history of the church. There's also a scale model of the structure as it will be one day, although we may never be able to compare it to the real thing.