THE THOMS SUNDAY TRAVEL SECTION.
Antoni Gaudí enters the world circa June 1852 in the area of Reus. This area is 60+ miles west of Barcelona near Tarragona.
From an early age, Gaudí was showing deep appreciation and pride in the art of Spain and France.
Summers at the family’s home in the country would find Gaudi studying nature. Then, at the age of 27, he would join the Centre Excursionista de Catalunya. As the name implies, they would explore Catalunya.
His family is not a healthy one. Two siblings will die in their infancy. His mother will pass at the age of 57 and his surviving brother at age 25. In addition, records indicate that Gaudi’s health was never excellent. He has many ailments, including arthritis, leading him to a vegetarian diet at an early age. The health issues will keep him out of military action during his mandatory stint in the service.
Gaudí moves to Barcelona, where he studies architecture at the Barcelona Higher School of Architecture. He graduates circa 1878 with average grades. The director of the Architecture School said: “We have given this academic title either to a fool or a genius. Time will show.”
Gaudi Begins.
From his first professional gig, he is already showing his unique style.
He designs the lampposts for Barcelona’s Plaça Reial. He also creates the Girossi newsstands, but unfortunately, this project never happens.
His first building, the Cooperativa Obrera Mataronense, will gain him recognition as his first important commission.
At the same time, he is designing his first modernist house, the Casa Vicens.
The casa opens up more doors for the young architect. For example, the glove manufacturer Comella hires him to design their showcase for the Paris World’s Fair of 1878.
Its functional modernista design catches the eye of Catalan industrialist Eusebi Güell. He will commission Gaudí to design the Güell wine cellars, and Güell pavilions.
When the count decides to build a large home, he commissions Gaudi to design the Palau Güell. Finally, he hires Gaudi for his most extensive and most ambitious plan, the Park Güell.
These will be some of Gaudi’s most outstanding works.
Count Güell’s father-in-law will commission Gaudi to design his “El Capricho” in Comillas.
A Sign from God?
Circa 1880 Barcelona decides to build a minor basilica, the Basílica i Temple Expiatori de la Sagrada Família. (The Basilica and Expiatory Church of the Holy Family, better known as Sagrada Família.)
Construction begins circa 1882, but within a year, the original architect resigns. They turn the project over to Gaudí. He will change the initial design completely, redesigning it in his distinctive style.
What is the Gaudi style? By now it is a little bit Gothic, part curvilinear Art Nouveau, and a dash of genius.
By 1915, he devotes himself entirely to this project. He will remain working on it up until his death.
And then he still will not leave. His remains are in the crypt at Sagrada Familia.
For the 1888 Barcelona World Expo, he designs the pavilion for the Compañía Trasatlántica. The temporary structure will survive until 1960.
In addition, he receives commissions from the Barcelona Council to restore the Saló de Cent (council hall) and City Hall’s grand staircase.
Neo-Gothic Gaudi.
Gaudí receives inspiration from the Spanish medieval Gothic art, but he sees room for improvement. As the Neo-gothic style sweeps Europe, he busies himself on perfecting the imperfect style. This update includes replacing buttresses and doing away with crenellations.
Some of the finest examples include the Teresian College (1889). The building for monks is austere, in keeping with their vows of poverty.
The 1894 Casa de los Botines, is in León Spain. It is a strong example of his modernista neo-Gothic style. It also features four cylindrical turrets with spires. Saint George and the Dragon appear here. A theme we will see again.
Closer to Barcelona, Gaudi renovates the Torre Bellesguard (1909), once the summer palace of King Martin I the Humane. Is the building neo-Gothic? Yes. Are the roof and turrets Gaudi? Absolutely.
The Casa Calvet (1899) sees a turn from the Neo-Gothic. It has triangular wrought-iron balconies, but they have no sharp angles. The facade includes plant and mythological motifs. The style is more Baroque and consists of a terraced roof. He wins the 1900 award for the best building of the year from the City Council.
The bishop of Astorga hires his boyhood friend Gaudí to design a new episcopal palace after the previous one burns. This 1915 neo-Gothic Gaudi style has four cylindrical towers and a moat.
The Naturalist period.
Circa 1900, Gaudi begins incorporating more of his style. This improvement includes organic shapes found in nature and his new structural solutions stemming from ruled geometry.
In addition to smaller projects designing homes for painters and doctors, he begins work on Park Güell. The intention is a residential estate similar in style to an English garden city.
The site has 60 plots for homes. Francesc Berenguer designs the first residence, and it becomes Gaudí’s residence between 1906 and 1926.
Gaudi designs the park entrances and service areas, which they build so potential buyers can see them. The site is on a steep hillside offering incredible views. Gaudí incorporates a system of viaducts into his design to tame the terrain.
The main entrance to the park is at the bottom of the site. Steps lead to higher levels, with sculpted fountains, including one with a dragon. Sound familiar?
Further up is the market hall with Doric pillars supporting the roof.
On the top is the community’s large plaza, similar to a Greek theater. The design of the undulating bench is pure Gaudi. The broken ceramics are the work of artist Josep Maria Jujol.
Unfortunately, no one comes to the party. Only one lot will sell, and no houses ever appear. Too soon? Too far out of town? Who knows? You can stroll the site and visit his house, now home to the Casa-Museu Gaudí. It has an interesting collection of furniture and objects he designed.
Gaudi and Montserrat.
Being strongly religious, it would make sense that Gaudi would design for Montserrat. This Benedictine Monk mountain retreat is just over an hour’s drive north of Barcelona.
Gaudí’s track record with the Monastery of Montserrat is bumpy. During his studies, he works as an assistant draftsman on the Sanctuary and the new Neo-Romanesque apse. It will house the statue of the Madonna and Child. She and Saint George are the Patron Saints of Catalonia. However, social unrest during the Third Carlist War suspends the project.
His second attempt is designing a funerary pantheon for the Güell family, his patrons. Unfortunately, Villar, the architect of the rest of the church, and Gaudi’s egos clash. In the end, the monastery turns down the proposal. How Christianly.
Finally, Gaudi designs the First Glorious Mystery in the Rosary. This project is a series of sculptural groups along the walking path between the church and the Holy Cave. Fifteen of the top Catalan architects will take part. Gaudi designs the space; however, the statues are all by other artists. The good news is they are the closest sculptures from the top of the path.
The Early 1900s.
The 1906 Casa Batilo is among Gaudí’s more famous and striking works. It is the renovation of an existing building dating from 1875.
Gaudi reimagines the façade, the main floor, the patio, and the roof.
He gives the columns bone shapes and includes vegetable decorations. Rectangular balconies contrast with the undulating façade, and the roof spouts helicoidal chimneys with conical caps.
Colònia Güell begins construction circa 1890 when Eusebi Güell decides to move his textile mill away from political Barcelona. Gaudi designs the industrial village near Santa Coloma de Cervelló southwest of Barcelona. It will not be until 1908 that they begin construction of the church. Gaudi’s design includes an oval church with one central aisle and two smaller ones on either side. It is his first design to use hyperbolic paraboloid vaults similar to a saddle in shape.
Unfortunately, Güell passes in 1918 with only the crypt finished. His sons abandon the rest of the church. I have to think this is a mistake. However, the tomb is worth the drive.
The Lost Gaudi Projects.
Like many an architect, more designs end up on the floor than reach completion. Besides the church for Colonia Guell and the works at Montserrat, there are many other unfinished designs.
For instance, his hotel in New York City. WHAT?
Circa 1908, there are enough notes to substantiate a project between Gaudí and two unknown American entrepreneurs. It was a skyscraper hotel in lower Manhattan which would be the Hotel Attraction.
At that time, the construction of New York’s tallest skyscraper, The Woolworth Building, was topping off at 792 feet. The Hotel Attraction would be 1,180 feet high in its central section. Four shorter buildings at each corner would include theaters, museums, and art galleries, all in Gaudi’s style.
There are numerous other houses, buildings, and public spaces that only exist on paper.
As happens to many visionaries, the decision-makers found Gaudi’s designs too radical, far-out, or ugly.
Everyone’s a Tour Guide.
I don’t remember a visit to Barcelona when I did not hear someone say “gaudy” comes from “Gaudi.”
The term “gaud” refers to a “trinket” or “bauble. It first appears in the French language circa 1390.
Gaudy may be the incorrect plural of gaud and refers to the largest ornamental bead in a Catholic rosary.
So things were gaudy 500 years before Gaudi.
However, Antoni’s grandfather is from France. Therefore, the family name may come from the French “gaudir,” meaning to enjoy.
Follow that back to its Latin root “gaudēre.” So “Gaudi” and “Gaud” are third cousins, thrice removed.
Furthermore, Mr. Colosso did not build a stadium in Rome.
The Final Unfinished Business.
By 1915 Gaudí turns all his attention to his magnum opus, the Sagrada Família.
Construction has been going on since 1882. Due to the private funding of the church, the building is slow. They are still working on the crypt and the apse, and these are in Gothic style.
The rest of the church will be in an organic style. Seeing how far his style comes from the 1880s, you wonder if he is redesigning up to his last day.
His last day comes circa 1926. At that time, only the crypt, apse, and part of the Nativity façade are complete.
His final design has the interior resembling a forest, with the pillars branching like trees. The design is, in his eyes, structurally perfect, harmonious, and aesthetically pleasing.
The Plan.
The church follows a cruciform plan, with five aisles in the nave. The transept has three aisles, and the apse has seven chapels.
On the exterior, three of the façades represent the birth, passion, and glory of Jesus.
Upon completion, it will have eighteen towers.
On three sides of the church are four bell towers representing the twelve apostles.
The four most identifiable towers are on the transept, representing the evangelists Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John.
The last two will stand out from the towers of the evangelists. Upon completion, one will represent the Virgin Mary. It will stand in front of the four evangelist towers and be slightly shorter.
In the center of the four evangelist towers will be the tallest tower, representing Jesus Christ.
Reaching 566 feet in the air, it will be the tallest church in Europe. However, it will be three feet shorter than Barcelona’s Montjuïc hill. Gaudi’s design calls for his building not to be taller than the work of God.
The Next 100 Years.
Antoni was aware from day one he would not see the completion of the church. His feelings are “My client is not in a hurry.”
The 1936 Spanish Civil War causes a big snag in construction. As a result, not only do anarchists destroy part of the finished construction, but they destroy many of Gaudí’s models and drawings.
A later fire burns some of the drawings, and over 100 years, building methods changed.
And “some” architects want to put their mark on projects. There have been at least five on this project since Gaudi’s death.
So the present design is part Gaudi, partly reconstructed versions of Gaudi.
By 2000, the vaulting of the central nave reaches completion.
In mid-2010, they add an organ, making it possible to hold religious services inside the still-unfinished building. The pope consecrates the church the same year.
Since that time, tourists have been able to see parts of the inside of the church for a fee.
A steady flow of income speeds up the construction.
Other new-fangled gadgets that speed up construction include rock-cutting machines, electric cranes, and computers.
The goal is for the church construction to finish by the 100th anniversary of Gaudi’s death in 2026. Decorating will go on for many more years after that.
One building on the site Gaudi does see to completion is the 1909 Sagrada Família School building. He designs it for the children of the construction workers. Today it houses an exhibition.
A Gaudi Summary.
The UNESCO World Heritage listing, Works of Antoni Gaudí, includes seven of his works.
They are the Parque Güell, Palacio Güell, Casa Mila, Casa Vicens, Casa Batlló, and the Crypt in Colonia Güell. It also includes Gaudí’s work on the Nativity façade and Crypt of La Sagrada Familia.
But there are more than fifteen structures or works of art by Gaudi in Barcelona alone. So chances are, you still have some exploring to do, even if you have seen the big seven.
And there are other structures outside of Barcelona.
And there’s non-Gaudi Barcelona, and there’s the Catalan cuisine…
Cómo viajas a españa? (How do you get to…?)
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“See the World” Continued on Page T3. “Taste the World” Continued on T11.