Insight Guides Explore Barcelona (Travel Guide eBook) by Insight Guides

Author:Insight Guides
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Travel, Spain
Publisher: Apa Publications
Published: 2019-10-02T16:00:00+00:00

Passeig de Gràcia architecture

Corrie Wingate/Apa Publications

Casa Battló tiles

Gregory Wrona/Apa Publications

La Pedrera

Head back down Carrer d’Aragó to the Passeig de Gràcia. Cross the road and walk to the corner of Carrer de Provença, and Casa Milà 3 [map] (www.lapedrera.com; Mar–Oct daily 9am–8.30pm and 9–11pm, Nov–Feb daily 9am–6.30pm and 7pm–9pm), commonly called ‘La Pedrera’ (the stone quarry), after its rippling grey stone facade. Begun in 1901, this extraordinary edifice – Gaudí’s most prominent private building – was a controversial project: an eight-storey apartment block devoid of straight lines and set around two inner courtyards. Gaudí put the city’s first underground carriage park in the basement and sculpted a roof of evil-looking chimneys, inspired by medieval knights, that were dubbed espanta­bruixes, or ‘witch-scarers’.

After years of neglect, the building was rescued when Unesco declared it of world-heritage importance, and the Caixa de Catalunya savings bank undertook its restoration. The courtyard, attic (housing an exhibition on Gaudí’s work and of note for its fine parabolic arches), rooftop decorated with trencadis (mosaic of broken tiles) and a show flat, in which everything is carefully designed in the Modernista style, can all be visited. There is also a separate exhibition space for temporary shows on the first floor.

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