Park Güell

In the upper part of Barcelona we find one of the most personal works of the architect Antoni Gaudí, converted into a tourist icon of the city. With an extension of more than 17 hectares, Park Güell is a public garden full of modernist architectural elements with sinuous forms, an amazing fusion of art and nature. Most of the built surfaces are decorated with trencadís, a decorative system made with small fragments of broken ceramic.

Initially the Park Güell has been projected as an exclusive English - style garden city, destined for the upper class of Barcelona. Count Eusebi Güell entrusted the project to the Catalan architect Antoni Gaudí. The works have taken from 1900 to 1914. Nevertheless, the initiative ended in a commercial fiasco, because from the total of 60 single-family houses only two houses have been finished. The heirs of Güell have sold the park to the Barcelona Town Hall and so Park Güell has become in 1926 a very appreciated public park. In 1984 it was declared a World Cultural Heritage by UNESCO, along with other works of Gaudí.

The entrance to the monumental area require the payment of an admissions fee. To avoid large queues it is advisable to buy the tickets online, obtaining a small discount.

Highlights

✔ The entrance pavilions, which look like a fairy tale image. The pavilions have spectacular covers, crowned by small mushroom-shaped domes.
✔ The double staircase, with the famous sculpture of the dragon covered with colorful ceramics, converted into the best-known image of the park.
✔ The Hypostyle hall, an impressive space formed by 86 columns, originally intended to function as a market.
✔ The Nature Square, the central point of the park, a large esplanade enclosed by a huge undulating bank covered with trencadís, designed by Josep Jujol. From here the visitor get great views over the city.
✔ The viaducts, suspended on a double row of inclined columns.