Casa Batlló, Barcelona - the dragon house by Gaudi

Travelling Pigs
Travelling Pigs
8.5 هزار بار بازدید - پارسال - After the Casa Milà (
After the Casa Milà (Casa Milà, Barcelona - Ocean waves an...) we visit the Casa Batlló, the second major work by Antoni Gaudi for a private client. We recommend buying tickets online in advance. You can select a specific time slot for admission and you don't have to queue for a long time. This masterpiece of Modernisme, Catalan Art Nouveau, is like every building of Antoni Gaudi very popular.

The client for the house was the textile industrialist Josep Batlló i Casanovas. Antoni Gaudi completely rebuilt the existing building in the years 1904 to 1906 in the style of Modernisme.

The spectacular, colorful façade depicts the legend of Saint George. Saint George is the patron saint of Catalonia and is called Sant Jordi in Catalan. The building is crowned by a roof of large "scales" that imitate the back of the dragon that Saint George fights. The top consists of large balls that change color from one end to the other. Next to this roof is a tower from which rises a three-dimensional cross whose crossbars point to the four cardinal points. This cross is said to symbolize the handle of Saint George's spear. According to legend, Saint George killed the dragon with his spear to protect the princess and the people from the wild beast. The wrought-iron balconies represent skulls, symbolizing the dragon's victims, while the first-floor gallery represents the dragon's mouth. In fact, Casa Batlló used to be known as "House of Bones" or "House of Dragons".

As with Casa Milà, Gaudi was inspired by the sea here. He eschewed edges and angles in favor of natural, wavy shapes, creating the illusion of a moving surface on the house's facade.

From the public entrance hall on the ground floor, an imposing Art Nouveau lattice leads to the private entrance of the Batlló family. This area is a reminiscence of an underwater world. We see skylights that look like turtle shells, arched walls in sinuous shapes, and a spectacular wooden staircase whose handrail is meant to represent the backbone of a large animal.

On the first floor is the living area, the so-called beletage. It is the heart of the house, an elegant salon that shows us how the bourgeoisie lived in those days.
We first see Mr. Batlló's office and an original mushroom-shaped fireplace embedded in a wall niche. After that we enter the main hall of the house with a huge window that rises like a tribune over the street - ideal to see and be seen. Among other elements, the large oak doors stand out with their organic shapes, into which Gaudí incorporated panes of colored glass, and a totally wavy ceiling, alluding to the forces of the sea.

The courtyard is an essential part of Casa Batlló because it is through this area that air and light are distributed, entering through the largest skylight. Gaudi also covered it with tiles in different shades of blue to achieve an even distribution of light. Following the same logic, the windows get larger towards the bottom to let in more light. Wooden grilles are installed in the lower part of the windows, which can be opened and closed to adjust the ventilation.

From the Batlló family's private dining room you can access an exclusive terrace, a small oasis in the middle of the city. In this courtyard, we are surprised by the flooring and the large decorative flower boxes covered with ceramics and glass.

The attic was the service area for the residents of the building with a laundry room and storage rooms. A sequence of 60 white chain arches is striking, creating a bright space reminiscent of an animal's ribs.

From the roof terrace you can then see the back of the dragon that characterizes the facade and that Gaudí designed with bricks of different colors. But the real protagonists of the roof terrace are the four groups of colorful chimneys with curved shapes. Here, too, beauty and functionality combine in the most magnificent and important private home of Catalan Modernisme.

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You can find the complete channel playlist for our stay in Barcelona here:
Barcelona

Visit in April 2023

Chapter
00:00 Intro
00:50 Casa Batlló from the outside
01:58 Inner courtyard and staircase
02:52 Office
03:22 Living room
05:15 Terrace
06:20 The courtyard from above
07:08 The attic and the roof
09:17 Exit
09:40 Outro
پارسال در تاریخ 1402/04/03 منتشر شده است.
8,510 بـار بازدید شده
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