Gaudi: interior Casa Mila & Park Guell (Barcelona)
CASA MILA (LA PEDRERA):
Occupying a street corner, the three facades form one single, undulating surface, sprinkled with twisted metallic railing of the balconies. The originality of the building is showed by the entrance into the two courtyards and the brightly coloured fresco painting on the facades. A circular flat around a courtyard can be visited, furnished in period style. At the attic -- sustained by 270 parabolic arches, often compared to a giant whale -- there is a Gaudi expo which explains the Gaudian work. The big surprise comes at the roof, hosting a forest of sculptural chimneys -- though lacking the exuberant polychrome of fragmented tiles (Gaudi left the project unfinished).
PARK GUELL:
The most spectacular entrance is at Carrer Olot, between the two buildings, which originally were the porter's lodge. The monumental stairway, overlook by a multicoloured saurian, leads to the Hypostyle Hall (a forest of columns) and above that, the large public square surrounded by its famous undulating benches, each displaying colourful collage of tiles, plates and bottles. Other highlights are the arcaded galleries with leaning columns. The park is an unfinished garden city of 20 ha. Out of what was intended to be a large residential project, only one house was actually built, where Gaudi lived for 20 years (now, a museum).