This is the story of one of the corners of the world that has most come into my heart: Casa Batllò.
It is the story of a moment that for me marked a great change, a catharsis.
December 2015, Barcelona and one of my first digital work projects (you can find it HERE).
I want to tell you about a place that alone was able to excite me more than anything in the Spanish city: Casa Batllò.
Even today, 4 years later, when I think back to that day of warm sun and the first time I came into contact with an architecture by Antoni Gaudì I am moved.
My “origins” are in the field of engineering and architecture, but my heart has always led me to humanistic fields.
A dichotomy that seems exactly what Casa Battlò represents.
Between 1904 and 1906 the super charismatic Gaudì was charged with an ambitious architectural project at number 43 of Paseo de Gracia.
The role required the demolition of the previous building, but Gaudì, a great visionary, gave him new clothes.
And so an incredible remake of the façade and the interior started.
The intent of the master architect was an architectural representation of the legend of Saint George (patron saint of Catalonia) and his dragon.
Difficult to explain in words but incredibly easy to interpret thanks to the interactive layout present inside the building (complete with an audio guide that step by step tells the architectural evolution).
Legend has it that centuries ago in Montblanc (Terragona) a ferocious dragon raged over the inhabitants of the city.
Poeple desperate from continued destruction, calmed his anger, sacrificing one person a day and “giving it to him”.
The time came to sacrifice even the princess, but the brave Saint George ran to her aid and pierced the dragon with his sword and from the blood that gushed an incredible rose garden was born.
From that day, every year on April 23, this popular legend is celebrated: the day of San Jordi.
Perfect time to visit the house as it is set up with thousands of red roses to represent the spilled blood.
The scales of the dragon sinuously dominate the roof of the building and leave the skulls of the fallen behind (represented by the balcony railings).
Casa Batllò, in fact, was charmingly called by the locals as “House of Bones”.
A cross stands out to symbolize the sword with which Saint George killed the infamous dragon.
Many architectural elements of reference to nature.
Gaudì found inspiration in the elements that surrounded him and there are many interpretations that were given to his work.
The famous Salvador Dalì thus defined his architectural work:
“Gaudí built a house according to the shapes of the sea, representing the waves in a calm day. A real sculpture of the reflections of the crepuscular clouds in the water from which extended forms of water emerge, forms of water that extend, forms of stagnant water, forms of mirrored water and forms of water moved by the wind. “
The magic continues inside the house where suddenly you are catapulted into an underwater world.
Gaudì studied every single detail of the layout of the rooms and the furnishings until they reached the door handles.
Skylights reminiscent of turtle shells, sinuous stairs as if a dragon had been “stuck” in the house and a multitude of details that will make you want not to go away anymore.
The house is open every day of the year from 9am to 9pm (last access at 8pm) at 43 Paseo de Gracia.
The basic ticket costs 25 euros and is included with audio guide with augmented reality. A monitor connected to your device will allow you to admire what Gaudì had achieved in terms of furnishings.
An idea of how the house was when the Batllò family resided here and the site had not yet been named UNESCO Heritage.
In December we did not find a row but in any case the tickets can be purchased online HERE.
This article is a tribute to a masterpiece of art and architecture that has had the power to make me feel in the right place at the right time … a predicament that would have changed the path of my life.
Here, looking up at the ceiling, I looked at the spiral; symbol of my blog and of a center of the universe that exactly coincided with mine.
