Park Güell

Parc Güell
The two buildings at the entrance of the park
Location	Barcelona, Spain
Coordinates	41°24′49″N 2°09′10″E
Established	1914
UNESCO World Heritage Site
Part of	Works of Antoni Gaudí
Criteria	Cultural: (i), (ii), (iv)
Reference	320-001
Inscription	1984 (8th Session)
Extensions	2005
Spanish Cultural Heritage
Type	Non-movable
Criteria	Monument
Designated	24 July 1969
Reference no.	RI-51-0003818

Parc Güell (Catalan: Parc Güell [ˈpaɾɡ ˈɡweʎ]; Spanish: Parque Güell) is a privatized complex of parks, gardens and architectural elements in the Gràcia district of Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. The site is located in the La Salut neighborhood on the southern side of a hill known as the Turó del Carmel, part of the Collserola mountain range. The separate Parc del Carmel is located on the northern side of the hill.

In the midst of Barcelona's late 19th and early 20th century urban expansion, the Catalan industrialist and art patron Eusebi Güell sought to commission a new park. Güell assigned the design of the park to the renowned architect Antoni Gaudí, widely regarded as a central figure of the aesthetic movement of Catalan modernism.

Parc Güell was built between 1900 and 1914, before being officially opened to the public in 1926. In 1984, UNESCO declared the park a World Heritage Site as part of the larger "Works of Antoni Gaudí" architectural series.

Description

In addition to reflecting the distinct aesthetic sensibilities, artistic influences, and visual language present throughout Gaudí's career, Parc Güell captures a particular moment in his artistic evolution. The park is associated with his naturalist phase, which occurred in the first decade of the 20th century. During this period, Gaudí's study of nature and organic shapes began to influence him creatively. Reflecting this shift, Gaudí introduced a series of new structural solutions rooted in the geometric analysis.

Gaudí expanded upon these geometric forms to create the imaginative, ornamental style most often associated with him today. Rooted in the Baroque, his works are characterized by a structural richness of forms and volumes, free of the rational rigidity of classical conventions. In designing Parc Güell, Gaudí put these structural innovations into practice. Gaudí would further elaborate on this characteristic style in the creation of the enormous Sagrada Família (Basilica and Expiatory Church of the Holy Family).

Güell and Gaudí originally conceived of the space not as a public park, but as an private community of luxurious homes equipped with all the latest modern amenities to fulfill the needs of its residents with both artistically and physically. They envisioned a community strongly influenced by symbolism and Parc Güell's common spaces (stairways, plazas, terraces, gardens) are designed to express physically the political and religious ideals of both patron and architect. For example, there are noticeable concepts originating from political Catalanism, most notably in the entrance stairway where the Catalan countries are represented, and Catholicism, as Monumento al Calvario, originally designed to be a chapel. In addition to Gaudí's reinterpretation of classical architectural elements such as columns, colonnades, and porticos, Parc Güell also contains numerous references to Greek Mythology. Some have suggested that Güell and Gaudí's conception of the park was inspired by the Temple of Apollo of Delphi.

The meaning of these symbols continues to be the subject of speculation. To some, Parc Güell represents spatial nexus of complex iconography that Gaudí intentionally applied to the project. Interpretations range from expressions of political vindication to religious exaltation, laden with mythologic, historical, and philosophical references. Others claim that Parc Güell displays masonic influences in spite of the fact that both Güell and Gaudí embraced traditional Catholicism. Although much of this is without scholarly basis, the sense of mystery surrounding Parc Güell's symbolism is not entirely unfounded, given the penchant of Gaudí and other artists of his generation for enigmas, puzzles, and cryptic references.

Origins as a housing development

The Gaudí House Museum

The park was originally part of a commercially unsuccessful housing development envisioned by Count Eusebi Güell. It was inspired by the English garden city movement, hence the use of the English word Park (Catalan: Parc Güell Spanish: Parque Güell) in the original name. The site chosen was a rocky hill with little vegetation and few trees, called Muntanya Pelada (English: Bare Mountain). Already present on the property was a large country house called Larrard House or Muntaner de Dalt House. The site was adjacent to an upper class neighborhood called La Salut (The Health). Güell intended to take advantage of the site's the fresh air (well away from smoky factories) and beautiful vistas. The original development planned to divide the site into sixty triangular lots for luxury houses. To provide publicity for the new development, Güell would move into Larrard House in 1906. Ultimately, only two houses were built, neither of which were designed by Gaudí.

One of these houses was built as a display home, but upon completion was put up for sale in 1904. However, because no buyers came forward, Güell suggested that Gaudí purchase the home with his own savings. Gaudí agreed and moved in with his family and his father in 1906. This house, in which Gaudí lived from 1906 until his death in 1926, was built in 1904 by Francesc Berenguer, himself a modernist architect and associate of Gaudí's. It contains original works by Gaudí and several of his collaborators. Since 1963, it has been open to the public as the Gaudí House Museum (Catalan: Casa Museu Gaudí). In 1969, it was declared to be a historical artistic monument of national interest.

Municipal garden

Gaudí's multicolored mosaic salamander, popularly known as El Drac (English: the dragon), facing the main entrance following its restoration due to a vandalism incident in February 2007

Gaudí's mosaic work on the main terrace

Parc Güell has since been converted into a municipal garden. It is accessible by metro, although the closet metro stations (Vallcarca and Lesseps) are located some distance from the site at the base of Turó de Carmel. It can also be reached by city buses or commercial tourist buses. In October 2013 an entrance fee was introduced for the Monumental Zone (main entrance, terrace, viaducts, and areas featuring mosaics), though citizens of Barcelona may enter free of charge. Limited tickets are available, though these often sell out in advance. La Torre Rosa, Gaudí's home converted into a museum featuring furniture that he designed, can be visited for another entrance fee. However, there is a reduced rate for those wishing to see both Gaudí's house and the Sagrada Família Church.

The entrance is flanked by two gatehouses, both of which were designed by Gaudí. These two buildings make up the Porter's Lodge pavilion. One of these buildings contains a small room with a telephone booth. The other, while once being the porter's house, is now a permanent exhibition of the Barcelona City History Museum (Catalan: Museu d'Història de Barcelona).

The focal point of the park is the main terrace enclosed by a long bench in the form of a sea serpent. The curves of the serpent bench form a number of enclaves, designed to foster social interaction. The design of the benches was the work not of Gaudí, but of his often overlooked collaborator Josep Maria Jujol.

Another prominent feature found throughout the park are the series of elevated pathways, originally intended to service the houses, designed by Gaudí to jut out from the steep hillside or rest on viaducts. These structures often serve as the roofs for lower footpaths in arcades formed underneath. To further minimize the intrusion of these roads, Gaudí had them constructed using a local stone, rendering them as an extension of landscape. Echoing natural forms, the columns and branching vaults supporting the roadways were carved to resemble tree trunks. Similar to his previous work on the Church of Colònia Güell, Gaudí used curved vaulting and the alignment of sloping columns to form inverted catenary arch shapes, which function as ideal compression structures.

At the park's highpoint, there is a stone hill composed of steps leading up to a platform on which stands three large crosses. The official name of this is El Turó de les Tres Creus, however many prefer to call it Calvary. Two of the crosses point north–south and east–west, while the third and tallest cross points skyward. From this vantage is possible to view the main city in panorama, including the Sagrada Família, Agbar Tower, and Montjuïc area in the distance.

Park Güell supports a wide variety of wildlife, notably several of Barcelona's non-native parrots in addition to sightings of the short-toed eagle. The park also supports a population of hummingbird hawk moths.

Gallery of images

• 
  View from the main terrace of the park.
• 
  Entrance to the Park.
• 
  Doric columns support the roof of the lower court which forms the central terrace, with serpentine seating round its edge.
• 
  The unique shape of the serpentine bench enables the people sitting on it to converse privately, although the square is large. The bench is tiled and in order to dry up quickly after it rains, and to stop people from sitting in the wet part of the bench, small bumps were installed by Gaudí.
• 
  Bird nests built by Gaudí in the terrace walls. The walls imitate the trees planted on them.
• 
  An uninterrupted view of the terrace walls.
• 
  Roadway in the Park - resembles the pine trees of the park. In order to fit in, the road and walkway structures between the terraces were built with stones quarried within the park. Bird nests have been installed in the walkways.
• 
  One of the three viaducts located within the park. Originally created by Antoni Gaudí to allow carriages to easily facilitate the transportation of visitors from the park's entrance to the "Turó de Tres Creus" which can be found on the top of the mountain, these viaducts continue to allow guests to travel throughout the park.
• 
  Colonnaded footpath under the roadway viaduct, with external columns sloping to take the diagonal thrust from the vault supporting the road.
• 
  Colonnaded pathway where the road projects out from the hillside, with the vaulting forming a retaining wall which curves over to support the road, and transmits the load onto sloping columns.
• 
  Another of Gaudí's Tiled Mosaics on the ceiling.
• 
  One of Gaudí's unique tiles in Parc Güell
• 
  Ceiling Mosaic in the Hypostyle Room, Park Güell, Barcelona
• 
  The Porter's Lodge pavilion at the park's entrance. The roof is made up of trencadís tiles.
• 
  Third fountain at the entrance with the dragon
• 
  Casa Martí Trias i Domènech
• 
  Panoramic view of the entrance to the Park Güell. Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain
• 
  A musician playing among columns of Sala Hipóstila, Park Güell (UNESCO World Heritage Site), hill of El Carmel, Gràcia (district), Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain

See also

• List of Modernisme buildings in Barcelona
• Urban planning of Barcelona
• Parks and gardens of Barcelona

External links

• Works of Antoni Gaudí UNESCO Collection on Google Arts and Culture
• Park Güell Official Website