Palau Guell

The Palau Guell (Guell Palau in Catalan) is a building designed by Antoni Gaudi, the architect famous for his distinctive style in Catalan modernism. The palace is situated on a narrow street in Barcelona, called the Carrer Nou de la Rambla, near the port. Gaudi was commissioned by Eusebi Guell, who felt a great admiration for the architect and funded several of his most famous works. The construction took place between the years 1886 and 1890.

Gaudi made every effort in this work because it was his first major assignment. There were up to 25 design alternatives for the design of the facade. For this project he worked in collaboration with Francesc Berenguer, one of his most loyal aides.

Eusebi Guell was a house in the Rambla of the Capuchins, adjacent to the solar Nou de la Rambla, which he had inherited from his father Joan Guell i Ferrer, hence he wanted to build a new house that would connect through a courtyard to the old. Gaudi designed the Palau Guell in the tradition of the great houses of Catalonia, like the street Montcada.

The overall design follows the lines of his creations from that period, marked by oriental style and applied to the design of his works in this building.  It ends an era of dominance of Arabic forms of inspiration, or Byzantine Mudejar, with achievements such as Casa Vicens The Pavilions Guell or El Capricho de Comillas. Gaudi collaborated with various artisans.

Being such a short wide street, it is difficult to see the facade as a whole. However, Gaudi designed a monumental entrance with magnificent doors of parabolic arcs and sets of wrought iron gates, decorated with the coat of Catalonia and a helmet with a winged dragon, designed by Joan Onos.

The building is constructed of stone limestone Garraf (Guell Cellars). The entrance has impressive dimensions, designed so that visitors could access it mounted on their horses, or in their carriages. For the horses there were stables in the basement, which at that time were totally new.  They are accessed through an ingenious helical ramp designed by Gaudi.

Farther inside, the lobby is internal, which has a height of three floors. This space is significantly smaller than the previous one, although Gaudi managed to increase its visual perception through the installation of a large number of columns. This hall is the core of the building, which is surrounded by the main stay of the palace. Notable for its dome, covered with double profile paraboloids, typical of Byzantine art.

From here we reach the noble staircase, giving access to other rooms of the building. On the main floor there are a series of rooms, where guests are entertained, as well as the office of Count Guell and other placements. Emphasizing the chapel, are paintings of the twelve apostles of Aleix Clapes, the altar had a picture of the Immaculate, the work of Joan Flotats, which was destroyed in 1936.

Along with the chapel is a body of work by Aquilino Amezcua. In the great room there is also a bust of Joan Guell Rossend Nobas’ work. On the second floor are the bedrooms, decorated with a cycle on St. Elizabeth of Hungary (in tribute to Guell’s wife, Isabel Lopez Bru, daughter of the Marquis de Comillas), by Alexandre de Riquer: in the third floor service room.
Spiral ramp in the basement.

In the gallery facade Gaudi used an original system of arches and columns. Gaudi carefully designed the interior of the palace, decorated with a sumptuous Mudejar style, and the ceiling is coffered with wood and iron. In addition, Gaudi efficiently studied all the technical and structural aspects of the building, caring for the most detailed aspects such as lighting, ventilation or isolation from outside noise.

On the roof there are several fireplaces, which are treated as being far from annoying. There are 20 fireplaces of various geometric shapes covered with brightly colored ceramics.  It highlights the high needle-shaped lantern which is outside the top of the dome of the hall, also made of ceramic and finished with an iron vane, which contains the wind rose, a bat and a Greek cross.
Detail of the roof.

Although the interior decoration work continued until 1890, the building was opened in 1888, coinciding with the World Exposition held in the Parc de la Ciutadella de Barcelona. At the event the Palau Guell characters visited for example the Queen Regent Maria Cristina of Hapsburg, King Umberto I of Italy and the United States President Grover Cleveland.

Eusebi Guell lived in the palace until 1906, when he moved to the House Larrard in Park Guell, where he lived until his death in 1918. The Palau Guell passed by inheritance to Merce Guell i Lopez, daughter of the Count. During the Spanish Civil War it served as a station. In 1944 he wanted an American millionaire to build his country stone by stone, and fortunately this ultimately became Barcelona.

In 1952 he settled in the Palau Guell Association of Friends of Gaudi, until his transfer in 1968 to the House-Museum Gaudi’s Park Guell. Also in 1954 the palace was established in the Museum Theater until his transfer in 1996. In 1969 the Palau Guell was declared a Historic-Artistic Monument of National Interest, and in 1984 Unesco declared it a World Heritage Site.

The Palau Guell was restored in 1983 by Joan Carles Margarit Buxade. Since 2002 it has been in the process of restoration and was completed in January 2008.  The Diputacion de Barcelona Palau Guell partially reopened, visit the ground floor and the basement