Description

Palau Güell (Güell Palace) is a building designed by Antoni Gaudí and places itself within the Catalan Modernist movement. It is located in Nou de la Rambla street not far from the city’s harbour and its waterfront. The palace was commissioned by Eusebi Güell who had great admiration for the architect and who financed several of his most renowned works.

Gaudí channelled all his efforts into this work as it was his first major assignment and proof of this resides in the fact that he produced at least twenty-five different proposals for the design of its façade. For the realization of this project he could count on the collaboration of Francesc Berenguer, one of his most trusted assistants.

Constructed between 1886 and 1890 the Palau Güell presides over a nearly rectangular court and includes an annexed building on the southwest end. The structure is supported by the façade walls which are made of natural stone and brick supporting walls along with the brick columns in the basement and stone pillars on the other floors. Limestone retrieved from Garraf, where Gaudí had a farm and his own bodega, was employed in the construction of the palace.

Due to such narrow streets, it becomes difficult to appreciate the façade in its totality, despite the monumentality of its design. The façade is divided into three levels uneven on the right side so as not to obstruct the adjacent building: the first corresponding with the ground floor and mezzanine is made of polished stone cut with a saw and consists of the doors to the front entrance in the shape of parabolic arches, whereas on the right is where the service doors are located and, finally, a set of windows protected behind iron guards complete this ensemble.

The second level is made up of the gallery on the main floor and is supported by twenty-one corbels, these too of polished stone. Finally, the third level coincides with the second and third floor employing stone worked with a chisel. There are five windows on the second floor flanked by two balconies, while on the right (the service area) there’s a small viewing platform supported by three corbels rounded off by a staggered shaped crown.

The third floor contains a row of small windows and culminates in a balustrade with alternating crenels and merlons. What most stands out of the façade are the entrance gates with its undulated wrought iron bars on its top shaped in such way to evoke the silhouette of two snakes whose tails conjoin to form the letter G for Güell, while instead, between its doors, yet another ornamental iron grid decorated with the Catalan coat of arms and a helmet with a winged dragon, work of Joan Oñós, gracefully insinuates itself in the picture.

Pictures

Basic Information

Location

WE RECOMMEND YOU