The park was originally part of a commercially unsuccessful housing site, the idea of Count Eusebi Güell, whom the park was named after.
The site was a rocky hill with little vegetation and few trees, called Muntanya Pelada (Bare Mountain). It already included a large country house called Larrard House or Muntaner de Dalt House, and was next to a neighborhood of upper class houses called La Salut. Count Eusebi Güell added to the prestige of the development by moving in 1906 to live in Larrard House. Ultimately, only two houses were built, neither designed by Gaudí. One was intended to be a show house, but on being completed in 1904 was put up for sale, and as no buyers came forward, Gaudí, at Güell's suggestion, bought it with his savings and moved in with his family and his father in 1906. The House is now the Gaudi House Museum.
It has since been converted into a municipal garden. It can be reached by underground railway (although the stations are at a distance from the Park and at a much lower level below the hill), by city buses, or by commercial tourist buses.
The Entry for the park is free. There is a fee to see Gaudi's house including the furniture he designed! There is a reduced rate for those wishing to see both Park Güell and the Sagrada Família Church.
Park Güell is skillfully designed and composed to bring the peace and calm that one would expect from a park. The buildings flanking the entrance, though very original with fantastically shaped roofs with unusual pinnacles, fit in well with the use of the park as pleasure gardens and seem relatively inconspicuous in the landscape when one considers the flamboyance of other buildings designed by Gaudí.
The focal point of the park is the main terrace, surrounded by a long bench in the form of a sea serpent. The curves of the serpent bench form a number of enclaves, creating a more social atmosphere.
Beautiful Tiles!
Gaudí incorporated many motifs of Catalan nationalism, and elements from religious mysticism and ancient poetry, into the Park.
Gaudí's multicolored mosaic salamander, popularly known as "el drac" (the dragon), at the main entrance.
The Salamander was vandalized in 2007.
Doric columns support the roof of the lower court which forms the central terrace, with serpentine seating round its edge.
One of Gaudí's unique ceiling tiles.
The large cross at the Park's high-point offers the most complete view of Barcelona and the bay. It is possible to view the main city in panorama, with the Sagrada Família and the Montjuïc area visible at a distance.
They were playing beautiful classical music inside this column area! It was very nice and calming!
The park supports a wide variety of wildlife, notably several of the non-native species of parrot found in the Barcelona area. Other birds can be seen from the park, with records including Short-toed eagle. The park also supports a population of Hummingbird hawk moths.
Roadways around the park to service the intended houses were designed by Gaudí as structures jutting out from the steep hillside or running on viaducts, with separate footpaths in arcades formed under these structures. His structures echo natural forms, with columns like tree trunks supporting branching vaulting under the roadway, and the curves of vaulting and alignment of sloping columns designed in a similar way to his Church of Colònia Güell so that the inverted catenary arch shapes form perfect compression structures.
Gaudi's Tile Mosaics! Love!
Kevin and I! <3
This guy really wanted to be in our picture!
Details on the window of the front entrance buildings!
Gaudi! Saw these people while we were leaving the park!
Spanish Word of the Day:
Parque meaning Park
Peace & Love,
Kevin & Amanda
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