Park Guell

Park Guell is the most famous park not only in Barcelona, but throughout Spain. Initially, it was conceived as a green area for new buildings, for which they attracted the most famous architect at that time, Antonio Gaudi, who also built the Sagrada Familia.

In 1901, construction began with the purchase of 15 hectares of land. But out of 62 plots for houses, only 2 were bought, all due to the fact that the territory was located far from the city center. The construction of the park was divided into 3 stages. To begin with, the hillsides were reinforced, then roads were built here, and finally the famous winding bench was erected in 1910-1913. The bench was given a special shape, for this Gaudi sat the worker on a low-drying clay and took an imprint of the curve of his back for the shape of the bench.

There are several houses in the park: the house of lawyer M. Trias y Domenech, who is a friend of Gaudi, Gaudi's house, which he was advised to buy due to lack of buyers, as well as the house of Eusebi Guell himself. In 1910, Guell made his residence here, nowadays it houses a school, and his architect's museum has been established in Guell's house. Due to the lack of payback for this project, Guell's heirs had to sell the territories of the Barcelona City Hall.

The first sights of the park can be seen at the entrance - these are quaint houses. One of them is decorated with a five-pointed cross, the park administration is located in it, and on the second one you can see a mushroom. Walking up the grand staircase, you can get to the "Hall of a Hundred Columns", although there are only 86 of them. The acoustics in the hall are good, so it is sometimes used by local musicians. The stream is very unusual, like any Gaudi building. In Park Guell, you can see one of the symbols of Barcelona - a mosaic salamander.

In Park Guell, there are many charming fountains and wonderful mosaic patterns made of ceramics. All the elements of the park are unique, they can't be found anywhere else on the planet.