The
Palau Güell is a town mansion (translated literally a "palace") in
BarcelonaBarcelona is the capital, most populous city of the Autonomous Community of Catalonia and the second largest city in Spain, with a population of 1,615,908 in 2008. It is the 11th-most populous municipality in the European Union and sixth-most populous urban area in the European Union after Paris,...
,
CataloniaCatalonia is an Autonomous Community in northeast Spain. The capital city is Barcelona.Catalonia covers an area of 32,114 km² and has an official population of 7,364,078. It borders France and Andorra to the north, Aragon to the west, the Valencian Community to the south, and the...
, designed by the Catalan
architectAn architect is trained and licensed in planning and designing buildings, and participates in supervising the construction of a building. Etymologically, architect derives from the Latin architectus, itself derived from the Greek arkhitekton , i.e. chief builder...
Antoni GaudíAntoni Plàcid Guillem Gaudí i Cornet – in English sometimes referred to by the Spanish translation of his name, Antonio Gaudí...
for the
CatalanCatalonia is an Autonomous Community in northeast Spain. The capital city is Barcelona.Catalonia covers an area of 32,114 km² and has an official population of 7,364,078. It borders France and Andorra to the north, Aragon to the west, the Valencian Community to the south, and the...
industrial tycoon
Eusebi GüellCount Eusebi Güell was a Catalan patriarch who profited greatly from the industrial revolution in Catalonia in the late 19th Century....
.
It is part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site "Works of
Antoni GaudíAntoni Plàcid Guillem Gaudí i Cornet – in English sometimes referred to by the Spanish translation of his name, Antonio Gaudí...
".
The home is centered on a main room for entertaining high society guests. Guests entered the home in horse drawn carriages through the front iron gates, which featured a parabolic arch and intricate patterns of forged iron-work resembling seaweed and in some parts a horsewhip.
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The
Palau Güell is a town mansion (translated literally a "palace") in
BarcelonaBarcelona is the capital, most populous city of the Autonomous Community of Catalonia and the second largest city in Spain, with a population of 1,615,908 in 2008. It is the 11th-most populous municipality in the European Union and sixth-most populous urban area in the European Union after Paris,...
,
CataloniaCatalonia is an Autonomous Community in northeast Spain. The capital city is Barcelona.Catalonia covers an area of 32,114 km² and has an official population of 7,364,078. It borders France and Andorra to the north, Aragon to the west, the Valencian Community to the south, and the...
, designed by the Catalan
architectAn architect is trained and licensed in planning and designing buildings, and participates in supervising the construction of a building. Etymologically, architect derives from the Latin architectus, itself derived from the Greek arkhitekton , i.e. chief builder...
Antoni GaudíAntoni Plàcid Guillem Gaudí i Cornet – in English sometimes referred to by the Spanish translation of his name, Antonio Gaudí...
for the
CatalanCatalonia is an Autonomous Community in northeast Spain. The capital city is Barcelona.Catalonia covers an area of 32,114 km² and has an official population of 7,364,078. It borders France and Andorra to the north, Aragon to the west, the Valencian Community to the south, and the...
industrial tycoon
Eusebi GüellCount Eusebi Güell was a Catalan patriarch who profited greatly from the industrial revolution in Catalonia in the late 19th Century....
.
It is part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site "Works of
Antoni GaudíAntoni Plàcid Guillem Gaudí i Cornet – in English sometimes referred to by the Spanish translation of his name, Antonio Gaudí...
".
The home is centered on a main room for entertaining high society guests. Guests entered the home in horse drawn carriages through the front iron gates, which featured a parabolic arch and intricate patterns of forged iron-work resembling seaweed and in some parts a horsewhip. Animals could be taken down a ramp and kept in the livery stable in the basement where the servants resided, while the guests went up the stairs to the receiving room. The ornate walls and ceilings of the receiving room disguised small viewing windows high on the walls where the owners of the home could view their guests from the upper floor and get a 'sneak peak' before greeting them, in case they needed to adjust their attire accordingly.
The main party room has a high ceiling with small holes near the top where lanterns were hung at night from the outside to give the appearance of a starlit sky.
In 2004, visits by the public were completely suspended due to renovations; some of the stone used in the original construction was weak and has cracked over the years causing structural problems within the building. As of February 1, 2008, Palau Güell has been partially reopened to the public, with access to limited parts of the building only.
It was used in
AntonioniMichelangelo Antonioni, Cavaliere di Gran Croce OMRI was an Italian modernist film director.-Life:Michelangelo Antonioni was born into a well-to-do family of landowners in Ferrara, Emilia Romagna, in northern Italy. The director explained to Italian film critic Aldo Tassone:While still a child,...
's film
The PassengerThe Passenger is a film directed and co-written by Michelangelo Antonioni, released in 1975, in which Jack Nicholson stars as a reporter in Africa who assumes the identity of a dead stranger...
as a backdrop for the first meeting between
Jack NicholsonJohn Joseph "Jack" Nicholson is an American actor, film director and producer. He is renowned for his often dark-themed portrayals of neurotic characters....
and
Maria SchneiderMaria Schneider may refer to:* Maria Schneider , French actress who played Jeanne in the 1972 film Last Tango in Paris* Maria Schneider , American musician and composer...
.
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