Park Guell

Park Guell is situated on the hill of el Carmel in the Gracia district of Barcelona. The site was originally a rocky hill with very few trees.

Designed by Catalan architect Antoni Gaudi and built between the years 1900-1914, the park was originally part of an unsuccessful housing development - the idea of Count Eusebi Guell, whom the park is named after.

The intention was to exploit the fresh air and beautiful views with sixty triangular lots for building luxury houses.

It already included this large country house called Larrard House and was next to a neighborhood of upperclass houses called La Salut. Count Eusebi Guell moved into Larrard House in 1906.

Ultimately only two houses were built, neither designed by Gaudi. One was intended to be a show house. It was put up for sale, but there were no buyers.

Gaudi, at Guell's suggestion, bought it with his savings and moved in with his family. This house, where Gaudi lived from 1906-1926 is now the Gaudi Museum.

The huge public square in the center of the park is surrounded by a continuous wall and bench.

The entire Guell Park is made of stone, ceramic, and natural elements.

The public square sits atop the Doric temple with a great view of Baracelona.

FYI - Original Greek Doric columns stand directly on the flat pavement of a temple without a base; their vertical shafts are fluted with 20 parallel concave grooves and topped by a smooth capital

For the mosaics, Gaudi used broken ceramic tiles, plates, and cups to recycle rather than make new ones.

To avoid leveling the land, Gaudi designed meandering viaducts and planned the park to include lots of trees.

The footpath under the viaduct.

All of Gaudi's work seems almost childlike.

The park caretaker's lodge looks almost like something out of a fairy tale.

On a completely separate note: We lived in Alexandria, Louisiana several years ago where there is an entire neighborhood with houses similar to this. The streets are named Candy Lane, Snow White Drive, Gingerbread Road, Gretel Court. I searched and searched the internet, but could never find an image of this neighborhood - an unbelievably bold move by the developer.

The entrance to the park is very lush and green.

You can see visitors on top of the temple looking out over the city.

The park is free to visitors and most definitely worth a visit.