Barcelona · self-guided walk

Modernisme: Palau de la Música to the Sagrada Família

Barcelona's Modernista masterpieces in walking order, from Domènech i Montaner's concert hall to the Block of Discord, Casa Batlló and La Pedrera on the Passeig de Gràcia, ending at Gaudí's Sagrada Família.

8 stops · 3.8 km · about 85 min

Distance and time are our curators' estimates for the whole walk, stops included.

The stops

The short version of each stop. In aiGuide, open Barcelona, choose “Modernisme: Palau de la Música to the Sagrada Família” and tap Begin walking tour; then lock your phone, and each story starts as you reach the stop.

1. 1Palau de la Música Catalana

   Catalan Modernisme, 1905 to 1908

   

   Look up at the corner of this red brick building, where a woman representing music juts out like a ship's figurehead above Saint George, sailors, farmers and children. Miquel Blay's group, The Popular Song, sets the tone for the hall inside, lit by daylight through walls of stained glass and a great glass skylight.

   • Built 1905 to 1908 by Lluís Domènech i Montaner.
   • Inaugurated on 9 February 1908 for the Orfeó Català choir.

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2. 2Casa Lleó Morera

   Catalan Modernisme, 1902 to 1905

   

   Look up at the corner, where a small domed pavilion crowns the building above swelling, stacked balconies. The decoration keeps returning to the mulberry tree, morera in Catalan, a play on the owner's name. The ground floor looks plainer because a shop refit in 1943 smashed its sculptures.

   • Remodelled by Lluís Domènech i Montaner, finished 10 March 1905.
   • Won Barcelona's annual prize for artistic buildings in 1906.

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3. 3Casa Amatller

   Catalan Modernisme, 1898 to 1900

   

   Find the stepped gable glittering with glazed tiles, a shape borrowed from the guild houses of Flanders, then look down at the doorway, where Saint George fights the dragon in carved stone. This house came first: its makeover is what set the neighbours competing along this block.

   • Remodelled 1898 to 1900 by Josep Puig i Cadafalch.
   • Built for chocolate manufacturer Antoni Amatller i Costa.

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4. 4Casa Batlló

   Catalan Modernisme, 1904 to 1906

   

   Look up at the roof. Its arched ridge of glazed tiles shifts from green through blue to pink, like the scales of a dragon, and the round tower topped with a cross is often read as Saint George's lance. Lower down, the balconies look like masks and the window columns like bones.

   • Original house built in 1877 by Emili Sala Cortés.
   • Remodelled by Antoni Gaudí for Josep Batlló between 1904 and 1906.

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5. 5Edifici Montaner i Simon

   Early Catalan Modernisme, 1880s

   

   Look up at the roof, where a huge tangle of metal tubing hovers over the brick façade. It is Antoni Tàpies's sculpture Núvol i cadira, Cloud and Chair, from 1990. Beneath it, a helmet and a trumpeting angel crown a building made for printing books.

   • Built 1881 to 1885 for the publishers Montaner i Simon.
   • Architect Lluís Domènech i Montaner; first Eixample building mixing exposed brick and iron.

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6. 6Casa Milà

   Catalan Modernisme, 1906 to 1912

   

   You are looking at a building with hardly a straight line on its face. The pale limestone rolls around the corner of Carrer de Provença like a weathered cliff, and the wrought-iron balconies twist like seaweed. High along the top edge, a line of carved words from the Hail Mary runs beneath the roof.

   • Built 1906 to 1912 for Pere Milà and Roser Segimon.
   • Self-supporting stone façade and free floor plans on every level.

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7. 7Casa de les Punxes

   Catalan Modernisme, 1903 to 1905

   

   It looks like a single castle from northern Europe, but you are looking at three separate houses, one for each of three sisters. Count the six round corner towers with their conical spires. Among the ceramic panels, find Saint George, with words asking Catalonia's patron to give back its freedom.

   • Designed by Josep Puig i Cadafalch, built 1903 to 1905.
   • Three houses for the sisters Àngela, Josefa and Rosa Terradas.

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8. 8Sagrada Família

   Catalan Modernisme to the present, 1882 onwards

   

   You are looking at a church that has been under construction for more than 140 years. From the pond in Plaça de Gaudí, find the Nativity façade, the one Gaudí chose to build first: carved stone foliage, a green cypress for the tree of life, and at the foot of two columns, a turtle and a tortoise.

   • First stone laid on 19 March 1882; Gaudí took charge in 1883.
   • Gaudí died in June 1926 and is buried in the crypt.

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