Antoni Gaudí y Condor - 1852 - 1926
Luis Domènech y Montaner - 1850 - 1923
I guess you could call them contemporaries.
I am dealing with only one building by Domènech, the Palau de Música Catalana, which was built in the early years of the 20th century. It is amazingly different from anything else I have seen and every visitor to Barcelona with the slightest interest in either archittecture or music should take the guided tour. You may or may not like it (personally, I think it is great) but you will not fail to find it interesting - and experts were involved in all aspects of its construction. The concert hall itself is topped by a mighty stained glass dome and every detail is carefully worked out to blend into the whole. This applies to sculpture, ceramics, metalwork, brickwork and stained glass.
I am very much aware that this description is rather flat but I would strongly urge you to look at the
website - after this I hope you will want to see it.
So to Gaudí. Obviously I did not see everything of his and I am concentrating on what I have seen - in chronological order of building.
First, in the Plaça Reial near to La Rambla are lamp standards representing his first commissioned work, which are worth a look though it can be a bit of a dodgy place. [photo]
Casa Milà - Passeig de Gracia - Example: This is one of Gaudí's more familiar lay buildings and has the most amazing wave-like shapes and convoluted chimneypots - unfortunately my photo of it floodlit was a disaster.
Parc Guell - metro and bus: [photos] This is absolutely amazing. Ridiculous pieces of coloured stone or glass are incorporated into the most glorious structures; pavillions with slanting pillars abound. In the setting sun of the evening this is definitely a fun place to be. The mix of bright colours and strange structures beggars belief.
Templo de Sagrada Familia. - metro or walk. In later life Gaudí gave up all other work to concentrate on building this, and it was unfinished when he was run down and killed by a trolleybus in 1926. Its size is a necessary part of seeing it - to me no photography does it anywhere near justice. It is simply of enormous height. Unfortunately walking up long flights of steps is something I can no longer do, and I was restricted to the viewing gallery near the lift exit. From here it still sems like an infinite distance up to the top.
There is a general impression of roughness about it at first sight which does not fit well with the massive concentration on details which is seen on closer inspection.