Fantasy and technical innovation come together in the former gatehouses of the Güell Estate, on Barcelona’s Avinguda Pedralbes. The beauty and colour of the buildings don’t eclipse the main protagonist of the ensemble: the giant mythological dragon from the Garden of the Hesperides, a synthesis of Gaudí’s symbolism and craftsmanship.On one side of the gate, a turret, crowned by plant motifs, features a medallion bearing the initial of the owner of the estate. And, in the centre, the dragon on the gate spreads its menacing bat-like wings, its forked tongue visible in its gaping maws. It represents the mythical dragon from the Garden of the Hesperides, which commemorates Hercules’ daring feat which was captured so skilfully by the Catalan renaixentista poet Jacint Verdaguer in his epic work L'Atlàntida. The gatehouses are now the home of the study and research centre, the Càtedra Gaudí.