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Tomasz Dziubinski - Photography | all galleries >> COLOR AND COLOUR PHOTOGRAPHY >> UNESCO - World Heritage Sites >> SPAIN >> Works of Antoni Gaudí > Park Guell
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2005 Tomasz Dziubinski

Park Guell

Barcelona, Spain

Park Güell is a 17 ha wide garden complex with architectural elements situated on the hill of el Carmel in the Gràcia district of Barcelona.
It was designed by the Catalan architect Antoni Gaudí and built in the years 1900 to 1914. It is part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site "Works of Antoni Gaudí".

The park was originally part of a commercially unsuccessful housing site, the idea of Count Eusebi de Güell, whom the park was named after. It was inspired by the English garden city movement; hence the original English name Park. The site was a rocky hill with little vegetation and few trees, called Muntanya Pelada (Bare Mountain).

The place is skillfully designed and composed to bring the peace and calm that one would expect from a park. The buildings flanking the entrance, though very original and remarkable with fantastically shaped roofs with unusual pinnacles, fit in well with the use of the park as pleasure gardens and seem relatively inconspicuous in the landscape when one considers the flamboyance of other buildings designed by Gaudí.

The focal point of the park is the main terrace, surrounded by a long bench in the form of a sea serpent. To design the curvature of the bench surface Gaudí used the shape of buttocks left by a naked workman sitting in wet clay. The curves of the serpent bench form a number of enclaves, creating a more social atmosphere. Gaudí incorporated many motifs of Catalan nationalism, and elements from religious mysticism and ancient poetry, into the Park. The large cross at the Park's high-point offers the most complete view of Barcelona and the bay.
It is possible to view the main city in panorama, with the Sagrada Família and the Montjuïc area visible at a distance.


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Guest 10-Jul-2007 17:08
I like the warm, rich tones and the design around the window--very pleasing to the eye. V
Manfred Bachmann27-Dec-2005 02:30
Very nice and interesting shot!