Gaudi and His Inspirations.

Gaudi was born at the peak of Spanish disruption, the 19th century. Many wars broke out just before and after his 74 year lifetime, as well as the three Carlist wars that took place whilst he was alive.

He arrived in Barcelona at seventeen and stayed there for the majority of his life thereafter, it was 1889 and the Catalan Modernist style was just beginning to become widespread during his first few years in the city. Catalan Modernism had very distinctive characteristics of multi-coloured mosaics, tiles decorated with motifs and relief patterns (usually designed by the architect), stunning stained glass, elegant lamps and candle holders made of delicate metal and glass, and large masculine stone sculptures that were painted white which then became part of the architects structure. Sounds very much like Gaudi’s work and many books and accounts on Gaudi that I have read categorize him as a Catalan Modernist, but on further research I saw elements of many other styles of architecture.

Gaudi was surrounded by the history of Barcelona, its stories told by the streets of the city, the Gothic Quarter is definitely one of the most grand and exciting parts of Barcelona, and it seems that this is the part of the city that Gaudi found a lot of his inspirations. The gothic quarter is supposed to have the largest medieval street plan in Western Europe, and is a key area of the city even now so in Gaudi’s time it is quite easy to see why this area was such a great influence to him. The Catalan Gothic style is best seen in the beautiful Cathedral found amongst the twisting streets, they open up to show a courtyard, a flight of steps leading up to the front entrance to the Gothic Cathedral. I was faced with this breathtaking piece of architecture on the first afternoon of my stay in Barcelona and it surely put me in a bright mood. The external stone carving was contested by the colourful stained glass and the amazing internal arches of the building.  

This particular Spanish style was derived from the French Gothic style, with wide naves and two side aisles, elaborate geometrical designs and stylizations are used for the decoration of these buildings. The Santa Eulalia and the holy cross is certainly impressive, it stands 79 meters long, 25 meters wide and 26 meters high, but when compared to the Sagrada Familia, one of Gaudi’s most famous works, it looks like a bungalow next to an office block.

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The Temple de la Sagrada Familia was hard not to miss as I turned the corner from the Metro station, my jaw dropped in awe of such a huge structure. Its sheer size is certainly one of its shock elements, the jelly tot like shapes on the top of each of the four visible towers seemed capable of gazing at the whole city. Gaudi began work on this amazing church on November 3rd 1883  and dedicated the rest of his life to this on going project, towards the end of his life he worked solely on the Sagrada Familia even living ...

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