Weird and wonderful modernistas

---

Another absolutely awesome day! One of the major attractions of Barcelona is the architecture of Antonio Gaudi, leading light of the Modernista movement whose fanciful, decorative and often symbolic work is emblematic of Barcelona. Although my own architectural taste is usually for clean simple lines, there's something about his fairy tale fantasies and organic forms that is just gorgeous.

Gaudi's most important work is the Sagrada Familia, the church he started work on in the late 19th century and which is still being built. It is an astonishing structure and a massive undertaking, both from an engineering and an artistic viewpoint (I've learned rather a lot about structural engineering on this trip!) The church is incredibly detailed and every detail has symbolic, physical and aesthetic reasoning behind it. We spent a couple of hours there with an audio guide and loved every moment. I have visited many churches and admired the art but I don't usually find them spiritual. Sagrada Familia, although deeply Catholic in its narrative, had a spiritual resonance for me. Gaudi was a deeply religious man and the building really feels like a prayer in stone not just the self aggrandising beauty of a Renaissance cathedral.

Then, after a picnic lunch, we walked down a couple of the major boulevards picking out other Modernista buildings and finishing at another Gaudi masterpiece. Casa Batlo, the Batlo family home, is still privately owned although not occupied. Gaudi designed it using extraordinary wavelike forms, asymmetry and a roofline featured coloured mosaics, towers and dragon scales. It has great use of light, amazing modern stained glass and still feels avant garde 100 years after it was built...and it is just stunning. I took lots of photos today!

---