Hey everyone I'm Joel on the Road, and today my UNESCO World Heritage Journey is in Barcelona,
with the Works of Antoni Gaudi.
Now this is the nativity facade of the Sagrada Familia, and it's actually one of the only
parts of the building that's World Heritage listed. Because this is what Gaudi worked
most closely on; he was a very very devout and pious man, and he threw himself into this
work. And it's an incredible huge facade of sculpture and tiling that details the life
of Jesus and stories from the Bible. There's just so many things - you could stand here
all day picking stuff out, it's absolutely amazing.
One of the key tenets of Catalan Modernism is the idea of bringing nature into architecture.
Now these are the main doors of the Nativity Facade, and as you can see it's made out of
bronze, but it's green leaves. And they've got little carvings of spiders and beetles
that are just over my shoulder. It's amazing!
Now here inside the church it's fascinating to see how Gaudi's original design shines
through, because the Catalan Modernism style is just everywhere. These enormous columns
are designed to look like trees, they're so tall and the tops of them just branch out
and despite being inside, it really feels like you're outside, there's just so much
natural light as well. But what's interesting is that Gaudi died in the 1920s and so he's
never seen the interior of this, because a lot of the interior was built from the 1950s
onwards, and as you may have seen from my footage outside - it's still going. They haven't
finished, and they're not expecting to finish for at least another 10, 15, maybe 20 years
- who knows?
Behind me you can see Casa Mila, and this is the last private residence that Gaudi worked
on before devoting himself full time to Sagrada Familia. So this was built in the first decade
of the 20th century, about 1906-1910. Now you can see the Catalan Modernism elements,
because there are very few straight lines aside from the floor dividers, and the inspiration
for the building is actually taken from a quarry - which is unusual!
Behind me is Casa Battlo, another one of Gaudi's houses here in Barcelona. And this one dates
from 1904. Gaudi was a proponent of Catalan Modernism, and it really shines through in
this building, because you can just see the way he's sculpted the front to look like a
dragon. A little abstract, yes, but it's still there - you can see the jaws, the wings, the
tail of the serpent. And the spike at the top, the Lance of St George, patron saint
of Catalonia, spearing the dragon to save the day.
Now we're currently in Park Guell, which is a large city park that was designed by Gaudi
in the first decade of the 20th century. It was originally conceived as a housing estate
where they were going to build about six to ten houses for very wealthy people. We're
sort of a little bit outside the city on the north side, up in a hilly area where rich
people lived. But the project was actually a bit of a failure; only two houses were built
and neither of them got sold - though one of them was purchased by Gaudi, and he lived
here for 20 years up until his death. So what they did was, rather than leave it as a wealthy
housing estate, they converted it into a city park - and that's what it is today. And the
layout that Gaudi put together still shines through. Some of his buildings are still here,
and they really exemplify Gaudi's style, with undulating surfaces and playful elements,
and the naturalist philosophy that he had really shines through.
I just love this thing behind me, because why would you build a retaining wall, when
you can build a whole thing of columns - a portico - and style them like a grotto, complete
with stalactites, and a washerwoman! It's really cool.
I just love these angled columns, they're just so unusual and reminiscent of the Nativity
Facade at Sagrada Familia, and a couple of other Gaudi buildings as well. It looks really
cool. But anyway, that's it from me, thank you very much for watching. Don't forget to
Like and Subscribe! I'm Joel on the Road, and I'll see you at the next World Heritage Site.