La Pedrera

During my recent trip to Barcelona, I was very interested in visiting the various works of Antoni Gaudi. Having visted Parc Guell and The Unfinished Church, we then went to visit La Casa Mila, or 'La Pedrera' as it is more commonly known. Placed in Paseo de Gracia, work on La Pedrera began in 1905 and finished in 1910, it is the last commissioned work that Gaudi undertook, before concentrating his last years on La Sagrada Familia (the Unfinished Church). The owner, Pere Mila Camps had purchased the land, and having seen some of Gaudi's other work, he commissioned him to build a large building of rental flats on his land. A first ...  Read the complete review

A building with no straight lines and no reinforcing walls? Impossible, I hear you scoff. But that is exactly what Gaudí accomplished with astounding creativity and flair in La Pedrera. "La Pedrera" translates to "the quarry", a nickname coined by the astonished population on its completion in 1910. Without doubt Gaudí's most important civil architectural work, it was declared a World Heritage site by UNESCO in 1984. Also known as Casa Milà, the building was Gaudí's last private commission before he devoted all his energies to religious projects, the best known being the Sagrada Família. Given a completely clean slate on which to ...  Read the complete review