Park Guell in Catalan or Parque Guell in Spanish was originally designed to be an urbanization development. It was entrusted by the catalan entrepreneur Eusebi Guell. Its construction was from 1900 until 1914. Currently it is a public park with beautiful gardens and several important architectonic elements.
As Casa Mila Park Guell is a result of Gaudí´s naturalist period where the architect drew great inspiration from the forms of nature.
Park Guell is full of organic features and ingenious structural solutions that would be later developed in the famous Sagrada Familia.
Park Guell shows a great deal of religious and catalan nationalism symbolism. Both of these traits are found in the access stairs where the catalan states are represented and in the Monumento al Calvario originally thought as a chapel.
The park exudes Gaudi´s personal style and a profound inspiration in nature. Its wavy lines reminds us of lava rivers, its columns resemble trees and stalactites. Many of the park´s surfaces are covered with brightly coloured ceramics commonly known as trencadís.
Gaudí aimed to integrate perfectly the park with its natural surroundings. To achieve this effect he designed slanted rock-built columns of diverse sizes and shapes which remind us of tree trunks or natural caves. Gaudi also managed to incorporate a religious sense to the Park Guell trajectory by taking profit of the terrain´s irregularity designing an ascending religious path which takes us to Monumento al Calvario or Colina de las Tres Cruces.
The main access of Park Guell is also remarkable on each side there are two pavilions which exhibit Gaudi´s intricate and organic approach to design. These pavilions face the famous staircase with the well-known multicolor dragon. The staircase takes us to the hypostyle hall a place composed of 86 of trencadis covered columns resemblig a cave, another example of Gaudí´s nature-inspired design concept. This hall supports the main open space of the park bordered by undulating seating benches covered also in trencadís.
Park Guell was declared a World Heritage building by Unesco 1984. It is yet another example of the work of a genius and definitely worth gawking at.
