And no one man is more responsible for Barcelona’s bold architectural look than Antoni Gaudi, a founding father of the Modernisme movement, which stresses a fluidity of thought and motion which had never before been seen in the modern world. 2006 marks the 100th anniversary of the completion of the project which transformed an already-standing building into the wonder that is Casa Batlló. Among other honors, it was recently added to the UNESCO World Heritage List.

The great Johann Wolfgang von Goethe was once quoted as saying: “I call architecture frozen music.” Had he been alive to walk down Barcelona’s famed Passeig de Gracia and seen the unique Casa Batlló rising up above him, he likely would have said something like: “Yes, this is exactly what I was talking about.”

Any attempts to define Casa Batlló in terms Art Nouveau or Modernism runs the risk of negating the smaller details which give the building its true character. According to the building’s website, www.casabatllo.es: “If one were forced to define Casa Batlló, one would have to describe it as an architectural smile, an outburst of the compositional pleasure of someone in full command of his own individual style that allowed him to escape any imitation or school, whether in his own day or subsequently.”

The house was originally built between 1875 and 1877 and in 1900 it was bought by the Spanish industrialist Josep Battló who commissioned Gaudí to tear it down and build a new home in its place. Gaudí managed to convince Battló to remodel the existing building instead of tearing it down, and between 1904 and 1906 he redesigned the facade and roof, added an extra floor and completely remodeled the interior.

The facade of the Casa Batlló is made of local sandstone covered with colorful trencadis (a Catalan type of mosaic). One of the first recyclers, Gaudi used the rejected and imperfect tiles from his other projects to complete the façade as well as the mosaic on the back of the building and on the chimneys atop the building. The effect is one that fuses discord and harmony in a way that only he could accomplish. While there is seemingly no pattern to the placement of the mosaic tiles, Gaudi reportedly stood in the street and shouted directions to the workmen in order to put the tiles in their exact places and give him the effect for which he was looking.

Gaudí, much like later architects/nature lovers like the Austrian Friedensreich Hundertwasser, abhorred straight lines and preferred organic, nonlinear patterns instead. The flow of the exterior of the building cannot properly be explained with the use of straight lines, but rather waves on the ocean.

Also included in the construction of the exterior is the use of skull shapes for balconies and bones for pillars, which has earned it the unflattering nickname “House of Bones.” The large window on the second floor, which provided the main source of daylight for the Batlló family apartment, and the oval-shaped windows on either side and above it also earned it the nickname “House of Yawns.”

Once inside the building, however, one realizes that these nicknames do not aptly describe the interior at all.

Upon entering into the building, the visitor is greeted with a wide and curving stairway which leads to the second floor of the building and the main rooms of the Batlló apartment. The curving, wooden handrail is expertly crafted in such a way that it perfectly fits the contours of the human hand while walking up the steps.

The rooms inside Casa Batlló are unbelievably odd and yet still warm and inviting, as if the visitor had just stumbled upon some sort of magical, underwater castle. Reminiscent of the Jules Verne’s novel 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, Casa Batlló has a deeply aquatic and natural theme which runs throughout the entire building, from the aquatic blue tiled walls of the inner stairwell to snail-shell inspired lines on the ceilings.

Passing from room to room, one crosses through exquisitely-made doors made of wood and hand-blown glass, with bubbles of air still trapped in them from the day of their creation. Looking into these colored glass discs, one even gets the feeling of breathing underwater.

One Gaudí scholar, Philippe Thiébaut, has even suggested that the rooms of the Batlló apartment unfold like a process of cellular growth.

Indeed, Gaudi himself was once quoted as saying: “Those who look for the laws of Nature as a support for their new works collaborate with the creator.” By replacing straight lines with organic curves and choosing his materials and colors wisely, Casa Batlló is a tribute to and triumph of that mode of thought.

Continuing with the aquatic theme, portholes are placed throughout the main apartment’s walls and ceilings to allow more light to flow in from the skylight atop the open staircase in the hollow middle of the building.

Among other impressive feats contained within the building, Gaudi used his genius to maximize the amount of sunlight that the main apartment received because it was on the second floor of the six story building. The main window, which affords a wide view of Passeig de Gracia, is widely considered the centerpiece of the apartment, and its ingenuity lies in its simplicity in solving the problems of light and heat distribution.

Gaudí creates the impression of a single, large curved window by setting smaller panels at minimal angles to each other. These panels are linked to each another by slide mechanisms so that when it is opened, the whole living room will be flooded with light and air from the street.

Swirling wooden slats built into the window’s wooden frame can also be opened and closed to guarantee a uniform temperature throughout the apartment and the technique is repeated in other rooms as well, as in a series of slats resembling fish gills to allow more or less air into the knitting room from the inner courtyard.

The patio walls of the upper floors are covered by cobalt-blue tiles; proceeding downwards, the color of the tiles fades to white. The darker tiles, which are closer to the skylight, reflect less light; the white tiles reflect more. When viewed from below, the patio walls look to be a continuous blue color. Gaudí placed smaller windows on the upper floors of the patio and larger ones on the lower levels in order to ensure an even amount of light to flow inside.

The outdoor patio at the rear of the building provided a calm and quiet space for the Batlló family to enjoy the outdoors without having to leave their home. The quiet riot of colorful mosaic tiles on the outdoor walls and the patterned flooring further suggest the attention to detail for which Gaudi was known.

No tour of Casa Batlló would be complete without a trip to the recently-opened top of the building to take in the sights of the attic and the chimneys. While it may cost extra, it is wholly worth the price of admission and the long walk up the winding staircase.

The attic space in the building was redesigned to allow all the tenants of the building to do their laundry there, so Gaudi created an airy space with the use of whalebone arches and plenty of white surfaces to keep things cool and light. A concrete spiral stairway at the end of the building offers an escape to the roof of the building and perhaps the most intriguing elements of the building.

The colorful mosaic work on the building’s chimneys is breathtaking in its attention to detail and it provides a measure of grace and beauty to an otherwise utilitarian part of the building’s infrastructure.

Gaudi was a deeply religious man, as is evidenced by his work with his masterpiece-in-progress, La Sagrada Familia Cathedral. But at Casa Batlló, it is believed that Gaudi incorporated some of his beliefs into the rooftop. The colorful scaled roof is reminiscent of a reptile’s scales and according to some authorities on Gaudí architecture, the roof represents a dragon and the small turret with a cross symbolizes the sword of Barcelona’s patron saint St. George, stuck into the dragon. The bones and skulls on the façade then represent all the dragon's victims.

Despite the inferred violence of the dragon/St. George reference, inside the “Dragon’s Belly Room” a constantly burbling fountain harkens back to the days when rainwater was collected on the rooftop to be used for washing the clothes in the building’s airy attic spaces. A flood light beneath the fountain’s mouth allows the light to project a cascade of light onto the curved ceiling of the room, making for an enjoyable and peaceful endpoint for the tour.

Standing atop the roof and breathing in Barcelona’s vivacious airs, it is easy to see that a century after the completion of Casa Batlló, the genius of Antoni Gaudi still shines as brightly as the hot Mediterranean sun.

Visitor Information

Address No.43 Passeig de Gràcia. Casa Batlló is only 30 seconds walk from the metro stop IF you take the correct metro exit. Look for the exit called: C/ Aragó-Rambla Catalunya when you are leaving the metro.

Metro "Passeig de Gràcia" (Green Line, L3).
. C/ Aragó-Rambla Catalunya exit.

Entrance Fee -There are 3 types of tickets that you could buy depending on what you want to see.
- Visit to the MAIN FLOOR (old apartment of the owners). 1/2 hour visit with an audio guide included. Price 10 euros.
- Visit to the ATTICS and CHIMNEYS (top part of the building). 1/2 hour visit with an audio guide included. Price 10 euros.
- Visit the MAIN FLOOR + ATTICS and CHIMNEYS (Combined ticket). 1 hour tour in total with an audio guide included. Price 16 euros.

Discounts Groups more than 25 persons, students, pensioners, Barcelona Cards, Modernism route have a 20% discount.
Opening hours Every day, from Monday to Sunday 9am to 8pm. There are some days that Casa Batlló closes at 14:00 h according to the availability of the rooms. Casa Batlló only closes officially on the 25th December and the 1st January. Easter holidays open as usual.