The first time I met Gaudì was my second time in Barcelona, during our road trip from Rome to the capital of Catalonia. I discovered the great modernist through his Bellesguard House.
I discovered the great modernist there and it couldn’t be a better place, just 1,5 miles away from Park Güell.
A Gaudì in his less known and less common form, waiting-to-be discovered: just like his Bellesguard House.
The House is only open to the public since September 2013, that’s why only a few people could visit it. It is open from Tuesday to Sunday and the entrance ticket costs 9 euros for a self audioguide tour and 16 euros for a guided tour.
One thing, in particular, struck me: the Tower, for a period, was used as an obstetric clinic, and many people were lucky enough to come into the world in this amazing building.
The tower then went back to being the private home of the Guilera family and was consequently closed to the public. In 1969 it was declared a monument of national interest, and in 2013 the Guilera family decided to open it to the public. The first to see it? All those who draw their first breath here.
The particularities of the Gaudi Tower, as it is called by the Catalans, do not end here.
The name “Bell Esguard” was given to it thanks to the magnificent view of Barcelona from its top… the dragon’s head!
The dragon is one of the symbols that Gaudi left almost everywhere in his architecture, and he couldn’t resist leaving one even here! Indeed, once you reach the top, you find yourself looking at the face of a cute colored dragon… can you see it?
And it’s not over yet. The Tower is a perfect mix of ancient and modern: actually, it was born from the ruins of the ancient Castle of the King of Aragon and Martìn el Humano. A typical medieval French-style castle, from which Gaudi managed to pull out his modernist tower, with all the traditional symbols of his art.
Walking inside the tower is extraordinary. On each floor the gaze ranges in different dimensions, plunge in opposite styles: from the whites, the colors, the shapes and the narrow stairs that we are used to associate with Gaudì, to an immense room that looks like the inside of a medieval inn. And then again, higher and higher, the terrace, the view, the Gaudì-colored dragon.
The last curiosity about the Tower? Here Serralonga, the Spanish Robin Hood, lived and hid… and it is said that some of his bones are still hidden here, one bone in every spot he committed a crime.
History, modernism, legends, dragons, art… it is incredible to think how a place so little can hide so much.
Do you wanna play a game and see who finds out more in this beautiful house?
