What We Saw
Today we spent more time exploring the sights of Barcelona from the main government buildings in Plaza San Jaime to remains of the Temple of Augustus to the Palau del La Musica Catalana to the Inglesia de Santa Maria Del Mar. In between, we managed to sandwich in some time in the Picasso Museum.
Here are some photos from the various stops we made.
Palace of Catalan Music
The Palace of Catalan Music is another example of Modernism architecture which celebrates ceramic tiles, stained glass, and sculpture. Completed in 1908, the architect was Lluis Domenich i Montaner (1850-1923), designer of the Sant Pau Hospital.
Our excellent guide, one of the staff there, explained that the main hall was designed specifically for choirs, often called Orpheus choirs, and not for orchestras. Sculptures of muses with a variety of instruments and other figures surround the stage, and one sees just a few of the 4,000 pipes making up a massive organ. We got to hear a Handel piece which displayed the full tonal range of this instrument.
What is most striking is the inverted dome in the center of the ceiling, but also magnificent are the stained glass windows on the side walls, the butterfly-like wings on the ceiling, and the carved roses of red and white.
Iglesia de Santa Maria del Mar
Built in just 88 years between 1329 and 1383, thanks to the donations of ordinary people, the Church of Santa Maria is a stunning example of the Gothic style. Twice damaged by earthquake and fire, it has a minimum of decoration which shows off the singular beauty of its columns and ceiling. And its columns are spaced wider than any other Gothic church in Europe, a distance of forty-three feet from column center to column center.
Other Sights
The Picasso Museum was amazing and gave us a real sense of Picasso’s creativity from a very early age with paintings from his teenage years before he went to Paris to study. There, he was considered so advanced that he entered at the last year of the course. From his years in Barcelona doing landscapes to portraits in Paris to his Blue and Pink Periods to his return to Cubism in 1957 (it was totally dismissed when presented 40 years earlier), it’s a fascinating journey of one artist’s growth and development. Alas, I didn’t take any photos, not sure they were even allowed.
We ended this outing with a quick glimpse of El Fossar de les Moreres, a square built over a cemetery where Catalans were buried after the War of the Spanish Succession in 1714. There’s a red torch sculpture, an eternal flame.
So much history in this city over so many centuries from being a Roman colony to the Middle Ages and its later growth as a maritime and commercial power, the repression of the Spanish Civil War and Franco’s rule to democratic government and cultural renaissance from 1975 to the present. In our few days here, the Chief Penguin and I only scratched the surface of all there is to see and do. But, we stayed in the Old Town, the Gothic Quarter, and walking those narrow streets between ancient walls was an ever present reminder of all that has gone on here.
Note: Photos from JWFarrington (some rights reserved.)
