Park Güell is in Barcelona, Spain. At first, the plot of land belonged to Count Eusebi Güell, who decided to make an urban park residential area. Güell hired Antoni Gaudí to design the park and the houses were assigned to someone else. Gaudi planned and constructed the park from 1900 until 1914. At first a plan of sixty lots for houses was planned, but Gaudi’s architecture was not appreciated at the time and only two houses were built, one where the Count lived and the other originally a showroom. The showroom was then converted to a house and put on sale, and on the suggestion of Count Güell, Gaudi bought it with his savings and he moved in with his family and father. His house is now a museum on Gaudi’s life. The entrance to the park is free, but the museum demands an entry fee. After the housing estate idea went down the drain, the Barcelona City Council bought the park and converted it to a public park in 1922.

Antoni Gaudi used a technic called trencadis. This is using irregular pieces of broken ceramics, glass, and sometimes bottles, to make a pattern or design. He also used different other unusual techniques using opportunities, such as for the creation of the long serpentine bench on the platform. To make the curves in this bench, Gaudi used the naked posterior of one of his workmen. The workman would sit onto the wet clay, and the curves would be created. In February 2007, a group of adults publicly vandalised the famous ceramic lizard guarding the park entrance. Using a metre long piece of metal, they managed to severely damage the lizard’s head and torso. The group of ‘punks’ were arrested and their intentions have never been known. The lizard was restored back to normal, and a security guard was posted near it to prevent further vandalism.

Unlike most of the pictures available on wikipedia and tourist sites, the park was packed when I visited it. And that was in the middle of February, on a cold cloudy day. Imagine the amount of people in summer on a hot, sunny day. It was hard to get a picture of the world famous lizard. And even the one we managed to get has the elbow of some stranger in it. In certain areas, where there is nothing to see I must add, there was practically no one. In the more famous parts of the park, however, where most of the people went, there were a number of artists playing and performing in hope of a few bucks, some homeless people who settled in the crevices in the walls of the park, and there were also people setting up shop on the floor, selling necklaces and gadgets. But it was still a very interesting and culturally nurturing visit, and it is one of Barcelona’s main tourist attractions, and I couldn’t leave with seeing it.

One thing I enjoyed in the park, were the green parrots hanging around the palm trees. I learned that they are called Monk Parakeets. They are originally from South America, and were probably imported into the park to add to the already overflowing rush of colours. Or they may have escaped from captivity. Since then, they have spread and can be seen everywhere where there is a bunch of palm trees in Barcelona. They have become almost as abundant as pigeons.

Reference: [wiki] [monica's travel blog] [barcelona, spain] [typicallyspanish] Photos all from my voyage, except the vandalised lizard.

Share on Facebook