The Prettiest Chimneys I’ve Ever Seen at Palau Guell

In the heart of Barcelona, just off  la Rambla, you can find a mansion designed by the Gaudi in the late 1800’s and it is an architectural feat sure not to miss. Palau Guell was one of Antoni Gaudí’s first big public commissions for the industrial tycoon and senator Eusebi Güell as a home from him, his wife, and their ten children.

One morning last month in Barcelona my mom and I took a self guided tour but before I show you the inside I am going to skip to the roof because why save the best for last? As my dad told me this weekend, he usually only gets through four or five pictures before he gets board and the roof of Palau Guell was the best part! Using his “limitless imagination” (so said the audio guide) Gaudi decorated all  15 of the mansions chimneys as well as the covers of smoke stacks from the kitchen with shards of ceramic, glass, brick, sandstone, and marble. The audio guide shared this and more and my mom and I had a great time exploring the, “undulating roof” of Palau Guell.

One of the oddest things to me – these photos were all taken within 15 minutes of each other on the same morning and the sky looks incredibly different in each one – not just like I adjusted the colors and they are different shades of blue  – I am talking from pure blue, not a cloud in the sky, to overcast – how bizarre!

Okay, well now that those pretty pictures are done with, let me take you through a photo tour of the mansion – the first four floors you walk through in order to get to the gorgeous roof.  As I mentioned at the start of this post, Gaudi created this stunning house at the beginning of his career and the audio guide did a great job telling the story of every room and providing great quips about how the family lived in this spectacular house.

It was built in a very vertical fashion as the total plot size is only 500 square meters and not only did Gaudi design the building but he also directed the interior decor which they recreated for the tour.  Just like my mom likes movies based on true stories there was an exhibit in the attic that gave a great perspective to the hour and a half worth of architecture we as they had a four room display of all of the work done in the seven years Palau Gu?ell was closed for restoration – it only reopened in 2011!  I loved all of the touches of wood, wrought iron, and marble from all over the world throughout the house – it was clear no expense was spared. And did I lay down on the floor to get the shot of the gold ceiling? You better believe it.

Isn’t it such a pretty place?