Names like Gaudí and Montaner are synonymous with Barcelona’s iconic modernista architecture, and there’s even more to discover.
The Palau de la Música Catalana is a spectacular modernista concert hall designed by Lluís Domènech i Montaner. It’s well worth taking a guided tour. Better still, do that and also attend a performance: There’s plenty going on throughout the year, and if the show’s a bit dull there’s always the magnificent stained glass skylight and other architectural details to wonder at.
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The private house of a wealthy industrialist, Palau Güell represents an early Gaudí commission. A fascinating insight into the lives of the one-percenters of the time – more than any other of the Gaudí attractions in Barcelona, at Palau Güell you can almost imagine how its occupants lived. It is less crowded than the other Gaudí buildings on the tourist trail too.
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The Mies van der Rohe pavilion was designed in 1929 as the German pavilion for the International Exposition, and is an icon of modernist architecture. To top it all off van der Rohe also designed the iconic Barcelona chair to showcase here.
The €5 entry price is a bit steep however: the pavilion is much smaller than today’s standard wedding-cake brick veneer McMansion. While the modernity, the sight lines, and materials are impressive, unless you’re an architecture tragic, it’s probably not a destination in and of itself; visit in conjunction with the MNAC or the Caixa Forum across the road.
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