Handpicked experience · Barcelona
Barcelona, Spain
A house Gaudí rescued from demolition and rebuilt as a dragon, with a light well tiled paler as it descends so every flat gets the same light.
Enjoy the new Casa Batlló 10D Experience, the most spectacular experience in the world of culture.
See the exterior and interior of this piece of Spanish architectural history.
Learn about the architect's methods and vision that compelled Gaudi to design this home.
Marvel at the unique features as designed by the famous artisan, Antoni Gaudi.
Marvel at the architecture of the buildings that resemble many works of art.
Official entry to Casa Batlló on Passeig de Gràcia
A self-paced route through Gaudí's interiors and out onto the roof
An indoor Gaudí building that stays open through the year
Timed entry to Casa Batlló on Passeig de Gràcia, the house Gaudí turned inside out for a textile manufacturer between 1904 and 1906. You go round at your own speed, ending on the roof. Ninety minutes covers it comfortably.
You arrive for the slot printed on your booking and go in. The route climbs from the noble floor through the light well and the loft to the roof terrace, and you set the pace throughout. There is no guide with you unless one was booked separately.
The building was an ordinary apartment block from 1877, and its new owner intended to knock it down. Gaudí talked him out of it and remodelled instead: he pushed out the facade, replaced the front wall, opened up the central shaft, added two floors and reshaped the roof. What looks like a single invention is a Victorian block with an extraordinary argument wrapped around it.
Look at the lower facade before you go in. The columns swell and taper like femurs, the first-floor balcony openings read as ribs and jaws, and the small iron balconies above are shaped unmistakably like masks. The surface is covered in broken ceramic and glass laid as mosaic, including discs of coloured glass set flat, which is why the front changes colour completely between morning and late afternoon.
The central light well is the cleverest thing in the building. Its tiles are graded from deep cobalt at the top to almost white at the bottom, and the windows do the reverse — small at the top, large at the bottom. Both tricks fight the same problem: without them the upper flats would be flooded with light and the lower ones would sit in permanent gloom. Stand at the base and look up, and the shaft appears evenly lit from top to bottom, which is an illusion built out of ceramics.
The tiled ridge running along the top is scaled like a back, the chimneys are twisted and capped, and the turret carries a four-armed cross. The usual reading is Saint George, patron of Catalonia, with the cross as his lance and the ridge as the dragon beneath it. Whether or not Gaudí said so, the building is shaped to be read that way from the street.
Before the roof you pass through a white loft of some sixty catenary arches, one after another, narrowing as they go. This was the working part of the house: laundry and storage for the tenants, built with the same arch Gaudí used to calculate his structures with hanging chains and weights.
Entry is by timed slot and the house is at its busiest late morning. The route involves stairs, and the roof is open to the weather. Cancellation is not free on this booking.
Open it to pick a date and work out the price.
What the fare covers, and what to budget for separately.
The practical detail, and the answers people actually ask for.
No. This is a timed entry ticket and the visit is self-paced, unless a guide or audio guide was booked separately.
Ninety minutes is comfortable for the whole route, from the noble floor up through the loft to the roof terrace.
No. It was an ordinary apartment block from 1877 whose new owner planned to demolish it. Gaudí persuaded him to remodel instead, pushing out the facade, opening the central shaft, adding two floors and reshaping the roof.
Because of the lower facade: columns that swell and taper like femurs, balcony openings that read as ribs and jaws, and iron balconies shaped like masks.
Its tiles are graded from deep cobalt at the top to nearly white at the bottom, while the windows run small at the top and large at the bottom. Together they make the shaft look evenly lit and give the lower flats usable daylight.
A dragon, read together with the four-armed cross on the turret as Saint George's lance. The tiled ridge is scaled like a back and the chimneys are twisted and capped.
A loft of some sixty catenary arches that served as laundry and storage for the tenants, built with the same arch form Gaudí worked out using hanging chains and weights.