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Barcelona marks 150 years of Gaudi
BARCELONA, Spain (CNN) -- Barcelona and Antoni Gaudi -- two names that are intimately linked, because Gaudi's unusual buildings are the very soul of the city. This year, on the 150th anniversary of Gaudi's birth, Barcelona is taking a fresh look at its best-known architect -- and finding that his work is still setting the tone for the city's future. Consider a set of chimneys, designed to represent knights, that stand guard over the inhabitants of Casa Mila, a landmark downtown building. Casa Mila was built between 1906 and 1912 for a wealthy family. On crystal clear days, their servants hung the laundry out to dry on the rooftop.
Now a local bank's cultural center is the main occupant of the fairytale structure, which almost seems allergic to straight lines. It was listed as a Unesco World Heritage site in 1984. The curious come from far and wide to get a closer look, especially in this anniversary year of Gaudi's birth. International architects, including American Frank Gehry, who designed Bilbao's Guggenheim Museum, and Brit Norman Foster, will gather on Wednesday to kick off celebrations. Across town, a group of first-year architectural students are learning the basics -- including the man who changed the way generations have thought about architecture. "I like how Gaudi mixes art, sculpture and architecture, and different forms, and even blends in some religion," says architecture student Carlos Bitrian. "He's kind of mystical." La Sagrada Familia, or Church of the Holy Family, is where that mysticism is most publicly expressed. It's a work in progress that 120 years of toil has not yet brought to fruition -- an exuberant banquet of towering spires and Gaudi's trademark parabolic archways. "Gaudi is the result of these two forces, the earth and the heaven. The natural and the spiritual forces," says Gaudi Year director Daniel Giralt-Miracle. "And this conflict, the two energies, is the result of Gaudi. Gaudi is human but is so spiritual. But Gaudi's church is not yet serving its intended purpose as a house of prayer, 76 years after Gaudi died after being hit by a tram. Only a small part of it was finished in his lifetime. Many of the 18 steeples Gaudi envisioned have not yet been built. Much of the church is still exposed to the heavens. And no one is betting on the date of completion -- not even the current chief architect, whose father knew Gaudi himself. "In the time of Gaudi it was the same, the people like to know when it will be finished. And Gaudi's answer was, 'My client is not present.' I say the same," says architect Jordi Bonet. Some 100 people work on the church site, but the commotion does not scare away visitors. The Church of the Holy Family is the most popular tourist attraction in Barcelona, with 1.5 million visitors every year, because they just can't see anything like it anywhere else. And there are still lots of other Gaudi surprises in Barcelona, such as Casa Batllo, originally the residence of a wealthy industrialist in 1875. Gaudi, who was born in 1852, did not build the home, he just remodeled it between 1904 and 1906. This year, in honor of the 150th anniversary of Gaudi's birth, the public will be allowed inside for the first time. It's just another appetizing location on the Gaudi menu -- mammoth pieces of creativity, and daily reminders of how the once strange now seems reassuring. Stretching the boundaries of imagination, Gaudi's visions are an invitation for Barcelona to remember the past -- and dream of a limitless future. |
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