The architect Gaudi was born in 1852, on June 25. He died in 1926, on June 10. Antonio Gaudi was born in the city of Reus, in a peasant family. This city is located 150 km from Barcelona. The child was baptized in Reus, in St. Peter's Basilica, the very next day. In honor of Antonia, his mother, the future architect Gaudi was named. His works and brief biographical information will be presented in this article.
Antonio is stronger than death
Parents were afraid that the child would not survive. The pregnancy of his mother was difficult, and the birth was difficult. Shortly before the birth of Antonio, his parents had already mourned two babies. For some reason, in this family all the children died very early. The boy overheard once in childhood a conversation with the doctor of his parents. He predicted Antonio imminent death imminent. However, Antonio Gaudi decided to survive. And he succeeded, although all his life he was plagued by illness. He looked 30 years old twice his peers, a decrepit old man - fifty. Antonio knew that he had not just survived.
Childhood Antonio Gaudi
The boy's father and grandfather were blacksmiths. One grandfather of his mother was a cooper, the second a sailor. With this Antonio explained his ability to feel and think in three dimensions. For hours, he could watch as a child how water flows, how clouds float. Antonio was interested in how the leaves form the crown, how the flower is arranged, how the water grinds the stone, why the tree does not fall under the gusts of wind. Then he was attracted to his father’s workshop. In it miracles were performed every day: shiny vessels were obtained from flat copper sheets. From 1863 to 1868, Antonio attended school, which was transformed from a Catholic college. He was not a good student. Geometry is the only thing in which he was noted. Antonio's favorite pastime was drawing. He loved with his friends to explore the dilapidated surrounding monasteries.
Gaudi in his young years
In 1878, Gaudi graduated from the Provincial School of Architecture in Barcelona.
In his youth, Antonio was a dandy and dandy, a lover of silk black top hats and like gloves. He had red hair and blue eyes. Many ladies fell in love with Gaudi, but he was left alone. He courted Pepeta Moreuu, a teacher, for a long time, but she refused to offer her hand and heart because she was already engaged. Then Gaudi met with the American for a short time, but she returned to her homeland, and their paths diverged. Antonio saw in this a sign of fate: he should be alone. This is a sacrifice for a high purpose.
Gaudi's footprints in Reus
It is useless today to look for traces of Gaudi in Reus. You will find only the same type of signs nailed to office buildings, saying that there used to be a house in this place ... Except that the atmosphere of this ancient city deserves attention: magnificent baroque mansions, the gothic Sant Pere with its 40-meter bell tower . The master was able to almost exactly reproduce the spiral staircase of the bell tower in the Cathedral of Sagrada Familia. The photo below shows the house in which the Gaudi family lived in Reus.
Gaudi's creations
The author of eighteen structures is the architect Gaudi. All of them are made in Spain: 14 - in their native Catalonia, 12 of them - in Barcelona. A train of legends and myths stretches for each of these creations. His houses are rebuses. It seems impossible to unravel their hidden meaning.
Many architectural objects of the city of Barcelona were created by Gaudi. There are not many architects in the world who have had such a significant impact on the appearance of a city or created something equally significant for their culture. Gaudi is Spain's most famous architect. His work marked the heyday of Art Nouveau in this country. A characteristic feature of Gaudi's style is that natural, organic forms (animals, rocks, trees, clouds) became sources of architectural fantasies of this author. Antonio did not like geometrically regular and enclosed spaces. He believed that a straight line is a product of man. But the circle is a product of God. Antonio Gaudi declared war on a straight line, forming his own style, which is easily recognized even by people who are far from architecture.
Gaudi and municipal authorities
With a scandal, Antonio's career began. 26-year-old architect Gaudi demanded a fee, which was, according to the authorities of Barcelona, too large. And today, Royal Square is decorated with the winged helmets of Mercury and the monumental lanterns designed by the novice architect. The first municipal order executed by Gaudi was the last. More than once, the Barcelona authorities did not offer any work to this master.
Casa Calvet
Only 20 years later, the architect Gaudi received the only official award in his biography - the city prize for the facade of the mansion, which he performed for the Calvet family, textile magnates. Not without zest, work was done, but Casa Calvet, quite restrained, is the most unassuming project of Antonio Gaudi.
Casa Vicens
The master was trusted by private clients. Gaudi (architect) and his houses have earned the recognition of contemporaries. Don Montaner, the manufacturer, in 1883 ordered him a summer house. Architect Antonio Gaudi, examining for the first time the site of a future construction site, while still a suburb, discovered a huge palm tree surrounded by yellow flowers. He preserved both vegetation and tree. Palm leaves made a lattice pattern, and the flowers are visible on the tiles. They say that, paying for the fantasies of Antonio Gaudi, the customer almost went broke. Today, Casa Vicens is a small palace, as if from an oriental tale. It is closely pressed by neighboring houses. A glance from the nearest street catches only the turret. Dense blinds are omitted, you cannot go inside, because this is a private property.
The extravagant debut made a strong impression on the Barcelonaers. Gaudi, and most importantly, had a patron, whose name was don Eusebio Guell. This man had an impeccable taste. He liked the risky experiments. Guell did not impose his opinion; he signed estimates without looking. Architect Antonio Gaudi gradually became a family architect and friend of Guell.
Guell Palace
Eusebio had long dreamed of a practical, beautiful home. Gaudi masterfully coped with this task. The architect squeezed into a narrow space (only 18 by 22 meters) a beautiful mansion, at the same time resembling a Venetian palazzo and a mosque. Luxurious interiors lurked behind the gray marble facade of this building. They did not spare money for decoration: rosewood, ebony, ivory, tortoise shell. One of the rooms is faced with beech, the other with eucalyptus. Carved ceilings with leaves are made of silver and gold. It was here that Gaudi first turned the roof with ventilation pipes and chimneys into a garden of standing stones.
Park Guell
Gaudi and Guell dreamed of turning Bald Mountain into a garden . They wanted private villas located here to be surrounded by greenery. Around the estates along the perimeter were aqueducts, grottoes, fountains, arbors, paths, alleys. The project has failed commercially. Only 2 plots out of 60 were sold. Wealthy people did not want to live so far from the city limits. Today's Barcelona would certainly approve of the choice of location.
The compressed spring resembles the layout of the park. Steep stairs and winding paths rise serpentine to the top from the foot. Park Guell is now not only a joy for the eyes and soul, but also a pleasure for the lungs: it turned out to be above the level of smog. Clean air and palm groves today are so necessary for urban residents! The pool with a dragon and a snake is a favorite pastime of children. And those who decide to get to the top will receive a magnificent view of the sea and Barcelona as a reward.
A favorite ritual was sitting on a snake bench. According to the contractor, Gaudi ordered the workers to take off all their clothes and sit on a fresh layer of solution as convenient as possible in order to get a perfect seat shape. Only at first the running pattern of multi-colored shiny ceramics seems random. A series of numbers, composite pictures, mysterious drawings, encrypted messages, mysterious signs, magic formulas are scattered along the entire length of the bench. There are many stories about how people sitting on it suddenly began to distinguish between emerging dates, names, words of prayers, inscriptions ...
Further life of Gaudi
An architect, even at the age of 50, does not betray his loneliness, becomes more religious. Antonio moves to Park Guell from the center of Barcelona, away from the bustle of the city. People are afraid and respect the master. He is closed, eccentric, sharp. Nothing remains of the former panache of Gaudi. The main thing is convenience: a shapeless suit, custom-made shoes from the roots of zucchini. Gaudi observes all posts. His food is raw vegetables, nuts, olive oil, bread with honey and spring water.
He said at the height of his career that he would now work only on religious orders. And if a secular project is proposed, first he will ask permission from Madonna from Montserrat for this work.
Casa Batlo
Gaudi in the fall of 1904 undertook to rebuild the mansion of Casanovas, a textile magnate. It was not for nothing that the quarter in which the house was located was nicknamed the "apple of discord." On one spot along the street of Gracia stand, closely pressed, the buildings of the most famous architects of Catalonia - a kind of parade of ambitions and claims. It is best to come here in the morning when the sun's rays fall on the facade and it, covered with "fish scales", shimmers with all kinds of colors. There are no corners, no edges, no straight lines. The walls are curved as if an unknown sea monster is playing under the skin-lining with its muscles. The house of bones was nicknamed the townspeople of Casa Batlo. There is something in it: balconies-skulls and columns-bones are the remains of the victims of a huge dragon. However, they are already avenged - a tower with a cross rises above the roof. This is St. George, who is the patron saint of Catalonia, threw his sword triumphantly. The ridge of the defeated dragon is a serrated curved ridge of the roof.
Casa Mila
Ten minutes walk from this building - and you will get to Casa Mila. Again, Gaudi broke his vow: he began to design a large apartment building with all amenities: garages, hot water. The architect even planned to make a ramp so that tenants would drive directly to the car to the door of the apartment. This harsh community, compared to Casa Batlo, grows right out of the ground, like a mighty old baobab, or a lava flowing out of a volcano, or weathered rocks, or the skeleton of a dead ship ...
And the Barcelonaers awarded this building with many nicknames - “hornet’s nest”, “kennel for snakes”, “earthquake victim”, “railway disaster” and others. “La Pedrera” (translated as a quarry) was assigned to it. On the roof - arches, ladders, descents, climbs. And now you can rent an apartment in La Pedrera. The apartments are cozy and comfortable, but you have to endure the incessant countless flows of tourists.
For half a century of work, 75 orders were completed by the architect Gaudi. Photos of some of his works are presented in this article. As often happens in architecture, some of them did not advance beyond the outline, however, these were the outline of a genius. One of them is the grandiose project of a hotel in New York - a 300-meter "hotel temple", which was completed by the great Gaudi, the architect.
Holy Family Cathedral
Casa Mila is the last big order executed by Gaudi. His only goal since 1910 was the Holy Family Cathedral, otherwise - Sagrada Familia. Antonio was even buried here in a small underground chapel.
Like the whole life that architect Antonio Gaudi lived, the Temple of the Holy Family is full of explicit and hidden signs. 12 towers are dedicated to the apostles. The symbol of the Savior's sacrifice is the central one, with a cross. The interior is a garden: the columns are the trunks of plane trees, the closing crowns of which form a dome. Stars are visible through it at night. The building was designed in such a way that it sounded bells, like a grand organ, and the wind sang, passing through the holes in the towers, like a real choir. There are benches for 30 thousand worshipers.
Work on the creation of the temple began in 1882. First they were led by architects De Villar and Martorell. The architect Gaudi began to design and create the Sagrada Familia in 1891. He retained the plan of his predecessors, but made some changes.
The temple, according to Gaudi, was to become an allegory of the Nativity of Christ, which is represented by three facades. Christmas is dedicated to the eastern, southern - to the Resurrection, western - to the Passion of Christ.
Temple sculpture
The towers and portals of the temple are equipped with an abundant sculpture. All the characters depicted on the facade of Christmas have real prototypes: the worker’s grandson is baby Jesus, the alcoholic watchman is Judas, the fat goat dog is Pontius Pilate, the handsome plasterer is King David. A local junkman lent a donkey. Gaudi attended the anatomical theater, shot plaster casts from stillborn children for the scene of beating babies. Dozens of times raised and lowered each sculpture, each stone, before setting them in their proper place.
All the time, the architect Gaudi, whose biography is briefly described, thought out something painfully, remade, mocked up, painted. Therefore, it is not surprising that the process was so delayed. The master in 1886 declared confidently that he would complete the cathedral in 10 years, but later on he increasingly compared his brainchild with the temples of the Middle Ages that were being built for centuries.
The style of the temple remotely resembles Gothic. However, this is at the same time something completely new. The building is designed for a choir of 1,500 singers, as well as a children's choir (700 people). The temple was to become a center of Catholicism. Pope Leon XIII from the very beginning supported the construction.
The work done by Gaudi
Despite the fact that over the course of 35 years work was underway on the project, Gaudi was able to finish only the Christmas facade and 4 towers above it. The western part of the apse, which makes up most of the building, has not yet been completed. Construction continues today, more than 70 years after the death of Antonio Gaudi. Spiers are gradually being erected (only one was completed during Antonio's lifetime), facades with images of evangelists and apostles, scenes of the Savior's death and ascetic life are formed. It is planned to finish work by about 2030.
The death of Antonio Gaudi
In 1926, on June 7, the architect Antonio Gaudi, whose biography was briefly described, left Sagrada Familia in the evening at 17:30 and went to the evening confession as usual. On this day, the first tram was launched in Barcelona. Gaudi fell under him. The driver of the tram that brought him down later said that he had hit a drunken tramp. Gaudi did not have documents, in his pockets they found a handful of nuts and the Gospel. He died in a homeless shelter after three days and was to be buried with others in a common grave. Only by chance did an elderly woman recognize him. The photo below shows Gaudi’s funeral on June 12th.
Memory
2002 was declared the year of Gaudi. Architect Antonio Gaudi and his creations are of great interest today.
For more than 10 years, the campaign has continued to support the reckoning of this person as a saint. The Pope is expected to sign a beatification document in 2015, which will be the third of four stages of canonization. It is planned that Antonio will become a saint - the patron saint of architects. Undoubtedly, Antonio Gaudi deserved it. Even great architects could take an example from it. Gaudi is a model of spirituality and genius, united in his personality.