The Guell Palace is the work that marked the beginning of the ascent of Gaudi as architect. Encaragada by textile industrialist Eusebi Guell, was begun in 1886 and was completed in 1888. The design of the facade continues the same style of the creations of Gaudi of that era, characterized by Orientalism: in this Palace culminates a stage of predominance of the forms of Arabic, mudejar, or Byzantine inspiration with other buildings such as the Casa Vicens, El Capricho de Comillas and the Guell pavilions. As the street on which the Palace so close, it is difficult to observe the facade in its entirety. But Gaudi was in everything and designed a monumental entrance with majestic gates of parabolic arches and openwork forged iron balusters, ornamented with the coat of arms of Catalonia and a helmet with a winged dragon, the work of Joan Onos. The entrance of the Palace is immense, since it was designed so that visitors could access it mounted on their horses or in their carriages. In the basement there was a stables which could You dejares horses, something completely innovative for that time. The stables could access through an ingenious ramp shaped propeller designed by Gaudi.
A little history the area in which it is located, in its time, was the Centre of Barcelona, where the wealthiest families were. It’s a House between adjacent walls to another House which was also owned by the Guell family. This family lived in the Palace since 1888, and in their classrooms some of the most relevant events of the Universal exhibition of 1888 were carried out. The strangest thing is that today it remains the residence of the Guell, although considered the city centre is currently in the Paseo de Gracia Street and its surroundings. However, in 1910 the Earl left the building to go to live in a House that had acquired within the enclosure of the Park Guell, in the high part of Barcelona, Gaudi also made for him back then. From that moment, the Palace was inhabited by the daughter of the Earl, Merce Guell, until 1945, in which the Palace was sold to the Diputacio de Barcelona, which installed in the Museum of performing arts. Between 1974 and 1976, this institution made some changes to the building; He restored the first floor, to allow its opening to the public.
The latest overall restoration of the building, directed by Antoni Gonzalez Moreno, was carried out in 1983 and ended in 1997. This restoration included a reinterpretation by various artists of the chimneys and vents of roof, in which only retains a fireplace with the original trencadis in Gaudi. The Palau Guell was declared World Heritage site by UNESCO in 1986. Original author and source of the article.
