THE CRYPT OF THE GÜELL COLONY

Antoni Gaudí designed an incredible church for the Güell Colony, the project of this church can be considered part of the creation process of the Sagrada Familia. The first funicular model was created for the development of this temple for the worker's settlement.
The church is unfinished, they began the building in 1899. In 1915 Mr. Güell's textil company began to lose money and the construction was abandoned when the crypt was completed.

General view of the church, the construction was stopped before finish the main floor

 

Window with  "trencadís", Gaudí's usual mosaic decoration

Stained glass windows, Gaudí was inspired by the bottom side of a pine cone

Please notice that the window is open at the bottom, creating a beautiful colorful cross in the middle

Column and roof of the church

Inside of the Crypt

THE GÜELL COLONY

La Colònia Güell is a textil industrial colony founded in 1890 by Eusebi Güell and developped by Antoni Gaudí and other modernist architects. 

During the Industrial Revolution there were a lot of industrial colonies all over Catalonia, the social conflicts in Barcelona, the control of the industrial owner over the workers and the production process were important reasons for the success of this way of industrialization.

Mr. Güell was a very educated and progressive person, he traveled all over the world, and he lived some years in England, he was in contact with the English industrial colonies. He relocated his textil factory from Barcelona center to Santa Coloma de Cervelló, by the suburs. He wanted to give the best conditions to his workers and  they get all the needs covered into the colony. The Güell Colony was quite privileged if we compare it with other industrial colonies around Catalonia.

 General view of the factory from the Crypt, the church of the colony

The teacher house, it is conected to the boy's school by a catenary arch

Terraced houses for the workers

 The theater and the "Ateneu" leisure areas for the workers by the Joan Güell Square

House of the administrator, he was the link between the neigbours and the insdustrial owner

Doctor's house, next to the administrator's house

PESSEBRES A LA PLAÇA SANT JAUME

Durant el mes de Desembre (tots els dies d'11 a 20 h) podem gaudir de l'exposició Àngels, Pastors i Reis a la planta baixa de l'Ajuntament de Barcelona. A continuació fotos de les peces que més m'han agradat, totes són del Domènec Talarn i Ribot, i representen l'eclosió de l'orientalisme historiscita del segle XIX, molt en línea amb el pintor Fortuny.

 Angels adorant al nen Jesus

 Rei Mag a sobre del camell

 Pastors, pastoretes i musics

L'adoració dels Reis

En acabar la visita d'aquesta exposició us recomano que us apropeu al pessebre romànic al centre de la Plaça Sant Jaume, es una interpretació molt original inspirada per les pintures romàniques que tenim al MNAC i que formen part del inaginari colectiu català.

Pessebre romànic

FÁBRICAS EN BARCELONA

En Barcelona tenemos un patrimonio muy importante en cuanto a turismo industrial, nuestra ciudad fue la capital de la revolución industrial en Cataluña, muchos de los vestigios de ese pasado se han camuflado en equipamientos para los vecinos, monumentos o edificaciones con diferentes usos, resulta interesante y divertido recorrer nuestras calles en busca de las fábricas, ver los nuevos usos e investigar su pasado. Algunos ejemplos:

 Plaza de las 3 Chimeneas, actualmente plaza pública en el barrio del Poble Sec, las tres chimeneas formaban parte de la fábrica de electricidad de la Canadenca

La Hispano Olivetti actualmente Centro comercial las Glorias

Chimenea de Ca l'Arañó antigua industria téxtil, actualmente en el Campus Audiovisual Universdad Pompeu Fabra y Mediapro, en pleno 22@