Project Description

PARC GÜELL




Description

Essentials about Parc Güell in brief

Parc Güell is one of the tourist highlights of Barcelona and certainly one of the most extraordinary architectural sites in Europe. Created between 1900 and 1914 by the Catalan star architect Antoni Gaudí, the approximately 17-hectare complex has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1984, along with other works by Gaudí. Due to its uniqueness, Parc Güell is one of Barcelona’s tourist magnets and suffers from heavy overcrowding by tourists from all over the world most days of the year. The central part of the park can therefore only be visited with an entrance ticket.

The history of Parc Güell

The park was commissioned by the Catalan industrialist Eusebi Güell, Gaudí’s patron. He was very impressed by the English gardens and wanted to have one in Barcelona. In his plans, Gaudí turned one garden into an entire garden city with over 60 villas and its own marketplace. To finance this, the villas were to be sold in advance. However, the project failed; only two plots were sold, so that the park could not be completed due to lack of funds. In the end, only three houses were built: The Güell family home (now a school), Gaudí’s home (now the Gaudí House Museum), and the home of an architect friend (it is still inhabited today).

The Parc Güell complex

General information

Gaudí paid attention not only to environmentally friendly but also to cost-effective construction when laying out the park. He avoided large-scale earthmoving and adapted his plans to the hilly terrain using retaining walls and terraces. The entire Parc Güell complex blends very naturally and harmoniously into the surrounding terrain thanks to its organic forms. The master builder found the materials he needed on the site itself. For the many mosaics, he used waste from the nearby ceramic factories. However, the construction method itself was very expensive, as everything had to be made by hand.

The gatehouses, the flight of stairs and the hall

The entrance to the park is formed by two gatehouses with distinctive “sugar cast” roofs. Adjacent to them, a large flight of steps, where visitors to the park are greeted by an elaborate lizard made of ceramic shards, leads to an unusual hall. Consisting of 86 columns, it was originally intended as a marketplace for the planned garden city. The hall, a forest of Roman-inspired columns, supports the park’s focal point, known as the Terrace Square.

The terrace square

The 3,000 square meter square has the shape of an oval. Its perimeter is undulating, 110 meters long and also serves as a seating area. This is covered with the smallest ceramic and crystal stones. It is the work of Josep Maria Jujol, who has applied here the techniques of trencadís (meaning “break”), a mosaic work. The decoration is a collage with abstract motifs, but also with figurative elements such as signs of the zodiac, stars, flowers, fish and crabs.

According to the original design, the square was supposed to represent a Greek theater, which would have been suitable for community gatherings and cultural as well as religious festivals. The outer part is covered with gargoyles, through which rainwater can drain. Today the terrace square is a popular meeting place for visitors, musicians and painters. Cultural events are also held here regularly. In addition, from here you can enjoy a beautiful view over the sea of houses of Barcelona.

The gardens

Since 2013, the central part of Parc Güell (access and terrace square) can be entered by tourists only with an entrance ticket. Due to the large number of visitors, the number of visitors is limited to 400 at a time (pre-booking via the official website is possible). Those who also want to visit the green area of Parc Güell should bring a little time. Due to the park’s natural adaptation to the landscape, with no major grading, the green space is a maze of paths, arcades, walls and bridges.




Website

Phone

+34 934 091 831

Opening hours

Opening hours Nov. – Mar.:

Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday Sunday
8:30 am – 6:15 pm 8:30 am – 6:15 pm 8:30 am – 6:15 pm 8:30 am – 6:15 pm 8:30 am – 6:15 pm 8:30 am – 6:15 pm 8:30 am – 6:15 pm

Opening hours Apr. and Sep. – Oct.:

Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday Sunday
8 am – 8:30 pm 8 am – 8:30 pm 8 am – 8:30 pm 8 am – 8:30 pm 8 am – 8:30 pm 8 am – 8:30 pm 8 am – 8:30 pm

Opening hours May – Aug.:

Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday Sunday
8 am – 9:30 pm 8 am – 9:30 pm 8 am – 9:30 pm 8 am – 9:30 pm 8 am – 9:30 pm 8 am – 9:30 pm 8 am – 9:30 pm

Admission fees

Adults: €8.50

Concessions: €6.00

Children (Ages 7 – 12): €6.00

Small children (Ages 6 and under): free

The prices are valid for the purchase of tickets on site. Online tickets are cheaper.

For further information on possible discounts, see the website.

Address

Getting there

By public transport:

Metro line 3: Stop Lesseps or Vallcarca

Bus lines 24 and 92: Stop Parc Güell

Bus line 116: Stop Olot – Marianao

By car:

Around the Parc Güell there are only limited parking possibilities.

Flüge nach Barcelona suchen

Photos: Angela Llop, Parc Güell (Barcelona) – 58, CC BY-SA 2.0 / Jean-Christophe BENOIST, Barcelone – Parc Güell – Entrée, CC BY 3.0 / Isiwal/Wikimedia Commons/CC-BY-SA-3.0-at, Barcelona Parc Güell Drache, CC BY-SA 3.0
Texts: Individual pieces of content and information from Wikipedia DE and Wikipedia EN under the Creative-Commons-Lizenz Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported
English version: Machine translation by DeepL