COLÒNIA GÜELL
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A real working-class town outside Barcelona with a crypt classified as a Unesco World Heritage Site.
The construction of the Colònia Güell was initiated in 1890 by Eusebi Güell, a rich Catalan industrialist and famous patron of Gaudí. He wanted to create a real workers' city outside Barcelona to set up his textile factory there while moving away from the social conflicts of the time. The project claimed to integrate many services to improve the quality of life of workers, including housing, shops, a theatre, a school and a church. He called on the greatest modernist architects of the time to work on the project, in particular Antoni Gaudí, to whom he entrusted the construction of the church. Due to lack of funding, only the crypt was completed. Gaudí incorporated many innovative techniques into his construction, which he later reused in the Sagrada Familia, including the catenary arch and the hyperbolic paraboloid in the vaults. The crypt is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The rest of the site can be visited by strolling through the modernist buildings designed by Francesc Berenguer and Joan Rubió: the brick houses of Ca l'Ordal (1894) and Ca l'Espinal (1900), the Sant Lluís cultural centre (1915-1917), as well as a beautiful mansion (1916) flanked by a ceramic pinnacle. The former cooperative (1900) houses a permanent exhibition dedicated to the history of the industrial colonies, and in particular the history of the Güell colony and its inhabitants. Also note the inverted model designed by Gaudí to visualize the structure of the crypt in three dimensions.
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Members' reviews on COLÒNIA GÜELL
Malheureusement le petit guide donné n'est pas terrible, il propose un itinéraire mais il ne mène pas à tous les points d'observation.
Parfois, il manque des panneaux sur les points d'observation donc on tourne un peu en rond...
La crypte quant à elle est grandiose. Il ne faut vraiment pas la louper.
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