The warrior roof
Chimneys like visored knights on rolling hills, the Sagrada on the horizon.
Thomas Ledl — CC BY-SA 4.0 · FrDr — CC BY-SA 4.0 · FrDr — CC BY-SA 4.0 · FrDr — CC BY-SA 4.0
Casa Milà — "La Pedrera", the quarry, as contemporaries mocked it — is Gaudí's last and most mature civic work: a stone façade rolling like a wave-cut cliff, without a straight line or a load-bearing wall, its balcony ironwork like seaweed — a building a century ahead of its time, UNESCO-listed. The star is a roof like no roof: helmeted warriors of twisting chimneys guarding undulating hills, with the Sagrada Família rising between them on the horizon — one of Barcelona's defining views. Beneath it, the brick-arched attic explains Gaudí's natural engineering, and an apartment is furnished to 1910 taste. Evening has its own magic: night tours with a light show on the roof, for those who want the experience transformed.
Chimneys like visored knights on rolling hills, the Sagrada on the horizon.
Stone ribs like a whale's skeleton, explaining Gaudí's natural engineering.
Stone flowing like frozen water — Gaudí's last and ripest civic work.
Passeig de Gràcia 92, 08008 Barcelona
Passeig de GràciaThe main avenue of the Eixample, at once Barcelona's most expensive shopping str4 minutes walk4.8
Museu Egipci de BarcelonaThe Museu Egipci de Barcelona is a private collection before it is a public muse4 minutes walk4.4
Casa de les PunxesA modernista apartment block on the corner of Avinguda Diagonal, on its own tria4 minutes walk4.3
Casa BatllóCasa Batlló is Gaudí's most bewitching house: a façade on Passeig de Gràcia glit6 minutes walk4.8
Casa Lleó i MoreraCasa Lleó i Morera stands at the Plaça Catalunya end of the Passeig de Gràcia bl7 minutes walk4.6Pedrera is calmer, more architecture, less spectacle: its attic explains how Gaudí thought, and its roof outdoes Batlló's. Batlló has more colour and theatrical magic. Architecture lovers are happier here; wonder-seekers there.
A full substitute for those who have done Gaudí's houses by day before, a luxury extra otherwise: the roof light show stands alone, but you miss apartment and attic in daylight. First visit: day; return visit: night.
Seventy-five guided minutes: attic, apartment, roof in ascending order. With Batlló and the walk between, a complete Gaudí half-day on the city's finest street.