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Address: Provença, 261 - 265 08008 Barcelona
Phone: 902 400 973
Opening hours:
Monday to Sunday, from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. (Last tour at 7.30 p.m.).
Closed: 25th and 26th December, 1st and 6th January and from 7th January to 15 January (included).
Transportation:
Metro: lines 3 and 5 (Diagonal) FGC (Provença) RENFE (Pg. de Gràcia)
Bus: lines 7,16,17, 22, 24 and 28. Tourist Bus and Tomb Bus
Tickets
Normal ticket: 7 €.
Discount ticket (students, senior citizens and unemployed) 3.50 €.
Guided tours for the general public:
From 1 October to 30 June:
4 p.m. English and Spanish.
6 p.m. Catalan.
From 1 July to 30 September:
4 p.m. English.
6 p.m. Catalan and Spanish.
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La Pedrera (which means "the quarry") is the popular name for the apartment building that Gaudí built between 1906 and 1910 for Pere Milà. It's located on the corner of Passeig de Gràcia and Carrer de Provença. In fact, there are two houses, and two central patios. The floor plan of the apartments is absolutely free, so that all rooms are different, and straight lines are almost absent, a plan that completely broke away from the type of houses in the Eixample district of Barcelona.
Unlike most of Gaudi's work, the stone façade is virtually free of decoration, except for the wrought iron-work on the doors and window bars and railings. Instead of decoration details, the aesthetic effect is achieved through the constant undulation of the surface, reminding a rock formation eroded by the sea. Gaudi envisioned the facade as a petrified wave: the hardness and solidity of the materials contrast with the sensation of movement in these waves of stone. The sinuous roll of the balconies and the tidal markings on the plaster ceilings indicate Gaudi's inspiration in the ocean.
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Spiral columns and chimney tops on the roof
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A large statue of the Mother of God, designed by the sculptor Carles Mani, had to crown the building, but was left off because the events of the Tragic Week (a massive strike whose repression caused many victims) discouraged the owner from including religious symbols on the front of the house. It was declared a national monument in 1969.
La Pedrera was the last work of Gaudi in civil architecture, and one of his most ambitious creations, innovative in its functional, constructive, and ornamental aspects. One of the interior patios is circular, and the other of elliptical shape. The building's structure is supported on columns of stone and brick, and incorporates a steel web without load-bearing walls. This was what gave Gaudí a total freedom for the distribution of each floor plan, dominated by broken undulating planes.
The roof is formed of lofts over the frame of a series of parabolic arches of different heights. The terrace is dominated by are four spirals columns crowned by four crosses and covered with broken pieces of ceramic. The chimneys recall knights wearing visors.
La Pedrera currently belongs to the Caixa de Catalunya, a bank that has restored it as the headquarters of its cultural foundation. The building hosts a variety of exhibitions, and is open to tourists.
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