Coordinates: 41°23′43″N 2°09′42″E / 41.39528°N 2.16167°E
Casa Milà, better known as La Pedrera (Catalan for 'The Quarry'), is a building designed by the Catalan architect Antoni Gaudí and built during the years 1906–1910, being considered officially completed in 1912. It is located at 92, Passeig de Gràcia (passeig is Catalan for promenade) in the Eixample district of Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain.
It was built for the married couple, Rosario Segimon and Pere Milà. Rosario Segimon was the wealthy widow of José Guardiola, an Indiano, a term applied locally to the Catalans returning from the American colonies with tremendous wealth. Her second husband, Pere Milà, was a developer who was criticized for his flamboyant lifestyle and ridiculed by the contemporary residents of Barcelona, when they joked about his love of money and opulence, wondering if he was not rather more interested in "the widow’s guardiola" (piggy bank), than in "Guardiola’s widow".[1]
The design by Gaudi was not followed in some aspects. The local government objected to some aspects of the project, fined the owners for many infractions of building codes, ordered the demolition of aspects exceeding the height standard for the city, and refused to approve the installation of a huge sculpture atop the building—described as "the Virgin"—but said by Gijs van Hensbergen in his biography of Gaudi, to represent the primeval earth goddess, Gaia. [2]
Casa Milà was in poor condition in the early 1980s. It had been painted a dreary brown and many of its interior color schemes had been abandoned or allowed to deteriorate, but it has been restored and many of the original colors revived.
The building is part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site "Works of Antoni Gaudí". The building is now owned by Caixa Catalunya.
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Architecture
Casa Milà was a predecessor of some buildings with a similar biomorphic appearance:
- the 1921 Einstein Tower in Potsdam, designed by Erich Mendelsohn
- Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York, designed by Frank Lloyd Wright
- Chapelle Notre Dame du Haut, Ronchamp, France, designed by Le Corbusier
- the Hundertwasserhaus and other works by Austrian architect Friedensreich Hundertwasser
- Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles, by Frank Gehry
Free exhibitions often are held on the first floor, which also provides some opportunity to see the interior design. There is a charge for entrance to the apartment on the second floor and the roof. The other floors (3-5) are not open to visitors.
Casa Milà in the media and literature
- A scene in Professione: reporter, a film directed by Michelangelo Antonioni, was filmed on the roof of the building.
- Mentioned in the book by Eoin Colfer: Artemis Fowl and the Lost Colony
- Mentioned in the book by Trudi Alexy 'The Mezuzah in the Madonna's Foot'
- Several scenes in the movie, Gaudi Afternoon, were filmed at Casa Milà.
Gallery
 Casa Milà Rooftop in Spring |
 Casa Milà Central Atrium |
.JPG) Detail of an a original balcony |
See also
References
- ^ rutadelmodernisme.com
- ^ Gaudi: A Biography; Gijs van Hensbergen; Harper Collins; page 214-216
- Rainer Zervst. Gaudi, 1852-1926, Antoni Gaudi i Cornet - A Life Devoted to Architecture. Cologne: Benedikt Taschen Verlag GmbH & Co. KG., 1988. p176.
External links
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Casa Milà |
- Virtual tour to la Pedrera de Gaudí (casa Milà)
- Immersive photographies of Casa Milà
- link pictures
- La Casa Milà, furniture and decorative arts
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