After Casa Batlló and lunch, we headed to Casa Milà, also known as La Pedrera at No 92 Passeig de Gràcia. Casa Milà was designed by Antoni Gaudi and built between 1905–1910. It is an apartment building, but has been given the nickname of "La Pedrera", which is Catalan for "The Quarry", as the locals thought the outside of the apartments in their grey/brown color looked half built.
It was a great place to visit as our final Gaudi tourist visit. On the top floor is an exhibition of Gaudi's architecture, and was a great summary of all of the work we had seen in the previous days.
There were lots of models of Gaudi's buildings, and some great examples of how he came up with the shapes of his buildings. One way was to hang chains or string with weights from the ceiling.
Then he looked at the chains or string from a mirror sitting below the chains to give a reverse reflection and used these as the basis of his buildings.
This way of working enabled Gaudi to work with materials that were thinner that used previously in arches.
We had roof access, and it was great to see different sculptures and the water towers on top of the building.
There was a sea breeze and it was really pleasant to sit on the stairs, lean against the cool mosaic tiles of the water towers and just enjoy the view.
One of the apartments has been refurbished to look as it would have in the early 1910's.
complete with a sewing room!!!!
The inner courtyards provided lots of interesting corners as well.
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