Palau Güell

This family mansion was Gaudí’s first major project for Eusebi Güell, and the first modern building to be declared a World Cultural Heritage site by UNESCO. Construction began in 1886, when the young architect was given what amounted to a blank cheque by his affluent patron. It was finished in 1888 as an architectural showpiece to coincide with the Universal Exhibition.

The area was an odd choice for the period. Money and fashion were moving into the Eixample, but Güell had a fondness for the Raval, which had always been his family home, and he wanted to invest in the rundown and insalubrious district. A secret passage was built to connect this house with the older Güell residences on the Ramblas.

For all the effort and expense, the family actually spent little time in this house, preferring their mansion by the Park Güell. During the Civil War, the Palau was taken over for use as a cheka, a Communist Party prison for members of the Trotskyite POUM, which had supported the Anarchists in the battle for Barcelona’s streets in 1937.