Barcelona Photoblog

February 22, 2007

Francesc Cambó Monument in Via Layetana, Barcelona

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Today I show you the statue of Francesc Cambó by Victor Ochoa (1997). Cambó was the founder of La Caixa, one of the most powerful banks in Spain. The monument is just in front of the savings bank headquarters in Via Layetana, a 1917 building by Enric Sagnier. I have found this page called Barcelona Virtual with a pano of the little square and some other interesting 3D tours. It is just another sculpture but I liked the way the omnipresent pigeon added proportions to the statue in absence of other references in the image.

February 21, 2007

Modernist Letterbox at Casa de L'Ardiaca, Barri Gotic

Marble Letterbox, Casa de l'Arcadia in Barri Gotic, Barcelona
Letterbox, Casa de L'Arcadia, Barri Gotic, Barcelona

Off we go in an imaginary trip along the streets of Barri Gotic (Gothic Quarter).

You are facing Barcelona Cathedral, climb the stairs and turn right on a narrow street called Santa Llúcia.

Suddenly you are right in front of Casa de l’Ardiaca, the Archdeacon's house. The building where the Municipal History Archives are since 1921, is made of two houses, being the other the Deacon's house or Casa Degá.

The first buildings date back from the XII century and were remodeled into a palace by Lluis Desplà, the Archdeacon, in 1520.

As a curiosity we should say that it was built against the Roman wall which you can see from the ground floor and that the interior patio lodges the famous fountain (used for Eucharist) with the floating egg known as l'Ou com balla in Catalan. On the façade of the Flamboyant Gothic palace we can admire this marble letterbox created by the Modernista architect Lluis Domenech i Montaner commissioned to decorate the building in 1902.

February 20, 2007

Barcelona Cathedral: Stained Glass Window

Barcelona Cathedral: Stained Glass Window
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This is one of the stained glass windows that can be admired inside the Barcelona Cathedral or Cathedral of Santa Eulàlia which I will resume soon with a more representative image and some historical background. In the meantime take a look at this appetizer, a little noisy perhaps, but with some intense colors.

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