Barcelona Photoblog

May 15, 2007

Mosaic Wall Signs at Park Guell. Why Park?

Parc Guell: Serpentine Bench

Although on looking at the thumbnail (some of you come through the City Daily Photo Blog portal or directly searching for Barcelona pictures in Google images) you might think these are a couple of hand wrist Swatch watches nothing could be further from the truth. These are the two mosaics found on the wall at the entrance of Park Guell, which were made following the trencadis technique used by Antoni Gaudi. For English speakers the name is completely normal but it is odd for us that it reads Park and not parc (Cat.) or parque (Sp.). Why "Park"? Basically because the place was initially conceived to be a sort of city on the lap of the mountain based upon the Garden City model by British inventor, Ebenezer Howard, who impressed by a futuristic novel published in 1888 and some other preceding works created his own Utopian plan about a garden city, a new home for an idyllic society that would make a better world. Remember that Gaudi and his art patron Eusebi Güell i Bacigalupi were very influenced by the modern ideas of those times, coming from Europe and the United States, and besides, they were very religious men. About the image, I should say they were taken on a dull weather day and are not especially my favorite, in fact, I think the idea of mixing both words in one is not new but they surely have helped me make my point about the origin of the name.

May 14, 2007

Old Trades: The Basket Weaver

Medieval basket weaver


The new week is here so we must all get back to work as we have been doing for centuries. Work wouldn't be the way we know it now, if it weren't for those medieval craftsmen who developed their skill at so many different trades in the Middle Ages. Man was no longer a serf bowing before the landowner but a laborer, a freeman and in doing so he developed his intellect, his culture and came out of the darkness. Here is this basket weaver at the Medieval Fair in Súria near Barcelona. I have dealt with this famous market in previous posts. Feel free to explore them using Blogger labels right below.

May 13, 2007

Yellow and Red Flowers for Mothers Day 2007

Yellow and Red Flowers for Mothers Day 2007
*© This Picture is Free

Although here in Barcelona Mothers Day was celebrated last Sunday, I would like to wish all mothers in the world a very beautiful anniversary to enjoy in the company of her beloved sons and daughters. To them I send them these impressive flowers, you may use them as wallpapers, print them, sell them, this particular picture I give everyone for free. Happy Mothers Day 2007!

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