To fully experience the Palau de Música, you should really take a tour by day for the resplendent skylight and a concert by night for the glorious acoustics
Built at the open of the 20th century, the Palau de Música Catalana remains Barcelona’s most spectacular concert hall. It was commissioned by the Orfeó Català, a nationalistic choral society. As bizarre as that sounds, they were a leading force in the cultural movement known as the Renaixença — the Catalan Rebirth.
Designed in the Catalan Modernista style by the architect Lluís Domènech i Montanaer, it was extensively restored in the eighties and has since been declared a World Heritage Site. It’s an old hand, but far from retired — more than half a million people a year still attend performances there.
Modernista, Fashionista
The building exemplifies many of the traits of Catalan modernism: curves and dynamic shapes triumph over straight lines and static forms, and it’s all capped by a riot of florid ornament. The extravagant façade is a marriage of Spanish and Arabic architecture, with a mixture of exposed red brick and iron, mosaics, stained glass and glazed tiles. And although nationalistic, it was not beyond the Orfeó Català to acknowledge some of the greats: busts of Bach, Beethoven and Wagner gaze over the building’s entrance.
High Noon
The concert hall is the type that renders architects and designers giddy and speechless. It is the only auditorium in Europe that during the day is illuminated entirely by natural light. Over the stage there is an enormous stained glass skylight, with an orange centre burning out into an azure periphery, like the sun in a midday sky.
Orders from Above
Elsewhere the decoration runs a strong choral theme, as you would expect. Depictions of great musical works, such as Wagner’s Die Walküre and Beethoven’s Ode to Joy, are coupled with references to classical mythology, including the 18 young women known as the muses and Pegasus, who was ridden by the muses whenever their father Zeus called for them at his side on Mount Olympus.
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