Showing posts with label Spain. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Spain. Show all posts

Saturday, March 11, 2017

Basílica de Santa Maria del Mar...

Santa Maria del Mar is an imposing church in the Ribera district of Barcelona, Spain, built between 1329 and 1383 at the height of Catalonia's maritime and mercantile preeminence. It is an outstanding example of Catalan Gothic, with a purity and unity of style that is very unusual in large medieval buildings.

The first mention of a church of Santa Maria by the sea dates from 998.It is of the basilica type, with its three aisles forming a single space with no transepts and no architectural boundary between nave and presbytery. The simple ribbed vault is supported on slender octagonal columns, and abundant daylight streams in through the tall clerestorey windows.




Some interesting stained-glass windows have survived from various periods.The spacing of the columns is the widest of any Gothic church in Europe—about forty-three feet apart, center to center.The church has a serious claim to have the slenderest stone built columns in the world.






































Tuesday, February 21, 2017

Gaudí's Casa Milà...

Casa Milà, popularly known as ‘La Pedrera’ (the stone quarry), an ironic allusion to the resemblance of its façade to an open quarry, was constructed between 1906 and 1912 by Antoni Gaudí (1852-1926). For its uniqueness, artistic and heritage value have received major recognition and in 1984 was inscribed on UNESCO World Heritage List, for its exceptional universal value.



The building was commissioned in 1906 by businessman Pere Milà i Camps and his wife Roser Segimon i Artells. At the time, it was controversial because of its undulating stone facade and twisting wrought iron balconies and windows designed by Josep Maria Jujol. Several structural innovations are present, which include a self-supporting stone front and columns and floors free of load-bearing walls as well as the underground garage and sculptural elements on the roof