The House of Bones

Otherwise known as Casa Batllo, this not so ordinary and not so humble home is located in downtown Barcelona. Remodeled by Antoni Gaudi in 1904 and renovated several times since then, it is nicknamed the "House of Bones" for the balconies that look like skeletons of something organic and once living.  The tour of the Casa gave me claustrophobia (think hundreds of people crammed into narrow stairways and hallways) and the audio tour not only told me how to interpret the Casa's many unusual features but also provided poetry instructing me how to "feel" about Gaudi's art and architecture.

I am not well trained in art history nor the interpretation of modernism, so I often try very hard to believe the "experts" on how to view, understand, and feel about the art I have the privilege of viewing, but in this case, I stopped listening to the audio tour about halfway through.  The poetry instructing me how to feel and what to see, in particular, was annoying.   

For example, I was told that the balconies here were the skulls of long lost turtles. 

And my uneducated, disbelieving response: "Really, where are the rest of these skeletons? Hidden in a basement somewhere, rattling around in the middle of the night, waiting to turn into one of Stephen King's novels?" It, the Sequel -- coming soon to bookstores near you.

I know Gaudi resisted right angles like the plague and was brilliant enough to get away with all kinds of oddball curves, but these windows, although beautiful, look like something designed during a cannabis episode: 

Am I the only one who thinks this cross is a wee bit too bulbous?

...or that the craftsmanship on this staircase is amazing, but who's going to do all the maintenance on it to keep it looking that amazing?:

And what's behind this door? Fodder for the next Harry Potter series?

The audio tour commented on this column as a mere means of structural support.  Hmm... wouldn't the House of Bones would be a House of Crumbles without it?

I envisioned the aliens straining to emerge from this chandelier and taking over Barcelona:

And appreciated the ingenuity in making the windows smaller as they get closer to the skylight to ensure that all rooms had equitable light:

The audio tour also informed me that turtles were going to emerge from these skylights (albeit without heads, because their skulls were already on reserve for the balconies):

And you just have to wonder if this wood stove is a fire hazard, vulnerable to flames, sparks, and ash getting stuck in the elegant curve of the stove pipe/chimney:

And using pure gold to make the walls appear cracked and aged whilst poverty raged and war raged in Spain over the course of the remodel ... is that a politically sensitive design choice?

Finally, many thanks to the sun for enhancing this photo and giving me that warm, fuzzy feeling that I missed out on with the audio tour:

More photos?  Here