Gaudí: COLONIA GÜELL CRYPT

Basic information:

Location: Colònia Güell Santa Coloma de Cervelló (Baix Llobregat - Barcelona)

Qualification: xxxxx (5 on 5)

Present condition: The ensemble is suffering a restoration -some discussions are now on it's suitability -. Out of that, the present condition is Good.

How to go to: By train (Ferrocarrils Catalans) from Barcelona (Plaça Espanya) to Colònia Güell.

Visits: From April to October, the opening timing is 10 to 14 h. and 15 to 19 h. Monday to Saturday. Sunday 10 to 15 h.
Messes are held at 9 h. Monday to Saturday and 11 and 13 h. Sundays and holidays.
From November to March, the opening time is 10 to 15 h. Monday to Sunday.
Messes are also held at 9 h. Monday to Saturday and 11 and 13 h. Sundays and holidays.
For people interested in a deepest knowledge of the Colònia Güell and its Crypt it is possible to have a commented (in English, Catalan, Castilian, French or Italian language) visit for groups of 8 people or more.
Visits held Saturday at 10 and 11h., only the crypt, and 12 h, all the Colònia Güell with its Modernist (Catalan Art Nouveau) buildings. At 15 and 16 h., only the crypt and 17 h., all the Colònia Güell.
Sunday at 10 and 11 h., only the crypt and 12 h., all the Colònia Güell.

Fees: Crypt 4 Euros - Crypt Guided Visit 5 Euros - Crypt + Colònia Güell 8 Euros. Pensioners 30% discount.

Handicapped accessibility: The crypt is accessible for wheelchairs.

Information: Interested, call to the phone (34) 93 630 58 07 - Centre d'acollida visitants Colònia Güell - (Colònia Güell Visitors reception).

Projected by Antoni Gaudí i Cornet in 1898, works on crypt started in 1908 and finished in 1914.
The Colonia Güell is a textile estate in the municipality of Santa Coloma de Cervelló near Barcelona.
For that site, Gaudí designed a church who has an irregular oval design inside, although the initial project had been designed as a double unit: a crypt with a porch and another church upwards with an access through a stairway over the mentioned porch (That second church was never made).
The interior of the crypt has five aisles: a central one and two more at each side.
The original Gaudí columns with various forms are present in and outside.
The windows jut out over the walls, and in the upper part of the door a ceramic composition show the four cardinal virtues.
The crypt is build in basaltic stone bricks with mosaics who offer an appearance of "archaic".
This building was for Gaudí a test for the construction of his biggest work (the Sagrada Família), because he had been testing different architectural solutions in it, later applied in that other temple.