The Block of Discord

One of Barcelona’s biggest tourist attractions is that it is home to hundreds of examples of Modernista architecture. One of the premier and most famous gatherings of modernist architecture in the city is The Block of Discord, Illa de la Discòrdia. The Block of Discord is the name given to the buildings located between numbers 35 and 43 on Passeig de Gràcia that were designed by Barcelona’s three most prominent Modernista architects; Lluís Domènech i Montaner, designer of Casa Lleó-Morera, Antoni Gaudí, designer of Casa Batlló, and Josep Puig i Cadafalch, designer of Casa Amatller. However, these three are not the only modernista architects with a modernista building located on The Block of Discord. The fourth and designer of Casa Mulleras, situated between the other three buildings at 37 Passeig de Gràcia, is Enric Sagnier i Villavecchia. While Sagnier’s contribution is also interesting and worth looking at, the main attraction on the Block of Discord is Gaudi’s Casa Batlló. Built in the  20^th century, Casa Batlló looks like something out of a dream, rather than a building in a busy metropolitan city. The smooth and wavy façade on the first floors seem like water and the scally roof line seems as though it is the tail of a dragon. Walking through the inside gives the feeling of being in the children’s tale book Alice in Wonderland, with the arched hallways. The use of mosaic created from broken tiles, Trencadís, along the roof line and on the chimney’s is a direct link between Casa Batlló and many other of Gaudi’s works. But seeing Gaudi’s strange and beautiful style throughout a home was much more of a shock then his work in Park Guell, which seemed to blend into nature with a much smoother transition. Walking through Casa Batlló is almost an other worldly experience