Casa Vicens is the first project by the Catalan architect Antoni Gaudí. It stands out as a work that marks the beginning of his exceptionally creative career.
Gaudí designed it between 1878 and 1880, and it was built between 1883 and 1885 in Barcelona as a summer home for Manel Vicens.
Initially, Casa Vicens was a much-discussed modernist building that left a positive impression on the public.
It is located in Gràcia, an area that was still an independent urban center of Barcelona at the time.
This building incorporates Near and Far Eastern and Spanish Islamic art elements, especially from the Mudejar and Nasrid traditions.
The building is colorful! Gaudí decorated it with ceramic tiles, circular flower beds, murals with birds and palm trees, countless floral patterns, and various materials and designs.
One particularly unique feature is a fountain where water first passes through an elliptical iron grid that resembles a spider's web and reflects the sunlight coming from the west into the seven colors of the rainbow.
Casa Vicens was declared a historic artistic monument in 1969, a Cultural Asset of National Interest in 1993, and a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2005.
In 2015, it was purchased by MoraBanc, a bank from the Principality of Andorra, to turn it into a museum open to the public.
The buyer's vision was realized three years later, and since 2017, we have all had the opportunity to visit it.