La Pedrera- Living in a stone sculpture

La Pedrera was the last great civil work with Gaudí performed before dedicating all his time to the construction of the Sagrada Família. It is an apartment block where none of the walls in the construction are straight and at the time it caused much criticism and ridiculed of the majority average society of Barcelona. One of the biggest attractions is an unusual array of Chimneys in the roof of the house that locals used to refer as the dancing evil witches

Mr. Pere Milà, who married a rich widow, Mrs. Roser Segimon, wanted to live in a spectacular house in the most cosmopolitan avenue of the Barcelona of the time; the passeig de Gràcia.

Gaudí was the chosen architect, mainly because he had just built the neighbouring Batlló House, considered then the very latest example of the local architecture. Mr. Milà, however, wanted his house to be bigger; monumental. Thus, the architect built two blocks of flats with independent accesses but unified by the same façade, made of stone and with undulating patterns, with large windows allowing good interior lighting.

An amazing structure in the basement which served as a garage, an open plan distribution of the flats which were to be used as dwellings and an outstanding attic supporting the roof are the most significant elements. The outside has a fantastic rough stone effect over a wave-like facade. There is an interior courtyard which you can go into and on up into the roof, where there is a mini-museum of the construction of the building. Up on the roof itself there are some fantastic chimney pots

The Casa Mila is a building famous for not having a straight edge, but it's far from just being a novelty building.

Many Barcelona hotels managers really want to buy the La Pedrera to make a hotel, in order to have more clients. Although there are many sights in Barcelona, many people are coming to view this spectacular masterpiece of our humanity. But government decided that there are too enough hotels in Barcelona and to sell La Pedrera will be a great mistake. Today La Pedrera is property of the financial entity "Caixa de Catalunya", which makes the roof and the attic, where one can see an exhibition on Gaudí and his works, open to the public. Some flats are privately owned and the main floor is dedicated to the exhibition hall of the Centre Cultural Caixa Catalunya (Caixa Catalunya Cultural Center).

La Pedrera also contains an auditorium and reading rooms that hold a steady stream of activities like concerts, educational workshops and film series, in accordance with Caixa de Catalunya's mission to 'foster and develop Barcelona culture.

The reconstructed apartment was truly fascinating. Inside you could see how every detail of Gaudi’s design was beautifully planned, from the art nouveaux friezes around the windows and doors, to the elegant curved handles and the small, but-perfectly-formed laundry room. They have taken great pains to recreate every detail of a turn-of-the-century apartment – including original furniture, wallpaper and decorations.

La Pedrera was declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1984

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