"It's crazy to try to portray a non-existent object," wrote still very young Antoni Gaudi in his diary . Shortly before in one of his greatest works Arthur Schopenhauer said: "Between the genius and the insane is the similarity that both live in a completely different world than all other people" . It is not known whether Gaudi was familiar with the works of Schopenhauer, but one thing is clear: thanks to architectural madness, a mixture of styles, a sparkling creative fantasy he entered the history of the arts as an undisputed genius who lived in a totally different world that he created himself .

The beginning of the creative path Antonio Gaudi

For the first time Gaudi met Barcelona in the middle of the 19th century, worked as a draftsman, studied crafts, small works. At that time, the Neo-Gothic style dominated the architecture of the city, which was then worshiped by venerable critics and art criticism, and the rich decorative features of which were enthusiastically followed by the young Antonio Gaudi.

The first Gaudi projects in the Art Nouveau style were the private residence Vicens and the summer mansion on the Cantabrian coast of El Capriccio . House Vicens was built of ceramic tiles and untreated stone, forming a chess and floral patterns . Decorate its turrets and bay windows, there are facades and balconies fenced by original sieves mansion . El Capriccio mansion - a kind of building with a striking view of the valley, descending to the sea . Like all architect projects, the structure is unique, lined with rows of bricks and ceramic tiles of different colors .

The main architectural projects of Antonio Gaudi

Decisive in the work of Antonio Gaudi was a meeting with Eusebi Guel - a textile tycoon, who became the patron and the main fan of the talent of a budding architect. Having finally got freedom of expression, Gaudi finally renounced the rules and restrictions set in architecture, creating his own, easily recognizable style. The Palace of Guell became a gift to the patron and one of the master's best creations

The city dwelling on Carrer Nou de la Rambla is listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site and is a bizarre reflection of Gaudi's attempts to combine decorative steel structures and structural elements in the form of flat Byzantine vaults. A bright decorative element was the gate through which horse carriages entered, carved wooden ceilings, decorated with elements of gold and silver. The roof of the palace was also not neglected by the architect: the chimneys are made in the form of unusual figures of various shapes.

After the Palace of Guell was widely known in Barcelona, ​​orders were showered, making Gaudi one of the city's most popular architects. He built houses for the richest people in the capital of Catalonia, one more unusual and more interesting than another. For example, the Mila House, located at the intersection of Passeig de Gràcia Boulevard with Carrer de Provença Street, was built by Gaudi specifically for the Mila family and became the first of the 20th century buildings listed on the UNESCO World Heritage List.

Project of the Sagrada Familia Surname

Famous Sagrada Familia was the main project of Gaudi, which glorified it all over the world. Initially, for the construction of the Cathedral of the Holy Family, then not-known architect Francesco Villar, together with Joan Mortarella, answered anyone. Soon Villar abandoned this project and Antonio Gaudi took his place. The most surprising thing is that the Cathedral is not built so far, in terms of still grandiose towers, extensions, domes and interior decoration. According to the government of Spain, the cathedral will be fully completed only in 2026.

The whole architectural ensemble of the church is a mixture of directions and styles that give originality to the building . The so-called facade of Christmas was almost completely built during the life of Gaudi and consists of three portals symbolizing the Orthodox shrines - Faith, Hope and Love . All they are decorated with sculptures depicting scenes from the Bible . For example, over the portal of Hope you can see the scene of the betrothal of Mary and Joseph and the famous shrine of Catalonia - Mount Montserrat . Each of the towers of an unusual shape corresponds to a certain Apost olu . Bell-towers decorated with spiers with stylized images of episcopal senames . The liturgy texts and quotations from the Bible are widely used in the outer decoration of the church . All elements of the interior decor are distinguished by the smoothness of the lines and the dominance of such geometric models as hyperboloid, hyperbolic paraboloid, helicoid and the conoid, ellipsoid . The strict framework outlined by specific geometric figures led to the fact that everything in the interior of the cathedral obeys special rules: round stained-glass windows, hyperbolic vaults and gel icoidal staircases and the end of stars .

Gaudí died at the age of 74 years alongside the creation of his entire life under the rails of the first tram run by the Tibidabo mountain. He was buried in the crypt of the unfinished Cathedral of the Holy Family.