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Palau de la Musica Catalana Review

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Palau de la Música Catalana

  • Address: Carrer Sant Francesc de Paula 2, just off Via Laietana, around corner from hall, Sant Pere, Barcelona, Catalonia, 08010
  • Phone: 902/442882
  • www.palaumusica.org

Fodor's Review:

A riot of color and form, Barcelona's Music Palace is the flagship of the city's Moderniste architecture. Designed by Lluís Domènech i Montaner in 1908, it was originally conceived by the Orfeó Català musical society as a vindication of the importance of music at a popular level—as opposed to the Liceu opera house's identification with the Catalan (often Castilian-speaking monarchist) aristocracy. The Palau's exterior is remarkable in itself, albeit hard to see because there's no room to back up and behold it. Above the main entrance are busts of Palestrina, Bach, Beethoven, and (around the corner on Carrer Amadeu Vives) Wagner. Look for the colorful mosaic pillars on the second upper level, a preview of what's inside. The Miquel Blay sculptural group at the corner of Sant Pere Més Alt and Amadeu Vives depicts everyone from St. George the dragon slayer (at the top) to fishermen with oars over their shoulders.

The interior is an uproar. Wagnerian cavalry erupts from the right side of the stage over a heavy-browed bust of Beethoven, and Catalonia's popular music is represented by the flowing maidens of Lluís Millet's song "Flors de Maig" ("Flowers of May") on the left. Overhead, an inverted stained-glass cupola seems to offer the divine manna of music; painted rosettes and giant peacock feathers explode from the tops of the walls. Even the stage is populated with muselike Art Nouveau musicians, each half bust and half mosaic. The visuals alone make music sound different in here, and at any important concert the excitement is palpably thick; if you can't attend one, take a tour of the hall.

  • Cost: Tour EUR 10
  • Open: Sept.-June, tours daily 10-3:30, July and Aug., tours daily 10-7
  • Metro: Catalunya
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