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Gaudi's Crypt in Colonia Güell |
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This picture series is about The Crypt in Colonia Güell, which is an unfinished church designed by Antoni Gaudi.
There are two other major unfinished works by Antoni Gaudi in Barcelona.
One is the unfinished church called La Sagrada Familia. It is still being built
 Click here to see photos and links to La Sagrada Familia in Barcelona.
Another major unfinished project by Antoni Gaudi is the Park Guell.
Park Guell was never completed, but was turned into a public park.
Click here for photos of and links to Park Guell.
A lesser known but significant Gaudi project, that he also never finished, is the church called The Crypt in Colonia Güell, which Gaudi was commissioned to build in 1898 for his patron and good friend Eusebi Guell.
The church was for the workers of the Colonia Guell Factory and workers village, which Guell built in Santa Coloma de Cervelló in 1890. It was never finished and it known today as The Crypt in Colonia Güell.
Santa Coloma de Cervelló is 25 km from the centre of Barcelona by car. It takes half an hour to get there by car and the same time by train from the station at Plaza Espanya. Click here for directions and address.
Gaudi carried out various studies and work on the church commenced in 1908. It continued until 1914, when funding was stopped and Gaudi abandoned the project. During that time Gaudi built the bottom section of the church, which since became known as the crypt.
Today the crypt stands essentially as it did then, with some restoration work still being done to remove later alterations that were not included in Gaudí’s designs. Ever attentive to detail even the church pews were designed by Gaudi himself and like all his later work they reflected his beliefs, that nature is the best model.
The original plans and models reveal designs by Gaudi, that would have been audacious and innovative for the times and especially for an industrial estate in the countryside outside Barcelona.
Maybe that is why the funding for the construction was stopped in 1914 by the Guell family. Perhaps it was considered to grand a building for the likes of mere factory workers at the turn of the century. Would textile mill workers would have appreciated the artistic value of Gaudí’s work at Santa Coloma de Cervello.
It would almost be like presenting every worker with a Christmas bonus of a Picasso painting and then coming back next year to find many of them burnt as firewood or painted over.
Despite being unfinished the church is regarded as a masterpiece for various reasons. It was the first time many of Gaudí’s innovative ideas were to come together in a single design and it provided both a testing ground and a source of inspiration for the Sagrada Familia project.
The Crypt in Colonia Güell was also innovative in the sheer variety of building materials that Gaudi used including basalt and limestone, brunt ceramic bricks, smelting slag, ceramics, glass and many kinds of mortar. The result is quite startling and beautiful.
The finished building was so daring and different that it was unclear how to make the calculations for the constructions. To fix this Gaudi devised a exceptional method of architectural projection. It was called a polyfunicular model and was essentially an inverted 3D model of the church design made using weights and strings. Then Gaudi had it covered with cloth and photographed.
By making large prints of the photographs he was able to make the correct calculations for the inside and outside dimensions of the church. A reproduction of the polyfinicular model can be seen in the museum at the Sagrada Famila in Barcelona.
In 1914 when the project was abandoned the roof was covered. The lower nave was blessed by the bishop of Barcelona in 1915 and has been in use ever since.
Gaudi's love of caves is apparent at the The Crypt in Colonia Güell by Gaudi.
Today the village of Santa Coloma de Cervello stands much as it did then. The village is not unique in itself, but it is interesting due to the ties between Guell and Gaudi. You can see a statue of Guell in the middle of the village square named after him
Gaudi himself was given a bust near the church very aptly in the middle of a more natural setting than a paved square.
Building factory villages was a common idea at the end of the 19th century. Many factory owners in industrial countries moved their factories and workers outside the cities. The reason was primarily to keep workers away from bad socialist influences in the cities, but it has to be said in the case of Colonia Guell, that the conditions for the workers were much improved.
The project and some of the houses were designed by modernist architects (not Gaudi though) and were of a high standard. The village itself had everything to ensure a comparatively good life in all aspects.
The factory was sold by the Guell family in 1946. The looms remained in production as a textile mill until 1973, when it succumbed to competition from cheaper countries. Today it has been converted into modern office space for many new companies. In recent years a modernist festival has been celebrated every year in Santa Coloma de Cervello to recreate the early days of Colonia Guell.
Click here for directions and address to Colonia Guell
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