Parc Güell: A Grand Monument Born of Failure

This park is probably the most famous one in Barcelona, arguably the most famous park in all of Spain. However, one of Barcelona’s greatest tourist attractions was originally supposed to be a housing development.

Early History: Private Housing 

Parc Güell was designed by famed architect and designer Antoni Gaudí and built between the years 1900 and 1914 during the Modernisme architectural wave. The city had grown significantly after Idelfons Cerdà’s city development project was implemented starting in 1860, and when the park began construction Barcelona’s population was around half a million people. 

Industrialist Eusebi Güell was one of Gaudí’s most loyal patrons; he commissioned him with multiple projects after having first seen a window display designed by Gaudí for the 1878 Universal Exhibition in Paris. These commissions started out small—furniture for a chapel in the town of Comillas, for example—but would eventually include the design for Güell’s Barcelona home (Palau Güell on Nou de la Rambla) as well as the chapel for the industrial colony for his workers (Colònia Güell, just outside of Barcelona). In 1900, Güell commissioned Gaudí to build the park.

The original idea was to construct a total of 60 villas on 12 square hectares of property that had been acquired by Güell. The area was known as the Montanya Pelada, or “bare mountain,” for its general lack of vegetation. Local vegetation was preserved with an eye towards preventing erosion, and a system for collecting and storing water was implemented to provide the future residents with water. Care was taken in the design so that no house would obstruct another neighbor’s view of the sea nor block their access to sunlight; however, the building plan was scrapped after only two model houses were built. 

The houses themselves were not designed by Gaudí, but by two of his Modernisme contemporaries, the architects Francesc Berenguer and Juli Batllevell. Gaudí moved into the house built by Berenguer in 1906, with his father and sick niece as housemates. The other home was owned by a lawyer, Martí Trias i Domènech. Living on-site meant that the architect could easily oversee the construction process.

By 1907, events such as sardana dances were already being held in the park’s large square, and observers could sit on the now-famous serpentine benches covered in mosaic tiles. However, property sales were extremely slow due to the complex conditions of the contracts and the lack of public transportation to the area at the time. By 1914, Güell had to abandon the idea of the housing development. He turned the land and the woods around it into a private park, which started attracting tourists right away.

A Public Park and International Recognition

After Güell died in 1918, the city of Barcelona acquired the park from his heirs and opened it up as a public park in 1926. This was the same year that Gaudí died; in 1931, his former home was later turned into a school named after Catalan educator Baldiri Reixac. The Gaudí House Museum wasn’t opened on the site until 1963; today, it still contains pieces of furniture that Gaudí designed for his own personal use over a century ago. In 1969, the Spanish government recognized Parc Güell as a “Monument of Cultural and National Interest.”

The area of the park now known as the Austria Gardens was meant to be divided into plots for the 60 housing estates, but it was converted into a plant nursery when the housing project was abandoned. In 1977, the country of Austria donated trees to the park, which is where the Gardens got their name. In 1984, the park was declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO, under the heading “Works of Antoni Gaudí.” It wasn’t until 1993 that the Catalan government officially recognized it as a site of “Catalan National Cultural Interest,” not long after the Olympic Games were held in Barcelona the year before.

Parc Güell Today

In an effort to protect the historic site from the wear and tear that results from the constant influx of visitors, the park instituted a policy of controlled access a decade ago. There is a one-way route that leads you past some of the most popular points in the park: the Hypostyle Room, the pillared Laundry Room Portico (the former entrance to the house where Gaudí lived, and where you can often listen to busking musicians), El Teatre Grec (a.k.a. Plaça de la Natura), and of course, the iconic Dragon Stairway, which has become a symbol of the city of Barcelona. Even with limits in place, the number of permitted visitors is high—1,400 per hour—and you may still have to wait in line to see the more famous spots in the park. It’s recommended to get your tickets online before your visit, as demand is high, especially in the warmer months.

These days, tickets cost €10 and are timed entry. You can explore the park at your own pace, or purchase entrance plus a guided tour for €22. Your ticket allows you to spend as long as you want in the park, but doesn’t permit you to exit and then re-enter. There are four entrances designated specifically for residents, and four for tourists; the hours of 7:00 to 9:30 and 18:30 to 22:00 are reserved for residents only.

If you’re a Barcelona resident, you can register on the Gaudir Més website (an initiative by the local government to try to encourage people who live here to enjoy the parks, museums and other cultural experiences that the city has to offer), or apply for a Parc Güell local residence card, either of which grants you free entry to the park. However, the local residence card only applies to those living in the surrounding neighborhoods of the park: La Salut, Vallcarca i els Penitents, Baix Guinardó, El Carmel, Can Baró and El Coll. Children attending the schools located inside or near the park (including Turó del Cargol, Jesuïtes de Gràcia, Escola Montseny, Reina Elisenda Virolai, and of course Baldiri Reixac) are also given free access to the park, though they have to abide by the same schedules as other locals.

You can get to the park by walking approximately 20 minutes from either the Vallcarca or Lesseps metro stop on Line 3, or via the H6 or D40 buses. The park had been criticized in the past for not being accessible to people with reduced mobility, but these days there is an adapted route, as well as two wheelchairs that can be reserved in advance for use within the park.

Even though the city has tried to find a balance between tourism and the needs of the community by building paths, green spaces and play areas in parts of the park that are not as heavily visited, complaints from neighbors have been fierce and pointed. The massive foot traffic and buses transporting visitors has created noise, pollution and crowding in what used to be a relatively tranquil part of the city. Even though the park and the adjacent eight-square-hectare woods are protected, both the environmental and psychological impact of massive tourism has been an increasing worry for locals, especially since Barcelona’s popularity as a travel destination has grown exponentially over the past decade.