Casa Batillo

Casa Batllo is another Antony Gaudi’s masterpiece you should not miss for anything in life. This house, by the way, is an extremely significant part of Catalonian modernism. In the building architecture, though, you will not see any straight lines or edges, but impressive symbolism in each little or big detail.

Gaudi wasn’t just an architect, but a real artist. He did not work on projects based on strict plans, but on the contrary, modified and upgrade each idea during the process. Everyone, who’s familiar with Gaudi’s talent, is aware that the Spanish genius got inspiration mainly by the nature.

In Casa Batllo’s architecture you will find lots of elements that are taken from the seaside world, but it’s believed that the main conception here lies on the legend for Sankt Georg, who had played key role in Barcelona’s life and history. If you want to find out more about this architecture conception, let yourself dive in your own inspiration by visiting Casa Batllo. Once you visit it the house will literally tell you about the mysterious seaside world and about Sankt Georg’s legend the way Gaudi used to understand them.

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Interesting facts and background history

• Casa Batllo is also well-known as House of bones or Dragon house
• Casa Batllo exists since 1877 year and in 1903 year it was sold to the rich textile baron, Josep Battlo. In 1904 year Battlo assigned the whole renovation task of the building to Gaudi letting him unlock his imagination and put into force his talent with no limits. The repairs continued till 1906 year.
• Today, the house is a total cultural masterpiece, owned by Bernat family, who made it open for public visits in 1995 year. Moreover, Bernat allows visitors to rent specific rooms from the buildings, including for event arrangement.
• Casa Batllo is included in UNESCO heritage list

Exterior facade

Roof

The wavy roof, tiled with big flakes (ceramic tiles, if I should be more specific) that change their shades from one to the other end of the cover facade, looks like an animal back or like most people take it for, like the dragon from Sankt Georg’s legend. The tower, which rises up right from the roof, on the other side, is a 3D Christ symbolizing Sankt Georg’s sword. This is the sword Georg uses to kill the evil dragon to release the kidnapped princess.

Terraces, floors

On the last floor you will find a beautiful balcony in a shape of a beautiful flower. It’s also called the Princess’s terrace.

The balconies from the lower floors look like masks and are made of big pieces of pig-irons. They also remind of skulls that symbolize all the dragon’s victims.

The pillars from the façade of the lower floors look like bones and symbolize the dragon victims, too.

Interior

It’s an incredible and unforgettable experience to have a walk inside Casa Batllo building. Gaudi worked with the best masters of his time and combined different materials (wrought iron, wood, glaze, iron, ceramic) to achieve an amazing combination of shades, forms, designs, spaces and lights, but meanwhile, succeeded in making the whole construction remain extremely functional for usage.

Lobby

Once you enter the house you will appear in a quite weird lobby. The curved walls and the staircase with a wooden railing in strange shapes, the garret windows that remind of tortoises, the ceramic tiles stuck on the walls will all take you to one unique underwater world.

Mezzanine Beletage

On this floor you will have the chance to get closer to the house core. Here is where Battlo’s cabinet and the main saloon are located. The saloon has a big window in a weird form and construction allowing you to enjoy a brilliant view of the famous Paseo de Gracia Boulevard in Barcelona. The ceiling is curved, too and looks like a lot of waves, while the fireplace is in form of mushrooms, the doors are great handmade job involving real oak and the window glazes are all decorated and painted.

Inner courtyard

The inner courtyard is covered with a roof in a way to let the light and the wind to reach each window with an equal interaction. The walls here are tiled with blue ceramic material, while right in the center there’s an elevator.

Garden

To reach the garden you should pass through a big dining room placed in the inner part of the mezzanine. You will get quite surprised by this unusual garden space. The floor and the flower pots are tiled in ceramic, too, and everything seems so weird and charming at once.

Attic

The attic serves the role of two basic functional spaces – one for storage and the other as a laundry room. The walls are constructed in regular shapes here, fully whitened and mixed with a beautiful ceramic floor for contrast design.

Rooftop terrace

Here’s where you will find the four groups of chimneys in interesting shapes and decorated with colorful tiles.

What should you know before visiting Casa Batllo?

It’s one of the most visited attractions in Barcelona and waiting on the queues at the cash-desks will take you quite a lot of time. To skip this unpleasant moment, better purchase a ticket from internet in advance.

Types of visits

Standart tour

The standard tour of Casa Batllo is offered in three alternatives to choose from:

• Blue – visit of Casa Batllo and Smart Guide
• Silver – visit of Casa Batllo, Premium Smart Guide+, visit of the Catalonian living room furnished with pieces from the early days of 20^th century
• Gold Priority – visit of the house, Premium Smart Guide+, visit of the Catalonian living room, VIP access at the entrance and the store, a souvenir photograph among Casa Batllo interior, as well as the right for free cancelation

Be the first!

You can visit Casa Batllo half an hour before the standard working time. Here is how you will become able to fully enjoy the building architecture, as well as to make greater selfies and photos. These visits are allowed every day from 8:30, but only two visitors get this opportunity.

Magic nights

You can enjoy amazing musical live performances at the house roof terrace and right under the starts shining so brightly in Barcelona.

Check out the current event program in Casa Batllo.

Theatrical visit

This is a unique and quite interesting, especially to the kids, alternative for a walk in Casa Batllo. The house is actually presented by Gaudi, himself, or by Mrs. Remoneta (Battlo’s housekeeper). Unfortunately, this tour is available only in Spanish.

Guides

• Smart Guide – a video guide with extended reality which is provided in more than 10 different languages, including English.
• Smart Guide+  – except for the video guide you will also receive a free of charge premium pair of headsets

Group visits

A group visit is a visit by a group of at least 20 people and there’s one free of charge ticket per each 20 people in a group.

Duration

Casa Batllo tour lasts averagely 1 hour.

Discounts

• For children under 7 years old the tickets are free
• Youths from 7 to 18 years old, students and seniors over 65 years old use discounts, but to get it they should provide ID cards.
• There’s also a discount for those of you, who use Bus Turistic, Barcelona City Tours, Barcelona Card, Barcelona Pass, Minicards Minicards, the Modernisme Route and Barcelona Walking Tours.

Accessibility

• Casa Batllo is accessible by people with reduced movability
• The elevator gets up to the 5^th floor and there’s one more floor to the terrace, though, to reach on feet
• There are Braille texts in Catalonian, Spanish and English
• For people with problems in hearing, there are devices with audio texts in Catalonian, Spanish and English.

Working time

Check out Casa Battlo working time. The last visit is possible to be arranged up to one hour before the end of the official working time.

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Barcelona – the city
Sagrada Familia
Park Güell
Casa Mila
Camp Nou
Tibidabo
Font Magica
Picasso Museum