Touring the Palau de la Música Catalana was such a treat. It was built by architect Lluís Domènech i Montaner, who also designed the sensational Hospital de Sant Pau, also in Barcelona. Both the hospital and the theatre are regarded, and rightfully so, as landmarks of such architectural importance that UNESCO has designated them both as a collective World Heritage Site. The mosaic work alone takes me aback, and I wondered how long it took to place all of the little glass pieces covering nearly every surface.
It was such a thrill being in the main room of the theatre during the daytime, as its defining feature is the unique fact that the house is lit by gorgeous rows of stained glass windows, the most impressive of which being a giant sun that gleams from the center of the ceiling high overhead. The light pouring into the theatre creates a music box-like effect that warms the entire space. There is a huge organ that our tour guide played via a remote control that was connected to computer driven programs that operated the organ. The sound in the space is near perfect.
One thing I wasn't happy about was the fact that photos were not allowed anywhere in the theatre. I understand that they want to sell the photos in the gift shop, and I usually buy postcards anyway, but the lengths they took to keep tourists from snapping an interior photo - we had a pale, creepy security guard staring us down during the entire tour - were ridiculous and prompted me to forgo my usual postcard-buying stop at the gift shop.
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