Casa Mila (House of Mila) is one of the brilliant architectural creations of the great Antoni Gaudi, erected in Barcelona. Today’s advanced architects still can’t take their admiring eyes off this house.
Description Casa Mila
Antoni Gaudi realized all his architectural projects in Barcelona. It was here that inspiration and skill came to him. He created houses that are still breathing, moving, and living today.
Casa Mila was commissioned from Antoni Gaudi by the wife of the famous Barcelona magnate Mila. She wanted their home to impress and amaze all passersby and guests. And the house turned out just extraordinary, the last secular building in the architect’s career.
Interestingly, Gaudi himself did not finish this one to the end, he quarreled with the customers and left the project. Another architect completed the House of Mila, and Gaudi had to go to court to get the unpaid fee.
The house was built in the very beginning of the 20th century for 6 years, and the architect’s ideas that were embodied in this were truly innovative for their time. Like all Gaudi’s projects, Casa Mila seems to have grown out of the ground, becoming as natural as a tree.
It also looks like a huge old rock, standing on the shore of the sea and washed by its waters. Its base is corroded by caves and the top is sunburned. Absolutely all of Gaudi’s images are drawn from nature.
Antonio Gaudi did not recognize straight lines and angles because they do not exist in nature. All lines of Casa Mila are smooth, freely and naturally changing direction. The house is decorated with many grids with seaweed patterns.
These grids were made at the end of the construction by Gaudi’s friend and architect named Jojol. They worked together for a long time on other architectural projects.
Location of Casa Mila on the map of Barcelona
Patio
Casa Mila has as many as three patios. They are popular in Spain and are created to give more light inside the house. Two patios of this House are circular, one is elliptical in shape.
The windows of the house’s non-residential cabins face the courtyards, and all the front windows facing the street are living, sleeping, living, and children’s rooms. The walls of the Casa Mila patio are painted with mythical animals and plants.
Each patio has many exquisite twisted staircases based on Gaudi’s drawings. These staircases are an integral part of the paintings on the walls of the House of Mila, they are woven together to create a wonderful harmony.
Attic
Casa Mila has an extremely interesting attic on the seventh floor. They are usually built to dry laundry. But today there is a small museum with exhibits dedicated to the works of architecture by Antoni Gaudi.
From the attic you can go up the spiral staircase to the terrace and get to a feast of architectural beauty. You will look at the pebble mosaic, marble, clay and glass decorations for an extremely long time.
On the terrace you enter a garden of amazing sculptures, they will take your imagination to other worlds. The sculptures are there not just for decoration, each of them has a specific function.
The museum exhibits offer the viewer natural artifacts, thanks to which the great architect was inspired to new projects. It was fruits, seashells and seaweed that developed Antoni Gaudi’s unique, authorial style.
Roof
The roof of Casa Mila is decorated with a vault of arches, there are almost three hundred of them. The vault is made of brick, thanks to it, Antonio Gaudi freed this house from the huge beams usually used in construction in those days.
Looking at the house, its interior and exterior lines, does not leave the feeling that you are at sea or in the windy forest, where everything is moving, living, developing. It seems that the next time these walls, floors, balconies will grow and become completely different.
Museum
At the end of the Casa Mila tour, tourists enter the museum. This is one of the apartments in the house, made in the Art Nouveau style. You can see with your own eyes how the bourgeoisie of the early 20th century lived, because The furniture and interiors of those times have been preserved here.
You can carefully examine and even touch the bed, the sofa, the old-fashioned phone. After all, the same things were used by Antoni Gaudi himself. Tour guides will offer visitors to the museum to watch a documentary about Casa Mila.
Despite the enormous popularity, love and respect that the great architect enjoyed among the inhabitants of Barcelona, Casa Mila did not immediately gain recognition among Antonio Gaudi’s admirers.
Many Barcelonans thought it was too heavy and nicknamed it “Quarry”. The house had a very unusual appearance to the eyes of the average European. However, the House of Mila was soon added to the famous UNESCO list, and today it is under state protection.
Unconventional ideas at Mila’s House
- The uniqueness of the project of this house is that it has no bearing structures. The frame, the walls facing the street, and the columns inside the building take all the weight of a high-rise. Due to the absence of load-bearing structures, Gaudi organized a free layout of rooms, previously it was simply impossible in terms of the postulates of classical architecture.
- Thanks to its patios, the entire Mila House simply drowns in sunlight, although previously any classic house had many rooms without windows. The people who lived in the deaf rooms lived like moles.
- Casa Mila has excellent natural ventilation, it is always quite cool and fresh, so you can easily do without air conditioning even in the most terrible Spanish heat.
Casa Mila today
It is not a frozen museum of architecture, a remarkable building still used for its intended purpose today. Most of its space is occupied by a bank, and some of the apartments upstairs are occupied by ordinary Barcelonans.
In due course, they concluded rental contracts with the city authorities, which have not yet expired. The authorities have no grounds for terminating these contracts, which means that the right to housing is preserved.
Excursions to Casa Mila
First, tourists with a guide go to the local souvenir shops, not to be forgotten after visiting the House of Mila. Its architectural uniqueness has a stunning effect on many people.
All proceeds from the sale of souvenirs, then go to the maintenance of the museum. Do not be stingy, it is a civilized way to contribute to the preservation of the historical and cultural image of Barcelona.
Opening hours and prices
Casa Mila is always open, without holidays and weekends.
- In High Season – from 09:00 to 20:00.
- In the Low Season – from 09:00 to 18-30.
- On Christmas Day, from 9:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m.
- Sessions on High Season evenings are from 8:00 to 00:00 p.m.
Ticket price:
- adult – €20.5;
- student – €16.5;
- For children under 12 years old – €12,25;
- Children under 7 years of age – free of charge.
Widely used a variety of bonuses and discounts. At the entrance to the museum for greater comfort we also recommend buying a Russian-speaking audio guide. It only costs a few euros.
Tickets can be purchased at the museum box office, after standing in a certain line, or online at the museum’s official website: https://tickets.lapedrera.com/. In this case, everything happens without queuing and much faster.
How to get to Casa Mila?
Casa Mila is located in Barcelona at 92 Passeig de Gracia. The easiest way to get here is by subway; Diagonal station is nearby. There are also city buses here, the stop is called Provence La Pedrera.
