Recently I visited Barcelona, Spain and I was very impressed with the magnificent work of Barcelona’s most famous architect Antoni Gaudí (1852-1926). He was a man of profound sensibility towards beauty and the gift of creation. A true mystic and a poet. He was inspired by nature. As he would often say, “Anything created by human beings is already in the great book of nature.” Gaudí was a devout Catholic man. A man of deep faith. He went to church twice a day. He was also inspired by the writings of Saint John of the Cross, a Discalced Carmelite saint. He believed with conviction his architectural ability was a gift from God, and that his pursuit of excellence in his field benefitted his city and his beloved Catalonia.

Here, I share a beautiful poem and a few photographs I took of some of the work of this great and humble Catalán architect that won the hearts and the admiration of not only the people of Catalonia but the whole world.

*If you would like to know more about Antoni Gaudí, please check:
https://www.barcelonaexperience.com/sightseeing/about-gaudi
https://www.catholic.org/news/hf/faith/story.php?id=66039

Casa Batlló, Photo taken by me in September 2018

To Antoni Gaudí, poet and architect

Haven’t you ever thought that Gaudí was a poet
and that his work breathes poetry?
Message, light of expression and harmony
they have always been a path to the final goal.

Haven’t you seen a wonderful verse vibrate in its structure,
and felt the songs of rhyme in its harmony,
or the rhythm of expression in the symphony
of the materials, the colors, the architecture?

Not every poem is born of words,
not only with words you compose a poem;
the image, the sentiment, the charm, cherishing
are other ways of saying beauty or fable.

To wake up emotion, spell, message
any art can open the mind to the heart,
the dream of an excellent and strong creative being
can describe a poem with its language.

The art in Gaudí has dreamt dreams of stone;
placed its voice in the charm of new columns,
builds spaces with the taste of other perfumes
and in the infinite of its time there is no ashes.

He has searched for God, the nature, the beauty
and its wish of building has brought the wish,
of approaching, with brand new eyes, the earth to the ski,
always striving for perfection and more grandeur.

His transcendental sense has never hindered
that even human warmth was always present
in the details of its work in all moments,
from the halls of the palace to the garden.

And even the temples combine splendor
and humanity. The figures offer
the echo of a godliness, which expand
with overflowing love.

He had mistery in its heart,
the metaphor in its vision,
the structure in its brains
and in its fingers a touch of soul.

Each design is a symbol,
each shape has a spirit,
each color a word
And each detail a kiss.

The “torres del Naixement ” are like flames,
the lightning of forged iron shout at the wind,
the seats that surround Parc Güell resemble waves
the mosaics of live colors are like rising sun.

God’s poet, space’s poet and nature’s poet,
poet of the well-being and of peace,
you have built your world of architecture
garnishing the blue ski with magic poems.

Your poems of stone always wake up a charm
from the unit to the detail,
from the biggest to the smallest,
from elegance to precision,
from the root to the summit,
from surprise to miracle,
under daylight or moonlight,

And what is this other than the being of a great artist
who sings with barroc songs, exuberant, modernist,
until it created a personal and unconfusing style
who has impacted the whole world with its unique vibration?

The great Gaudí, who is for everybody, an incomparable architect,
he is for me, more than anything else, one of the greatest poets.
With a language of stone has written profound poems,
religious, lordly, of nature and symbolism.

As every poet he has strived for emotion and perfection,
with metaphoric conceptions or with peculiar features.
It is still moments, ideas turned to a volume,
structured concepts, well suggested sentiments,
which will consolidate as the infinite time goes by.

~ By Pere Brosa, Gaudí First Prize of Poetry and Short Narrative from Barcelona, Spain

Casa Batlló, photo taken by me in September 2018

Casa Batlló (details) photo taken by me in September 2018

Casa Batlló (beauty is everywhere) photo taken by me in September 2018

Casa Milà, popularly known as La Pedrera or “The stone quarry” photo taken by me in September 2018

Gaudí House-Museum located within the Park Güell in Barcelona was the residence of Antoni Gaudí for almost 20 years, from 1906 till the end of 1925. Photo taken by me in September 2018

Gaudí House-Museum gardens and sculptures…So beautiful. Photo taken by me in September 2018

The Basílica i Temple Expiatori de la Sagrada Família, (my photo) September 2018

Basilica of The Holy Family (Sagrada Familia) western side (Passion Façade) Photo taken by me in September 2018

♥