If you had to choose just one Barcelona resident to represent the entire city, it would have to be Antoni Gaudí.
The work of this ingenious architect, born in 1852, undoubtedly makes for some of Barcelona’s most famous images.
Among his work, which does not limit itself to Barcelona, as he also worked in other regions of Catalonia and Spain, the Casa Batlló and the Casa Milà stand out for their beauty and innovation, the magnificently awe-striking temple of The Sagrada Familia and the beautiful and green Park Güell.

Casa Batlló is famous for the color and shine of its facade and its dragon-like rooftop design. The Battló family commissioned Gaudí to build over an already existing building, completely remodeling it to make it their new residence.

Casa Milà, also called La Pedrera, was Gaudí 's last project before he dedicated himself exclusively to the great and still unfinished Sagrada Familia. It is undoubtedly a very unique structure, and for that very reason enjoys special status among Barcelona’s buildings; for its artistic value, it remains exempt from several municipal construction regulations.

Works on the Sagrada Familia, Barcelona’s most emblematic construction, began in 1882 as the idea of José María Bocabella, a city bookseller who in 1866 founded the Association of St. Joseph Devotees. The project was commissioned to Fanscisco Del Villar, an architect who proposed a Neo-gothic church. In 1883, one year after breaking ground, Del Villar abandoned the project after disputes with the construction council, and Gaudí took over. He radically modified the plans and used his structural and aesthetically-minded solutions to create the most original temple in the history of Christianity.

Park Güell is without a doubt Gaudí’s most original work. Designed as a development for the bourgeoisie of Barcelona, it was planned to feature a web of bridges, plazas and service buildings. Gaudí demanded that all vegetation be native to the land, and that not one tree be felled for construction. On a commercial level, the development failed completely; it never sold a single plot, and was declared a public park in 1922, upon the death of Eusebi Güell, its owner and patron.
Today in Park Güell, visitors can admire Sala Hipóstila, an area abounding with columns that was designed to host the market. The 86 columns that hold up this unique space are 6 meters tall and 1.3 wide, and also serve to support the Greek Theatre, the great esplanade bordered by the enchanting winding bench decorated in the beautiful mosaics so characteristic of Gaudí´s style.

In 1984, UNESCO added all of these works to its list of World Heritage Sites.