Palau de la Musica Catalana

UNESCO World Heritage Site (Palau De La Musica Catalana And Hospital De Sant Pau, Inscribed 1997), Built 1905 To 1908 By Lluis Domenech I Montaner For The Orfeo Catala Choral Society · Barcelona, Catalonia

A concert hall built in 1908 for a choral society, and the only one in Europe lit entirely by natural light during the day. Lluis Domenech i Montaner designed it in full Catalan modernisme, which is the movement Gaudi belongs to but is not the whole of, and the constraint that shaped it was money: the society could not afford a grand site, so it went up on a cramped corner in the Ribera and turned the walls into glass to compensate. The result is a steel frame carrying stained glass on every side and an inverted stained-glass dome in the middle of the ceiling that hangs down into the room like a sun coming through. Around the stage are half-emerged muses in mosaic and terracotta, no two alike. It is a working hall with a full concert season, and a guided tour in daylight is the only way to see the glass doing what it was built to do, which makes the hour you book far more important here than at any other building in Barcelona.

Carrer Palau de la Musica 4-6, Barcelona, Catalonia, 08003, Spain

NO OPENING TIME HERE WAS CHECKED. The structure: THERE ARE NO OPENING HOURS in the ordinary sense because there is NO GENERAL ADMISSION. Access is by TIMED GUIDED TOUR through the day, or by a concert ticket. TOUR SLOTS MOVE AROUND REHEARSALS AND PERFORMANCES and are occasionally cancelled for them. The concert season runs roughly September to June with a thinner summer programme. Confirm the tour times and language before travelling.

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