Architecture in Spain: 3D Gallery

Sagrada Familia, Barcelona

Antoni Gaudi is one of the most popular architects. All of his work is in or near Barcelona. His masterpiece is the beautiful Sagrada Familia. This is the best known cathedral of Europe. The cathedral is based on the byzanthine catherdrals and the Gothic style. Gaudi took over this project of the Sagrada Familia in 1883. He changed everything of the design and he spend more than 40 years designing it. After his tragic accident he was buried in the crypt of the Sagrada Familia. This cathedral is known as the building that will never be finished. That’s because it’s very difficult to build. It has many tiny details and the decorations are inspired by nature. The cathedral is 120 meters high at this moment, but the biggest tower isn’t build yet and that should be 170 meters high. They expect it to be done between 2026 and 2028.

Parc Guell, Barcelona

Parc Guell is a public park full of architecture. It’s one of the most impressive parks you can see around the world. Parc Guell is designed and built by Antoni Gaudi and is located in Barcelona. There's a lot to see in this park, but this is also an unfinished project of Antoni Gaudi. The architecture of this park is Catalan modernism. Catalan modernism features organic shapes, asymmetry, curved lines, colour and a lot of decorations and details. This park is full of al these features. You can also see in this picture that the bench has very colourful mosaic.

Temple of Debod, Madrid

The temple of Debod is an ancient Egyptian temple that was taken down and rebuilt in Madrid. This temple was originally built in upper Egypt at around 200 BC. At first there was only a small room that was dedicated to the god Amun. Later on this room was extended on all four sides to form a temple. It was a long process to built this with these stones. In the 20th century the environment around the temple of deBod became a threat for this monument. Spain helped prevending it from run to waste and helped saving the temple so the Egyptian state donated the temple to Spain. In 1970 it was rebuilt in Madrid. The gateways are placed in a different order than they were originally built, you can see that in the original picture of the temple.

Plaza de Cibeles, Madrid

Plaza de Cibeles is a square in the city of Madrid. In its centre is the Cibeles fountain. This fountain, named after a roman goddess of nature, has become one of Madrid's most important symbols. In this fountain you can see marble sculptures and you see the goddess that is pulled by two lions. The most outstanding building at the Plaza de Cibeles is the Communications Palace that you can see in the picture. This building became the city hall of Madrid. This is a cathedral like building that is built in a Gothic style you can see that because it has many decorations and the windows are small and high and this whole building is vertically oriented.

Guggenheim Museum, Bilbao

The Guggenheim museum is located in Bilbao. This museum has a modern architecture. The outside of this museum is covered in titanium plates. These titanium plates ensure that this building can shine for over 100 years. The walls are constructed to protect the work of arts in the museum against warmth and sunlight. It’s a very interesting building. The shapes, but also the place of the building is making it interesting to look at. This building is because of these shapes very dynamic. It doesn't have any colour, but it has a shiny and metallic structure. This Museum looks like a building that's made in the future, because of its combination of the structure and dynamic construction.

Basque Health Department, Bilbao

This interesting building is located in Bilbao and is designed by architect Juan Coll. This building is made out of steel and glass and it has geometric shapes that makes this building dynamic. Because of its appearance it gives you an into the future feeling. It's very interesting that this building is detached and surrounded by normal apartment buildings. It's a very different architecture and that makes it fun to look at. The geometric shapes are giving multiple reflections from the sun and the appearance from the outside can be changed depending on the point of view, season or hour.

The Metropol Parasol is designed by J Mayer H. It’s a big wooden construction located in the centre of Sevilla. Sevilla is a city with old architecture, but the Metropol Parasol is something very different than the rest of Sevilla, it’s a modern construction. It's very interesting that this modern architecture is surrounded by old architecture. It’s a special construction, because it has a unique structure and it’s made out of wood. You can’t really see what it represents at first, but that’s making it interesting to look at. The Metropol Parasol is named after typical Spanish mushrooms and it does kind of look like mushrooms indeed.

Mosque-Cathedral of Cordoba

This mosque-cathedral has a Moorish architecture. That's Islamic architecture in north Africa and parts of Spain and Portugal when the Moors were dominant. Features of the Moorish architecture are muqarnas, different kinds of arches, voussoirs, decorative tile work and domes. In this mosque-cathedral you can see round double horseshoe arches that are causing greater height. You can also see the red and white voussoirs on the double horseshoe arches. The architectures included Roman columns that were already in the Gothic structure. This mosque-cathedral is made out of a lot of materials. The columns are made of marble and the decorations are made out of gold, silver, Ivory, brass and copper.

Plaza Mayor, Salamanca

Plaza Mayor is a public square and it's combined with an University located in the centre of Salamanca. Plaza Mayor has a baroque style and is designed and built by architect Alberto Churriguera between 1729 and 1755.The building on the north side is the town hall and is beautifully finished with statues. The medallions between the pillars and arches refer to persons that are linked to the history of the city. The effect of light and shadow is strengthened by the golden effect of the Villamayor stones, which contrasts with the grey granite columns. The Plaza Mayor was designed to have two towers on each side of the bell, but that was never completed, because they were afraid that the building would collapse.

City of Arts and Sciences, Valencia

City of arts and sciences is a museum in Valencia. There are 7 buildings and they're all designed by Santiago Calatrava. These buildings are all surrounded by water which adds an amazing view of them. This modern architecture gives you a feeling that you're in a futuristic city. There is no colour included in the buildings, but it has shiny and white surfaces. The combination of the water and the buildings is beautiful. Because of its modern architecture there is of course made use of glass and these round and geometric shapes.

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Architecture in Spain