Palau de la Música Catalana

Palau de la Música Catalana
1905-1908
Presented by Matt Arndt

Barcelona is a city with great cultural diversity that extends into all forms of art. This concert hall was designed by architect Lluis Domenech Montaner who practiced in the style monternista. This is a style that was in its high during the era of Gaudi and his works and Montaners could be seen as the same style, however, unique in their own.
Originally this building was commissioned by a group called Orfeo Catala which was a choir society that needed a concert hall. It is interesting to note that this is soley a building for concerts because the ornamentation around the stage and large pipe organ would make it a bad venue for a play or performance.
Being a concert venue solely it can seat 2,200 people and has seen everything from string quartets to full scale orchestras performing. In the center of the ceiling there is a large inverted stained glass window that was designed by Antoni Regalt. Because of its enormous size this entire space in completely only uses natural light during the day making it the only concert hall in Europe to do that.