Barcelona

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Palau de la Música Catalana

C/Sant Francesc de Paula 2, Sant Pere

The façade of Domènech i Montaner’s Modernista concert hall, with its bare brick, busts and mosaic friezes representing Catalan musical traditions and composers, is impressive enough, but it is surpassed by the building’s staggering interior. Decoration erupts everywhere: the ceiling centrepiece is of multicoloured stained glass; 18 half-mosaic, half-relief figures representing the musical muses appear out of the back of the stage; and on one side, massive Wagnerian carved horses ride out to accompany a bust of Beethoven. The old Palau has been bursting under the pressure of the musical activity going on inside it, and an extension and renovation project by Oscar Tusquets in the 1980s is being followed by further alterations by the same architect. The rather ugly church next door has been knocked down to make way for the extension of the façade, a subterranean concert hall and a new entrance.

There are guided tours every 30 minutes or so, in either English, Catalan or Spanish. If you do have the chance, though, it’s preferable to see the hall by catching a concert.

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