Barcelona – Casa Batlló V., The roof

When you finally get up to the roof…wow. I mean, WOW! It´s just simply jaw dropping. It´s like stepping into somebody´s fantasy. Twisting shapes covered in colourful ceramics where the colours seem to blend each other. The spine of a dragon and the scales on its back. The ´cage´ for the windows above the building wells and the slits between the arches seen from the outside. There´s so many wonderful things, I had to spend a few minutes just to soak in the feeling before going around to explore the area.

The roof is 300 m²  and is accessible by a spiral staircase from the loft. It´s function is to help the ventilation of the house. It has 27 chimneys that belong to the fireplaces inside the building. Gaudí grouped them together and covered them with transparent glass on the body and ceramics at the top.

This is the terrace when looking down from the roof.

Seeing the ´cage´ and the slits gives us a better understanding of the building´s light system and air ventilation. Gaudí was a real architectural genius.

Let´s have a look at the chimneys close up.

Finally, the “dragon´s back”. Its function is to hold the building´s water tank that supplies the whole house. The way it looks, however, is a completely different matter. The side that you can see from the roof is covered with little mosaics where the colours artistically blend together. The side you can see from the street is covered with the dragon´s spikey scales. Although I couldn´t take a photo if you look at it from the other side the colours blend on the scales, too. The “spine” is covered with large green spheres. There´s a “garlic tower” next to it and some say that it is Saint George´s lance that sticks out of the dragon´s back.

There´s a little room that contains a sensory experience with sound and vision. Again, not sure about the connection to Gaudí here but as photos can´t really capture the essence I took a little video.

On our way out we saw some more of the furniture Gaudí designed.

Finally we were taken down to the loft again where, in the biggest room, Gaudí personally said good bye to us.

What an experience being in this building! It´s a must when you visit Barcelona. It can be found on the Passeig the Gracia under number 43, you really cannot miss it.