This special and beautiful palace is designed by Gaudí for his family and you can find it at Carrer Nou de la Rambla 3. It is part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site "Works of Antoni Gaudí".

If you are a Gaudi fanatic, you must absolutely visit the pallace after your flight to Barcelona. It is a notable sight, so don't miss to take a visit.

A Rich industrial Family named Guëll asked Gaudi to build this Palace. They lived all their life in the Palace. The Guell Palace " Palau Güell" in Catalan, was constructed in 1888 by Antoni Gaudi. In the lobby of the Palace, the light that falls through the windows is subdued by three huge parabolic arches formed by grey, smoothly polished stone pillars. The towering arches create the impression of a Gothic window; but the windows which Gaudi employed in Guell's palace are rectangular - in other words, serve as a counterpoint to the lines of the arches. These arches also reveal the first signs of his worries with Art Nouveau. The Art Nouveau elements of the entrance gate were also repeated inside the building.

For one thing, there are lavish decorations on the pillars, of which there are a considerable number: from the thick, supporting, mushroom-shaped polished grey pillars made of snake-eye stone excavated from a quarry in the Pyrenees. A hall spanning three floors forms the center of the building. It replaces, as it were, the normal inner courtyard, but at the same time creates the impression that one is standing in a huge Baroque church. This room is covered by a cupola in which Gaudi put numerous round holes. The twisted legs of the table recur in the building itself, namely, on the roof.

The home is centered on a main room for entertaining high society guests. Guests entered the home in horse drawn carriages through the front iron gates, which featured a parabolic arch and intricate patterns of forged iron-work resembling seaweed and in some parts a horsewhip. Animals could be taken down a ramp and kept in the livery stable in the basement where the servants resided, while the guests went up the stairs to the receiving room. The ornate walls and ceilings of the receiving room disguised small viewing windows high on the walls where the owners of the home could view their guests from the upper floor and get a 'sneak peek' before greeting them, in case they needed to adjust their attire accordingly.

The main party room has a high ceiling with small holes near the top where lanterns were hung at night from the outside to give the appearance of a starlit sky.

In 2004, visits by the public were completely suspended due to renovations; some of the stone used in the original construction was weak and has cracked over the years causing structural problems within the building. As of 1 February 2008, Palau Güell was partially reopened to the public, with access to limited parts of the building only. However, it is currently closed for further restoration works and is estimated to be open to the public by April 2011.

This palace residence of the Guëll family, was built with the biggest quality materials, basically in stone recovered with marble and decorated with the most delicate furniture and artistic objects. The building has a practically square plant and the distribution changes in each floor, from the basement - old stables - to the loft, to adapt it to their specific functions.

The exterior shows a main facade with a very sober aspect, built in stone of clear gray color coming from the count's quarries in Garraf - to about 30 kilometers from the south of Barcelona. Their two doors located in the center - with the owner initials E and G in wrought iron in their superior part - they also present among them a shield of Catalonia in wrought iron.

In the first plant a run tribune almost embraces the whole width of the building. In upper plants, the facade becomes plane and it culminates with some small triangular frontons of staggered border. On those, the conical ends of chimneys or vents are located. The back facade also of great sobriety, presents an original design based on a tribune with wooden Venetian blinds and adorned with a beautiful ceramic, on first floor and in the second floor it is a balcony decorated with a surprising pergola.

The interior surprises with its splendid decoration with lots of elements of luxurious aspect reflecting the good taste and the architect's originality at the same time - Gaudi designed diverse elements of the furniture, the illumination and the windows - and the building owners, even at a time with a much more pompous aesthetics than considered acceptable today.

The luxurious decoration includes marble columns, roofs covered with beautiful wood, furniture and marquetry. The most interesting piece is the surprising central living room crowned by a parabolic dome surpassing the roof in conic form. The ceiling of that lounge is perforated by circles that, under the daylight, give it, from the interior, a planetarium appearance. We also find in this room a small chapel embedded in the wall and a numberless of ornamental elements.

The whole building is organized around this central piece. The roof with its chimneys and conical vents remembering small fir trees, probably represents one of the first sketches - but already the work of a great master - of what would reach the perfection, as functional and ornamental element at the same time, with the warriors of the roof of La Pedrera. In this work, Gaudi used the "trencadis" for the first time (lining of surfaces with irregular mosaic fragments that later was broadly used in the Modernisme - Catalan Art Nouveau). The pallace offers spectacular sights in the vein of the Gaudi's masterworks. You can get there via direct flight to Barcelona or to Girona, Reus or Lleida–Alguaire.

The Güell Palace is located near the La Rambla and the living heart of the city. You can book a reservation in any hotel near the city center and start your travel in Barcelona with the pallace.