WHAT IS THERE
TO SEE?

Unlike other Gaudí buildings, you can walk around the whole house. The entrance, which is actually next to the house, leads straight into the little garden, where you are given a short introduction by the guide and the opportunity to admire the beautiful building front.

The tour covers all three floors and takes you up to the rooftop terrace. All rooms designed by Antoni Gaudí have been restored to their original state and are filled with all kinds of wonderful decorative features. Don’t forget to look up at the ceilings, which may be covered with ceramic tiles, painted or decorated with papier maché. You’re never far away from a guide who can provide you with additional information.

You get from one floor to the next via the modern staircase built as part of the restoration work. You can take a seat on the terrace, gallery, little bay windows and roof. Feel free to sit and soak up the atmosphere, just like the people who used to live here would have done.

One room is set aside for special exhibitions and the attic is home to a display showcasing models and plans of the house, old photos and a video about Barcelona at the time when Casa Vicens was being built.
You can watch another video about the restoration work under the vaults in the basement.

Casa Vicens
A BIT OF HISTORY

In 1883, stock and currency broker Manel Vicens i Montaner commissioned young Gaudí to design his summer residence in the former village of Gràcia. One of Gaudí’s first major projects and his first house, it was one of the buildings that kicked off the modernism movement.

The original building dating back to 1883–1885 was extended by another architect, Joan Baptista Serra de Martínez, in 1925. Gaudí was still alive at that point but busy working on the Sagrada Família (and he sadly died the following year).

In 2005, Casa Vicens was declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO.

The house was a private residence until 2014, when it was purchased and fully restored by MoraBanc. After that, its doors were opened to the public.

Gaudí drew a great deal of inspiration from Islamic art from Andalusia and the Maghreb when working on his design for Casa Vicens. He also used an astonishing range of materials, including iron, wood, stone, ceramic, papier maché and paint. You may be surprised not to see any of his signature mosaic designs here, though.

From the outside, it’s still hard to spot the difference between Gaudí’s original building and the later extension.

As part of the restoration and upgrade work completed between 2014 and 2017, the inside of the extension was redesigned completely from scratch by architects Elías Torres, José Antonio Martínez Lapeña and David Garcia to create the infrastructure required to run a modern museum. Luckily, all rooms designed by Gaudí were left in their original state.

Although the garden was originally really large, it has sadly been getting smaller and smaller to make way for modern property projects. Some effort is at least made to keep growing lots of different types of plants out in the garden. Casa Vicens is the perfect example of the influence of nature on architecture that Gaudí always tried to reflect in his designs. You’ll spot lots of the plants growing in the garden on the decorative elements as you explore the house inside and out.