La Pedrera: 100 Years

The 100th anniversary since completing work on the Casa Milá is here and the CatalunyaCaixa Foundation wants to celebrate it with all the locals.

In front of the uniformity that the buildings in Passeig de Gràcia irradiated at the beginning of the 20th century, the arrival of the Casa Milá was seen as a rupture from everything that came before it imposing a new way to understand architecture. Better known as La Pedrera (“the quarry”), October 31 marked 100 years since the building’s construction was completed. The one-of-a-kind building was built between 1906 and 1912 by architect Antoni Gaudí (1852-1926) and was named a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1984.

Gaudí didn’t respect any of the architectural conventions of his time, and that’s why the building was strongly criticised. The wall’s contoured forms that hang on each other as if they were born spontaneously on a stone surface made it a very solid building despite what it might seem at first sight. Dubbed locally as “la Mona de Pascua” [a typical Catalan Easter cake] by the Catalan bourgeoisie, its owners quickly achieved their main objective: to draw the attention of all Barcelona.

Despite the criticism it received at the time, 100 years after its construction La Pedrera is still a one of Barcelona’s main point of interest that irradiates knowledge and creation, and plays a key role in the transformation of society and the commitment to its people.

On the October 31, Gaudí’s building became 100 years old and the CatalunyaCaixa Foundation wants to invite all the locals and tourists that visit La Pedrera everyday to the celebration. During the coming months there will be many activities to commemorate this date.