Hello everyone.  Today’s video takes place at a Barcelona landmark, Antoni Gaudi’s Casa Batlló.  If you’re visiting Barcelona with your kids, don’t miss this brilliant masterpiece so emblematic of the city’s renowned Gaudi architecture.

This historic house was first redesigned in 1904 by Gaudi and is typical of Gaudi’s Art Nouveau or “New Art”.  There are no visible straight lines in the house.  Rather, lines are curved and sinewy such as you might see in the natural world.  Art Nouveau exploded across Europe at the turn of the century but took on a different character in each country.  Maybe you’ve seen the famous subway entrances of Paris which were designed by France’s famous Art Nouveau architecture, Guimard.  I fell in love with these as a student in Paris during college and have looked for new versions of Art Nouveau ever since.

Take a look at my video and note that on the ground floor of Casa Battló, you see mosaic walls and irregular oval windows.

On the higher floors, you see stained glass windows in similarly atypical shapes.  Gaudi’s view was that architecture should mimic what happens in the natural world, where we don’t find straight lines.

The roof the building is said to mimic the back of a dragon!

Take a look at my video for more sights from this marvelous site and thanks so much for watching Cloudmom.  And if you’re visiting Barcelona and wondering what to do, here’s your first stop!

Melissa