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Antoni Gaudí

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112-544: Antoni Gaudí i Cornet ( / ɡ aʊ ˈ d i / gow- DEE , / ˈ ɡ aʊ d i / GOW -dee , Catalan: [ənˈtɔni ɣəwˈði] ; 25 June 1852 – 10 June 1926) was a Catalan architect and designer, known as the greatest exponent of Catalan Modernism . Gaudí's works have a sui generis style. Most are located in Barcelona , including his main work , the Sagrada Família church. Gaudí's work

224-492: A draughtsman for various architects and constructors such as Leandre Serrallach, Joan Martorell , Emili Sala Cortés, Francisco de Paula del Villar y Lozano and Josep Fontserè . In addition to his architecture classes, he studied French, history, economics, philosophy, and aesthetics . His grades were average and he occasionally failed courses. When handing him his degree, Elies Rogent , director of Barcelona Architecture School, said: "We have given this academic title either to

336-540: A Catalan identity was increasingly suppressed in favor of a Spanish national identity. The Catalans regained autonomy during the Spanish Second Republic from 1932 until Francisco Franco 's nationalist forces occupied Catalonia by 1939. It was not until 1975 and the death of Franco that the Catalans as well as other Spaniards began to regain their right to cultural expression, which was restarted by

448-547: A World Heritage Site by UNESCO. Because of their intertwining history, many of the traditional symbols of Catalonia coincide with Aragon, Valencia and the Balearic Islands. The oldest known Catalan symbol is the coat of arms of the King of Aragon and Count of Barcelona, or bars of Aragon , one of Europe's oldest heraldic emblems; in modern times, Catalan nationalists have made it the main symbol of Catalan identity and it

560-576: A book. Historical memory is the second axis of celebrations in Catalonia, where the Catalan people reunite with their date of birth as a people. Among the religious celebrations, there are St. George's Day and the celebrations of Saint Vincent Martyr and Saint Anthony Abbot . The maximum expressions of this element are the Easter processions and performances of Passion Plays . Some festivals have

672-731: A complicated relationship with religion, such as Carnival and the Dances of Death , or specific aspects of Christmas such as the Tió de Nadal or the caganer in Nativity scenes . Other key elements of a Catalan celebration are: food, central to every party and especially to the pig slaughter and harvest festivals; contests such as the castells (human towers), choice of major and festive floats; music, songs and bands; processions; dances; and animals, especially bulls and representations of mythological creatures. The Patum of Berga has been declared

784-411: A divide without disrupting the feeling of open space by enclosing it with barriers. The Gothic Revival most influenced him, promoted in the latter half of the 19th century by the theoretical works of Eugène Viollet-le-Duc . The French architect called for studying the styles of the past and adapting them in a rational manner, taking into account both structure and design. This influence is reflected in

896-690: A fool or a genius. Time will show." Gaudí, when receiving his degree, reportedly told his friend, the sculptor Llorenç Matamala , with his ironical sense of humour, "Llorenç, they're saying I'm an architect now." Gaudí's first projects were the lampposts he designed for the Plaça Reial in Barcelona, the unfinished Girossi newsstands, and the Cooperativa Obrera Mataronense (Workers' Cooperative of Mataró ) building. He gained wider recognition for his first important commission,

1008-516: A hole in this space to let natural light in. In the intersection between vaults, where Gothic vaults have ribs, the hyperboloid allows holes as well, which Gaudí employed to give the impression of a starry sky.= Catalans Catalans ( Catalan , French and Occitan : catalans ; Spanish : catalanes ; Italian : catalani ; Sardinian : cadelanos or catalanos ) are a Romance ethnic group native to Catalonia , who speak Catalan . The current official category of "Catalans"

1120-434: A local term seny meaning "common sense" or a pragmatic attitude toward life. The counterpart of Catalan "seny" is "rauxa" or madness, epitomized by "crazy", eccentric and creative Catalan artists like Antoni Gaudí , Salvador Dalí , Joan Miró or Antoni Tàpies . The masia or mas is a defining characteristic of the Catalan countryside and includes a large house, land, cattle, and an extended family, but this tradition

1232-491: A native of Mallorca and therefore Catalan-speaking, responded to Gaudí in Catalan, thus breaking protocol in front of the King. Similarly, when philosopher Miguel de Unamuno visited the Sagrada Família, poet Joan Maragall had to translate Gaudí's Catalan tour into Spanish. Gaudí also spoke Catalan in public, although it had been declared illegal by Primo de Rivera , who tried to suppress Catalan culture. In 1920 he

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1344-523: A number of linguistic varieties that are considered dialects of Catalan , among them, the dialect group with the most speakers, Central Catalan . The total number of Catalan speakers is over 9.8 million (2011), with 5.9 million residing in Catalonia. More than half of them speak Catalan as a second language, with native speakers being about 4.4 million of those (more than 2.8 in Catalonia). Very few Catalan monoglots exist; basically, virtually all of

1456-624: A nursery school run by Francesc Berenguer, whose son, also called Francesc, later became one of Gaudí's main assistants. He enrolled in the Piarists school in Reus where he displayed artistic talent via drawings for a seminar called El Arlequín (the Harlequin). During this time, he worked as an apprentice in the Vapor Nou textile mill in Reus. In 1868, he moved to Barcelona to study teaching in

1568-708: A particular dedication to helping the poor and those that physicians can't help. His suffering early in life caused Kneipp to develop a deep sympathy for those less fortunate than him. He turned down many patients that could feasibly recover on their own but claims to have never refused to treat a patient that is poor or untreatable by other methods. Kneipp's book My Water Cure was published in 1886 with many subsequent editions, and translated into many languages. He also wrote "Thus Shalt Thou Live", "My Will", and The Care of Children in Sickness and in Health . Kneipp expanded

1680-430: A place with a reputation for spiritual healing. In addition to "peasants", Kneipp's clients also included Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria and his father, Archduke Karl Ludwig as well as Pope Leo XIII . Others took Kneipp's processes back to their home countries to found alternative therapy spas and colleges. Kneipp began developing his healing methods in 1849 after contracting tuberculosis and experimenting with

1792-475: A taxi to the Santa Creu Hospital , where he received rudimentary care. By the time that the chaplain of the Sagrada Família, Mosén Gil Parés, recognised him on the following day, Gaudí's condition had deteriorated too severely to benefit from additional treatment. Gaudí died on 10 June 1926 at age 73. A large crowd gathered to bid farewell in the chapel of Our Lady of Mount Carmel in the crypt of

1904-464: A treatise on the cold water cure. At Wörishofen, while serving as the confessor to the monastery, he began offering treatments of hydrotherapy, botanical treatments, exercise and diet to the people who lived in the village. Some of his suggested treatments included "ice cold baths and walking barefoot in the snow" and other "harsh" methodologies. In 1893, M. E. Bottey described Kneipp's water cures as "dangerous in most cases". Wörishofen became known as

2016-710: A way to give expression to these forms in architecture. Some of his inspirations came from visits to the mountain of Montserrat , the caves of Mallorca , the saltpetre caves in Collbató , the Fraguerau gorge in the Prades Mountains behind Reus, the Pareis mountain in the north of Mallorca and Sant Miquel del Fai in Bigues i Riells. This study of nature translated into his use of ruled geometrical forms such as

2128-481: Is a style created by the compasses, a formulaic industrial repetition. Its stability depends on constant propping up by the buttresses: it is a defective body held up on crutches. ... The proof that Gothic works are of deficient plasticity is that they produce their greatest emotional effect when they are mutilated, covered in ivy and lit by the moon. After these initial influences, Gaudí moved towards Modernisme , then in its heyday. Modernisme in its earlier stages

2240-597: Is among the most industrialized metropolises. A regional capital, it is a magnet for domestic and foreign migrants. Fire is the element used in most important traditional festivals, which are derived from pagan roots. These celebrations have a high acceptance of fire between the Catalans, like the Flame of Canigó to the Bonfires of Saint John . An important and well-known celebration is La Diada de Sant Jordi , held on 23 April, in which men give women roses, and women give men

2352-672: Is considered among Gaudí's finest works, is known as "House of the Dragon" due to its Georgian symbolism. Sagrada Familia is decorated with many words and writings, such as on the towers and doors, and are mainly in Catalan, such as the Lord's Prayer in Catalan on the main doors. The Palau Güell 's entrance is decorated with the Catalan coat of arms and a helmet with a winged dragon. His project for Barcelona's Muralla de Mar featured shields and names of battles and Catalan admirals. The Torre Bellesguard (1900–1909), former summer palace of King Martin I

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2464-672: Is even associated with the Catalan language. As for anthems, "The Reapers" ( Els Segadors ) is the official national anthem of Catalonia and is also used in the other lands of the Principality; the Balanguera represents the people from the Balearic Islands and, in the case of Valencia, the official "Anthem of the Exhibition" ( Himne de l'Exposició ) alongside Muixeranga as symbols of the country. Sebastian Kneipp Sebastian Kneipp (17 May 1821 – 17 June 1897)

2576-558: Is in decline as the nuclear family has largely replaced the extended family, as in the rest of western Europe. Catalonia in Spain is officially recognised as a " nationality " and enjoy a high degree of political autonomy, which has led to reinforcement of a Catalan identity. The Catalan language is a Romance language . It is the language closest to Occitan , and it also shares many features with other Romance languages such as Spanish, French, Portuguese, Aragonese , and Italian . There are

2688-520: Is known as the Manuscrito de Reus (Reus Manuscript) (1873–1878), a kind of student diary in which he collected diverse impressions of architecture and decorating, putting forward his ideas on the subject. Included are an analysis of the Christian church and of his ancestral home, as well as a text about ornamentation and comments on the design of a desk. Gaudí was a proponent of Catalan culture but

2800-595: Is often depicted as unsociable and unpleasant, a man of gruff reactions and arrogant gestures. However, those who were close to him described him as friendly and polite, pleasant to talk to and faithful to friends. Among these, his patrons Eusebi Güell and the bishop of Vic, Josep Torras i Bages, stand out, as well as the writers Joan Maragall and Jacint Verdaguer , the physician Pere Santaló and some of his most faithful collaborators, such as Francesc Berenguer and Llorenç Matamala. Gaudí's personal appearance—Mediterranean features, dark hair and hazel eyes—changed radically over

2912-462: Is part of the Mediterranean diet and includes the use of olive oil . Catalan people like to eat veal ( vedella ) and lamb ( xai ). There are three main daily meals: In Catalan gastronomy, embotits (a wide variety of Catalan sausages and cold meats) are very important; these are pork sausages such as botifarra or fuet . In the past, bread figured heavily in the Catalan diet; now it

3024-549: Is sometimes called ollada . Other Catalan dishes include calçots (a type of onions that are similar in shape to leeks , often grilled and eaten with a romesco sauce ) and escalivada . Catalan music has one of the oldest documented musical traditions in Europe. The traditional religion in Catalonia is Roman Catholicism . However, in the course of recent history , Catalonia has undergone several waves of secularization. The first wave of secularization happened during

3136-619: Is that of the citizens of Catalonia , a nationality and autonomous community in Spain and the inhabitants of the Roussillon historical region in southern France, today the Pyrénées Orientales department, also called Northern Catalonia and Pays Catalan in French. Some authors also extend the word "Catalans" to include all people from areas in which Catalan is spoken , namely those from Andorra , Valencia ,

3248-445: Is used mainly in the morning (second breakfast, especially among young students and some workers) and supplements the noon meal, at home and in restaurants. Bread is still popular among Catalans; some Catalan fast-food restaurants don't serve hamburgers, but offer a wide variety of sandwiches. In the past, the poor ate soup every day and rice on Thursday and Sunday. The discipline of abstinence, not eating meat during Lent , once

3360-425: The barretina (a sort of woollen, long cap usually red or purple) and the faixa (a sort of wide belt) among men, and ret (a fine net bag to contain hair) among women. The traditional footwear was the espardenya or espadrille . Other items of clothing typical of Catalan female folk costume include the 'pubilla' dress; the 'catalana' also known as the 'payesa' and the 'gandalla' as headwear. The Catalan diet

3472-497: The .cat TLD, the first Internet language-based top-level domain, was approved for all web pages intending to serve the needs of the Catalan linguistic and cultural community on the Internet. This community is made up of those who use the Catalan language for their online communication or promote the different aspects of Catalan culture online. The traditional dress (now practically only used in folkloric celebrations) included

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3584-571: The Balearic Islands , eastern Aragon , Roussillon , and the city of Alghero in Sardinia . The Catalan government regularly surveys its population regarding its "sentiment of belonging". As of July 2019, the results point out that 46.7% of the Catalans and other people living in Catalonia would like independence from Spain, 1.3% less than the year before. In 1500 BCE the area that is now known primarily as Catalonia was, along with

3696-613: The Benedictine monk Gregori M. Sunyol. On 7 June 1926, Gaudí took his daily walk to the Sant Felip Neri church for his habitual prayer and confession. While walking along the Gran Via de les Corts Catalanes between Girona and Bailén streets, he was struck by a passing number 30 tram and lost consciousness. Assumed to be a beggar, the unconscious Gaudí did not receive immediate aid. Eventually passers-by transported him in

3808-707: The Casa Vicens , and subsequently received more significant proposals. At the Paris World's Fair of 1878 , Gaudí displayed a showcase he had produced for the glove manufacturer Comella. Its functional and aesthetic modernista design impressed Catalan industrialist Eusebi Güell , who then commissioned some of Gaudí's most outstanding work: the Güell wine cellars , the Güell pavilions, the Palau Güell (Güell palace),

3920-540: The Cercle Artístic de Sant Lluc (Saint Luke artistic circle), a Catholic artistic society founded in 1893 by the bishop Josep Torras i Bages and the brothers Josep and Joan Llimona. He also joined the Lliga Espiritual de la Mare de Déu de Montserrat (spiritual league of Our lady of Montserrat), another Catholic Catalan organisation. The conservative and religious character of his political thought

4032-528: The Grand Palais of Paris was devoted to his work, during the annual salon of the Société des Beaux-Arts (Fine Arts Society) of France. Gaudí participated on the invitation of count Güell, displaying a series of pictures, plans and plaster scale models of several of his works. Although he participated hors concours , he received good reviews from the French press. A large part of this exposition could be seen

4144-760: The Greeks that founded Empúries and the Phoenicians and Carthaginians , who set up colonies along the coast, including Barcino (present-day Barcelona). Following the Punic Wars , the Romans replaced the Carthaginians as the dominant power in the Iberian eastern coast, including parts of Catalonia, by 206 BCE. Rome established Latin as the official language and imparted a distinctly Roman culture upon

4256-495: The Modernista movement which peaked in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. His work transcended mainstream Modernisme , culminating in a style inspired by natural forms. Gaudí rarely drew detailed plans of his works, instead preferring to create them as three-dimensional scale models and moulding the details as he conceived them. Gaudí's work enjoys global popularity and continuing admiration and study. His masterpiece,

4368-586: The Park Güell (Güell park) and the crypt of the church of the Colònia Güell . Gaudí also became a friend of the marquis of Comillas, the father-in-law of Count Güell, for whom he designed " El Capricho " in Comillas . In 1883 Gaudí was put in charge of the recently initiated project to build a Barcelona church called Basílica i Temple Expiatori de la Sagrada Família (Basilica and Expiatory Church of

4480-708: The Reconquista by Catalan forces over most of Catalonia by the year 801. As the border between Muslim and Frankish realms stabilized, Barcelona would become an important center for Christian forces in the Iberian Peninsula . In 1137, the County of Barcelona entered a dynastic union with the Kingdom of Aragon to form what modern historians call the Crown of Aragon in the so-called Reconquista . This allowed

4592-500: The Spanish Constitution of 1978 . Since this period, a balance between a sense of Catalan national identity versus the broader Spanish one has emerged as the dominant political force in Catalonia. The former tends to advocate for even greater autonomy, national recognition and, part of it, independence; the latter tends to argue for maintaining either a status quo or removal of autonomy and cultural identity, depending on

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4704-405: The hyperbolic paraboloid , the hyperboloid , the helicoid and the cone , which reflect forms Gaudí found in nature. Ruled surfaces are forms generated by a straight line known as the generatrix , as it moves over one or several lines known as directrices . Gaudí found abundant examples of them in nature, for instance in rushes , reeds and bones ; he said that no better structure exists than

4816-562: The 17th century; possible origins of Gaudí's family name include Gaudy or Gaudin. Gaudí's exact birthplace is unknown absent supporting documents, leading to a controversy about whether he was born in Reus or Riudoms, two neighbouring municipalities of the Baix Camp district. Most of Gaudí's identification documents gave Reus as his birthplace. Gaudí stated on various occasions that he was born in Riudoms, his paternal family's village. Gaudí

4928-411: The 1980s. During the 1990s most of the population of Catalonia was non-practising Catholic. Nowadays 52.4% of Catalans declare themselves Catholic, practising or not, 30.2% of Catalans are agnostic or atheist , and there is also a considerable share of other religions, often connected to recent immigration: 7.3% Muslim , 2.5% Evangelical , 1.3% Buddhism , and 1.2% Orthodox Christians . According to

5040-647: The Casa Figueras (Figueras house, better known as Bellesguard ), the Park Güell , an unsuccessful urbanisation project, and the restoration of the Cathedral of Palma de Mallorca, for which he visited Mallorca several times. Between 1904 and 1910 he constructed the Casa Batlló (Batlló house) and the Casa Milà (Milá house), two of his most emblematic works. As a result of Gaudí's increasing fame, in 1902

5152-400: The Catalan speakers in Spain are bilingual speakers of Catalan and Spanish, with a sizable population of Spanish-only speakers of immigrant origin (typically born outside Catalonia or with both parents born outside Catalonia) existing in the major Catalan urban areas as well. In Roussillon , only a minority of French Catalans speak Catalan nowadays, with French being the majority language for

5264-734: The Centre Excursionista de Catalunya in 1879 at age 27. The organisation arranged expeditions to explore Catalonia and southern France, often on horseback or on foot, covering ten kilometres a day. Young Gaudí suffered from poor health, including rheumatism , which may have contributed to his reticent and reserved character. These health concerns and the hygienist theories of Kneipp contributed to Gaudí's early decision to adopt vegetarianism . His religious faith and strict vegetarianism led him to undertake lengthy and severe fasts . These fasts were often unhealthy and occasionally, as in 1894, led to life-threatening illness. Gaudí attended

5376-571: The Church. Gaudí dedicated the last years of his life entirely to the "Cathedral of the Poor", as it was commonly known, for which he took alms in order to continue. Apart from his dedication to this cause, he participated in few other activities, the majority of which were related to his Catholic faith: in 1916 he participated in a course about Gregorian chant at the Palau de la Música Catalana taught by

5488-563: The Convent del Carme. As an adolescent, Gaudí became interested in utopian socialism and, together with his fellow students Eduard Toda i Güell and Josep Ribera i Sans, planned a restoration of the Poblet Monastery that would have transformed it into a Utopian phalanstère . Between 1875 and 1878, Gaudí completed his compulsory military service in the infantry regiment in Barcelona as a Military Administrator. Most of his service

5600-463: The Holy Family, or Sagrada Família). Gaudí completely changed the initial design and imbued it with his own distinctive style. From 1915 until his death, he devoted himself entirely to this project. Given the number of commissions he began receiving, he had to rely on his team to work on multiple projects simultaneously. His team consisted of professionals from all fields of construction. Several of

5712-622: The Humane , was restored by Gaudí and its spire decorated the Catalan flag and the royal crown. He designed a project (not completed) to crown El Cavall Bernat (a mountain peak) with a viewpoint in the shape of a royal crown and a 20 metres (66 ft) high Catalan coat of arms. The Catalan flag was also present in a banner designed for Our Lady of Mercy of Reus and a monument (not completed) to Catalan politician Enric Prat de la Riba in Castellterçol . Even before he became an architect, he

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5824-551: The Sagrada Família in 1915; the 1916 death of his friend Josep Torras i Bages, bishop of Vic; the 1917 disruption of work at the Colonia Güell; and the 1918 death of his friend and patron Eusebi Güell. Perhaps because of these tragedies he devoted himself entirely to the Sagrada Família from 1915, taking refuge in his work. Gaudí confessed to his collaborators: My good friends are dead; I have no family and no clients, no fortune nor anything. Now I can dedicate myself entirely to

5936-421: The Sagrada Família. His gravestone bears this inscription: Antonius Gaudí Cornet. Reusensis. Annos natus LXXIV, vitae exemplaris vir, eximiusque artifex, mirabilis operis hujus, templi auctor, pie obiit Barcinone die X Junii MCMXXVI, hinc cineres tanti hominis, resurrectionem mortuorum expectant. R.I.P. (Antoni Gaudí Cornet. From Reus. At the age of 74, a man of exemplary life, and an extraordinary craftsman,

6048-658: The School of Architecture. The collection also included Moorish monuments in Spain, which inspired many of his early works. He studied the book Plans, elevations, sections and details of the Alhambra by Owen Jones . He took various structural and ornamental solutions from Nasrid and Mudéjar art, which he used with variations and stylistic freedom. Notably, Gaudí observed of Islamic art its spatial uncertainty, its concept of structures with limitless space; its feeling of sequence, fragmented with holes and partitions, which create

6160-764: The Teresian College, the Episcopal Palace in Astorga, the Casa Botines and the Bellesguard house as well as in the crypt and the apse of the Sagrada Família. Nonetheless, for Gaudí the Gothic style was "imperfect", because despite the effectiveness of some of its structural solutions it was an art that had yet to be "perfected". In his own words: Gothic art is imperfect, only half resolved; it

6272-442: The accident that caused his death. Gaudí left hardly any written documents, apart from technical reports of his works required by official authorities, some letters to friends (particularly to Joan Maragall) and a few journal articles. Some quotes collected by his assistants and disciples have been preserved, above all by Josep Francesc Ràfols, Joan Bergós, Cèsar Martinell and Isidre Puig i Boada. The only written document Gaudí left

6384-499: The applied arts and artistic work, yielding an overtly ornamental style; the use of new materials, rich in contrasts, that sought a plastic effect for the whole; a strong sense of optimism and faith in progress that reflected the atmosphere of prosperity of the time, a bourgeois esthetic. Gaudí is usually considered the great master of Catalan Modernism, but his works find their main inspiration in geometry and from nature. Gaudí studied natural and anarchic geometric forms, searching for

6496-472: The architects who worked under him became prominent in the field later on, such as Josep Maria Jujol , Joan Rubió , Cèsar Martinell , Francesc Folguera, and Josep Francesc Ràfols. In 1885, Gaudí moved to rural Sant Feliu de Codines to escape the cholera epidemic that was ravaging Barcelona. He lived in Francesc Ullar's house, for whom he designed a dinner table in gratitude. The 1888 World Fair

6608-463: The area of the Gothic Quarter; when he started his career he moved among rented flats in the Eixample area. Finally, in 1906, he settled in the house in Güell Park that he owned and which had been constructed by his assistant Francesc Berenguer as a showcase property for the estate. It has since become the Gaudí Museum. There he lived with his father (who died in 1906 at the age of 93) and his niece Rosa Egea Gaudí (who died in 1912 at age 36). He lived in

6720-472: The author of this marvelous work, the church, died piously in Barcelona on the tenth day of June 1926; henceforward the ashes of so great a man await the resurrection of the dead. May he rest in peace.) Gaudí devoted his life entirely to his profession, remaining single. He is known to have been attracted to only one woman—Josefa Moreu, teacher at the Mataró Cooperative, in 1884—but this was not reciprocated. Thereafter Gaudí took refuge in his Catholic faith. Gaudí

6832-430: The autonomous community of Catalonia, in the northeast part of Spain. At least 100,000 Catalan speakers live in the Pays Catalan in France. An indeterminate number of Catalans emigrated to the Americas during the Spanish colonial period and to France in the years following the Spanish Civil War . Described by author Walter Starkie in The Road to Santiago as a subtle people, he sums up their national character with

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6944-684: The blood whether it be circulation or foreign matter is the root of disease. Under Kneipp's depiction of disease, water cures work by affecting the blood. They dissolve foreign matter, cleanse the blood of this matter, aid in circulation, and strengthen the body as a whole. In addition to specific cures, Kneipp had prescriptions with regard to food, drink and clothing. He believed that food should be dry and simple and should not be spicy. He also believed that people should drink primarily water but also allowed consumption of alcohol in moderation. As for clothing, Kneipp preferred self-spun clothing made of linen or hemp over wool. Kneipp's approach to medicine

7056-469: The columns so they could better resist the perpendicular pressure on their section. He also gave them a double-turn helicoidal shape (right turn and left turn), as in the branches and trunks of trees. This structure is now known to be fractal . Together with a modulation of the space that divides it into small, independent and self-supporting segment, it creates a structure that supports the mechanical traction forces without need for buttresses , as required by

7168-410: The course of time. As a young man, he dressed like a dandy in costly suits, sporting well-groomed hair and beard, indulging gourmet taste, making frequent visits to the theatre and the opera and visiting his project sites in a horse carriage. The older Gaudí ate frugally, dressed in old, worn-out suits, and neglected his appearance to the extent that sometimes he was taken for a beggar , such as after

7280-429: The crypt of the Colònia Güell and the Sagrada Família allowed Gaudí to add strength to his structures, given that the catenary distributes weight evenly, affected only by self-canceling tangential forces. Gaudí evolved from planar to spatial geometry , and then to ruled geometry . These forms allowed the use of cheap materials such as brick. Gaudí frequently used brick laid with mortar in successive layers, as in

7392-498: The definition of health to include a more holistic view which included mental, social, and spiritual aspects. Toward the end of his life and after his death, various organizations were created to teach his methods. In 1891, he founded Kneipp Bund, an organization that promotes water healing to this day. In America, Kneipp Societies were founded, which, under the influence of Benedict Lust , changed their name to Naturopatic Society of America . Today there are 600 organizations that are

7504-418: The eighteenth century as a result of the enlightenment influence to the bourgeoisie . The second one happened during the nineteenth century, that had a huge impact on the lower and middle class , but was interrupted by the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War (1936–1939). The end of the Francoist regime led to a loss of power by the Catholic Church and to another wave of secularization that extends since

7616-634: The fifth century, making their first capital in the Iberian peninsula Barcelona, and they later would move to Toledo. This continued until 718 when Muslim Arabs took control of the region in order to pass through the Pyrenees into French territory. With the help of the Franks, a land border was created commonly known nowadays as Old Catalonia (which would consist of the counties County of Barcelona , Ausona , County of Pallars , County of Rosselló , County of Empúries , County of Cerdanya and County of Urgell ) which faced Muslim raids but resisted any kind of settlement from them. The southern New Catalonia

7728-468: The following year at the I Salón Nacional de Arquitectura that took place in the municipal exhibition hall of El Buen Retiro in Madrid. During the Paris exposition in May 1910, Gaudí spent a holiday in Vic , where he designed two basalt lampposts and wrought iron for the Plaça Major of Vic in honor of Jaume Balmes 's centenary. The following year he resided as a convalescent in Puigcerdà while suffering from tuberculosis . During this time he conceived

7840-450: The house until 1925, several months before his death, when he began residing inside the workshop of the Sagrada Família. Tragic Week in 1909 had a profound impact on Gaudí's personality. Gaudí remained in his house in Güell Park during this turbulent period. The anticlerical atmosphere and attacks on churches and convents caused Gaudí to worry for the safety of the Sagrada Família, but the building escaped damage. In 1910, an exhibition in

7952-413: The idea for the façade of the Passion of the Sagrada Família. Due to ill health he prepared a will at the office of the notary Ramon Cantó i Figueres on 9 June, but later recovered. The decade from 1910 was hard for Gaudí. During this decade, the architect experienced the deaths of his niece Rosa in 1912 and his main collaborator Francesc Berenguer in 1914; a severe economic crisis which paralysed work on

8064-578: The image. Fantasy comes from the ghosts. Fantasy is what people in the North own. We are concrete. The image comes from the Mediterranean. Orestes knows his way, where Hamlet is torn apart by his doubts." Time spent outdoors, particularly during summer stays in the Gaudí family home Mas de la Calderera, afforded Gaudí the opportunity to study nature. Gaudí's enjoyment of the natural world led him to join

8176-531: The imposition of absolutism and the abolition of Catalan political institutions and public law, thus ending the status of Catalonia as a separate state within a personal union. During the Napoleonic Wars , much of Catalonia was seized by French forces by 1808, as France ruled the entire country of Spain briefly until Napoleon 's surrender to Allied Armies. In France, strong assimilationist policies integrated many Catalans into French society, while in Spain

8288-570: The inhabitants after a continued process of language shift . According to a 2019 survey by the Catalan government, 31.5% of the inhabitants of Catalonia have Catalan as first language at home whereas 52.7% have Spanish, 2.8% both Catalan and Spanish and 10.8% other languages. The inhabitants of the Aran valley count Aranese –an Occitan dialect–rather than Catalan as their own language. These Catalans are also bilingual in Spanish. In September 2005,

8400-614: The late Middle Ages , the loss of hegemony within the Crown, as well as urban and feudal internal conflicts led to the Catalan Civil War in 1462. In the last quarter of the 15th century, the marriage of Isabella I of Castile and Ferdinand II of Aragon led to the dynastic union of the Crown of Aragon with the Crown of Castille , in which each of the constitutive realm kept its own laws, policies, power structures, borders and monetary systems. Continuous unrest led to conflicts on

8512-468: The leanings of the current government. As a result, there tends to be much fluctuation depending on regional and national politics during a given election cycle. Given the stronger centralist tendencies in France, however, French Catalans display a much less dynamic sense of uniqueness, having been integrated more consistently into the unitary French national identity. The vast majority of Catalans reside in

8624-619: The local population, which merged with Roman colonists from the Italian peninsula . An early precursor to the Catalan language began to develop from a local form of popular Latin before and during the collapse of the Roman Empire . Various Germanic tribes arrived following nearly six centuries of Roman rule, which had completely transformed the area into the Roman province of Tarraconensis . The German Visigoths established themselves in

8736-485: The most recent study sponsored by the government of Catalonia , as of 2016, 61.9% of the Catalans identify as Christians , up from 56.5% in 2014. At the same time, 16.0% of the population identify as atheists , 11.9% as agnostics , 4.8% as Muslims , 1.3% as Buddhists , and a further 2.4% as being of other religions. Catalonia is one of the richest and most developed regions in Southern Europe . Barcelona

8848-410: The neo-Gothic style. Gaudí thus achieved a structured and logical solution, establishing an architectural style that was original, simple, practical and aesthetic. This new constructional technique allowed Gaudí to achieve his greatest architectural goal; to perfect and surpass Gothic style. The hyperboloid vaults have their center where Gothic vaults placed their keystone, and the hyperboloid allows for

8960-426: The painter Joan Llimona chose Gaudí's features to represent Saint Philip Neri in the paintings for the aisle of the Sant Felip Neri church in Barcelona. Together with Joan Santaló, son of his friend the physician Pere Santaló, he unsuccessfully founded a wrought iron manufacturing company the same year. After moving to Barcelona, Gaudí frequently changed his address: as a student he lived in residences, generally in

9072-475: The reclamation of Muslim-dominated lands, eventually conquering the kingdoms of Valencia and Majorca (the Balearic Islands ). From the 13th century onwards, the territory of the County of Barcelona and the other Catalan counties progressively began to be identified as a single political entity and, from the mid-14th century, that polity began to be known as the Principality of Catalonia . The crisis of

9184-457: The rest of the Iberian Peninsula , inhabited by Proto-Celtic Urnfield people who brought with them the rite of burning the dead. Much of the Pyrenees mountains was inhabited at the time by peoples related to modern Basques , and today many town names in the western Catalan Pyrenees can be linked to Basque etymologies. These groups came under the rule of various invading groups starting with

9296-654: The rest remained under Spanish Crown. The Catalan government took sides with the Habsburg pretender against the Bourbon one during the War of the Spanish Succession that started in 1705 and ended in 1714. The Catalan failure to defend the continuation of Habsburg rule in Spain culminated in the surrender of Barcelona on 11 September 1714 which came to be commemorated as Catalonia's National Day . The surrender led to

9408-476: The second half of the 19th century, brought more Gothic forms into the Catalan "national" style that aimed to combine nationalism and cosmopolitanism while at the same time integrating into the European modernizing movement. Essential features of Modernisme included: an anticlassical language inherited from Romanticism with a tendency to lyricism and subjectivity; the determined connection of architecture with

9520-800: The states of the Crown of Aragon, such as the Revolt of the Germanies in Valencia and Majorca, and the 1640 revolt in Catalonia known as the Reapers' War . This latter conflict embroiled Spain in a larger war with France as the Catalan institutions allied themselves with Louis XIII . The war continued until 1659 and ended with the Peace of the Pyrenees , which effectively partitioned the Principality of Catalonia as its northern strip came under French rule, while

9632-468: The still-incomplete Sagrada Família, is the most-visited monument in Spain. Between 1984 and 2005, seven of his works were declared UNESCO World Heritage Sites . Gaudí's Catholic faith intensified during his life and religious images appear in many of his works. This earned him the nickname "God's Architect". His cause for canonization was opened in the Archdiocese of Barcelona in 2003. Gaudí

9744-447: The traditional Catalan vault , laying the brick flat instead of on its side or its end. This quest for new structural solutions culminated between 1910 and 1920, when he exploited his research and experience in his masterpiece, the Sagrada Família . Gaudí conceived the interior of the church as if it were a forest, with a set of tree-like columns growing into branches to support a structure of intertwined hyperboloid vaults . He inclined

9856-491: The trunk of a tree or a human skeleton . These forms are both functional and aesthetic, and Gaudí adapted nature to the structural needs of architecture. He used to equate the helicoid form to movement and the hyperboloid to light. Concerning ruled surfaces, he said: Paraboloids, hyperboloids and helicoids, constantly varying the incidence of the light, are rich in matrices themselves, which make ornamentation and even modelling unnecessary. Another element widely used by Gaudí

9968-462: The water treatments developed by Sigmund Hahn. After being ordained in 1852, he continued to experiment with water treatments in his parish. Kneipp began working with the cures developed by Vincenz Priessnitz but developed a more complicated and gentle method. His gentle cures contrast the earlier water cures that he referred to as horse cures for their strenuous nature. Kneipp's treatment of patients also contrasted that of hospital medicine because it

10080-427: Was baptised in the church of Sant Pere Apòstol in Reus the day after his birth under the name "Antoni Plàcid Guillem Gaudí i Cornet". Gaudí had a deep appreciation for his native land and great pride in his Mediterranean heritage for his art. He believed Mediterranean people to be endowed with creativity, originality and an innate sense for art and design. Gaudí reportedly described this distinction by stating, "We own

10192-540: Was a German Catholic priest and one of the forefathers of the naturopathic movement. He is most commonly associated with the "Kneipp Cure" form of hydrotherapy (often called "Kneipp therapy" or "Kneippism" ), the application of water through various methods, temperatures and pressures, which he claimed to have therapeutic or healing effects, thus building several hospitals in Bad Wörishofen . Although most commonly associated with one area of nature cure , Kneipp

10304-573: Was able to complete his studies. He was ordained as a Catholic priest in 1852. In the 19th century, there was a popular revival in the application of hydrotherapy , instigated around 1829 by Vincent Priessnitz , a peasant farmer in Gräfenberg , then part of the Austrian Empire . This revival was continued by Kneipp, "an able and enthusiastic follower" of Priessnitz, "whose work he took up where Priessnitz left it", after he came across

10416-667: Was beaten by police in a riot during the Floral Games celebrations, a Catalan culture celebration. On 11 September 1924, National Day of Catalonia , he was beaten at a demonstration against the Catalan language ban. He was arrested by the Civil Guard as he traveled to the church of Sant Just i Sant Pastor to attend a mass in memory of Catalonian patriots. Gaudí refused to speak Spanish and kept responding in Catalan, stating that "My profession obliges me to pay my taxes, and I pay them, but not to stop speaking my own language." He

10528-526: Was born on 25 June 1852 in Riudoms or Reus to coppersmith Francesc Gaudí i Serra (1813–1906) and Antònia Cornet i Bertran (1819–1876). He was the youngest of five children, and far outlived the other two who survived to adulthood: Rosa (1844–1879) and Francesc (1851–1876). Gaudí's family originated in the Auvergne region in southern France. One of his ancestors, Joan Gaudí, a hawker, moved to Catalonia in

10640-515: Was closely linked to his defence of the cultural identity of the Catalan people. At the beginning of the century, Gaudí was working on numerous projects simultaneously. They reflected his shift to a more personal style inspired by nature. In 1900, he received an award for the best building of the year from the Barcelona City Council for his Casa Calvet . During the first decade of the century Gaudí dedicated himself to projects like

10752-629: Was envisioned by Gaudí as a focus of Catalan nationalism and cultural aspirations. Gaudí inserted numerous Catalan motifs in the park, such as a large mosaic with the Catalan flag or the representations of dragons, which were seen as Catalan symbols during the Renaixença because of their connection to Catalan patron saint George . The Park hosted the First Congress of the Catalan Language during construction. Casa Batlló , which

10864-430: Was influenced by his passions in life: architecture, nature, and religion. He considered every detail of his creations. His work combined crafts such as ceramics , stained glass , wrought ironwork forging , and carpentry. He introduced new techniques in the treatment of materials, such as trencadís which used waste ceramic pieces. Under the influence of neo-Gothic art and Oriental techniques, Gaudí became part of

10976-490: Was inspired by historic architecture. Its practitioners saw its return to the past as a response to the industrial forms imposed by the Industrial Revolution 's technological advances. The use of these older styles represented a moral regeneration that allowed the bourgeoisie to identify with values they regarded as their cultural roots. The Renaixença (rebirth), the revival of Catalan culture that began in

11088-690: Was inspired by oriental arts (India, Persia , Japan) through the study of the historicist architectural theoreticians, such as Walter Pater , John Ruskin , and William Morris . The influence of the Oriental movement can be seen in works like the Capricho, the Güell Palace, the Güell Pavilions and the Casa Vicens . As a student, Gaudí studied a collection of photographs of Egyptian, Indian, Persian, Mayan, Chinese and Japanese art owned by

11200-508: Was interested in the history of medieval Catalonia, when it was important in Mediterranean politics and history. He joined several Catalan associations, such as Cercle Artístic de Sant Lluc , Lliga Espiritual de la Mare de Déu de Montserrat , Associació Catalanista d'Excursions Científiques . The latter was a group dedicated to preserving and celebrating Catalan art, landscape, culture, and language. Gaudí's professional life continually investigated mechanical building structures. Early on, Gaudí

11312-700: Was not constructed. In the early 1890s, Gaudí received two commissions from outside of Catalonia, namely the Episcopal Palace, Astorga , and the Casa Botines in León . These works contributed to Gaudí's growing renown across Spain. In 1891, he travelled to Málaga and Tangiers to examine the site for a project for the Franciscan Catholic Missions that the 2nd marquis of Comillas had requested him to design. In 1899 Gaudí joined

11424-639: Was not independent of his Catholic faith. His focus on water and herbs stems from the idea that remedies are naturally provided by God. His emphasis on plain food, drink, and clothing comes from the theory that humans should live in accord with nature. He used scripture as well as references to Roman practice to support the reasoning behind his cure and admitted that his treatments did not fall in line with current scientific understanding. The fact that his treatments were not based in scientific theory did not bother Kneipp because they were seen as able to succeed where scientific medicine could not. Sebastian Kneipp had

11536-616: Was not politically active. He refused suggestions by politicians such as Francesc Cambó and Enric Prat de la Riba that he run for deputy . His Catalan identity was less political and more geared towards art, history, culture, and language. Gaudí had a deep attachment to his native Catalan language . When King of Spain Alfonso XIII visited the Sagrada Familia , Gaudí spoke to him only in Catalan. Gaudí also refused to speak Spanish with Prime Minister Antonio Maura , who, as

11648-583: Was one of the era's major events in Barcelona and represented a key point in the history of the Modernisme movement. Leading architects displayed their best works, including Gaudí, who showcased the building he had designed for the Compañía Trasatlántica (Transatlantic Company). Consequently, he received a commission to restructure the Saló de Cent of the Barcelona City Council, but this project

11760-460: Was personalized and took into account the patient's individual strengths and weaknesses. Kneipp's approach comes from his theory that all diseases originate in the circulatory system. This theory is similar to humoral theory . Like those who believed in humoral theory, Kneipp asserted that breathing miasmatic or excessively hot air would lead to disease. While it may deal with one humor instead of four, his theory still asserts that an imbalance in

11872-668: Was spent on sick leave, enabling him to continue his studies. His poor health kept him from having to fight in the Third Carlist War , which lasted from 1872 to 1876. In 1876, Gaudí's mother died at age 57, as did his 25-year-old brother Francesc, who had just graduated as a physician. During this time Gaudí studied architecture at the Llotja School and the Barcelona Higher School of Architecture, graduating in 1878. To finance his studies, Gaudí worked as

11984-401: Was the catenary arch . He had studied geometry when he was young, absorbing numerous articles about engineering, a field that praised the catenary curve as a mechanical element, although at that time they were used only in the construction of suspension bridges . Gaudí was the first to use this element in common architecture. Catenary arches in works like the Casa Milà , the Teresian College,

12096-531: Was the proponent of an entire system of healing, which rested on five main tenets: Kneipp was born in 1821 in Stephansried in the Kingdom of Bavaria . His father was a weaver, and Kneipp trained as a weaver until he was 23 when he began training for the priesthood. Matthias Merkle, a priest in Grönenbach began instructing him, but Kneipp fell ill with tuberculosis in 1847. Kneipp was so ill that he

12208-557: Was then taken to prison, and was released after paying 50 pesetas bail. Gaudí incorporated elements of Catalan culture in his works. Gaudí was part of the Catalan Renaissance ( Renaixença in Catalan), a romantic revivalist and cultural movement that aimed at restoring Catalan language and arts combined with an anti-Castilian political "Catalanism". Park Güell, which was commissioned by Catalan patriot Eusebi Güell ,

12320-620: Was under Arab/Muslim rule for about 4-5 centuries. The Franks on the other side of the Pyrenees held back the main Muslim raiding army which had penetrated virtually unchallenged as far as central France at the Battle of Tours in 732. Frankish suzerainty was then extended over much of present-day Catalonia. Larger wars with the Muslims began in the March of Barcelona which led to the beginnings of

12432-450: Was very strong, but today it is only practiced in the rural areas. Spicy food is rare in the Catalan diet but there are quite garlicky sauces such as allioli or romesco . One type of Catalan dish is escudella , a soup which contains chick peas, potatoes, and vegetables such as green cabbage, celery, carrots, turnips, and meats such as botifarra (a Catalan sausage), pork feet, salted ham, chicken, and veal. In Northern Catalonia, it

12544-538: Was visited by a physician around 100 times in each of his last two years of study. While Kneipp was ill, he began reading many books and found his illness described in a book about water cures. In 1850, Kneipp met a student in the Georgianum seminary in Munich that was also ill and shared water cures with him. Both Kneipp and his friend at the Georgianum recovered from their illnesses and with his renewed health Kneipp

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