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Princeton University Athletics
Princeton Tours Barcelona On Off Day
August 23, 2002 | Men's Basketball
Aug. 23, 2002
Barcelona - After leaving Valencia in the morning and traveling along the coast, the Princeton men's basketball team arrived in Barcelona Thursday afternoon. The traveling party was treated to a guided tour of the historic city Friday morning.
Within blocks of the Hotel Magestic, located near the heart of the city, are two impressive buildings designed by Antoni Gaudi, Barcelona's most famous architect.
Casa Batllo and La Pedrera are residences that were designed by the architect who lived from the middle of the 19th century to the late 1920s. Casa Batllo is also called the "House of Bones" because of it's unique design. Columns that have been sculptured to give the impression of bones enclose and support arched windows. The roof, done in many shingles of many colors ranging from beige to purple, is shaped to resemble the Dragon of Catalonian folk lore.
La Pedrera is an apartment building that has an exterior that symbolizes the waves of the Sea. Both pieces are famous and impressive; neither is Gaudi's masterpiece.
Gaudi, as the tour guide explained, drew his inspiration from nature. A devote Catholic, Gaudi saw God as the highest and only true architect. God had created everything; therefore, Gaudi drew upon the creations that the ultimate architect had envisioned.
The travel party stopped at La Sagrada Famila, Gaudi's most famous work. La Sagrada Famila is a cathedral that was started more than 100 years ago and remains only approximately 50% complete. Four massive towers that have an extreme organic feel to them stretch high into the Barcelona sky. The towers are decorated with more than 300 different identifiable plants and animals. Between the towers on the east side of the church is carved a Cyprus tree, the sign of eternal life that is decorated in a rich green tile. The cathedral is dedicated to the Holy Family, and a scene of the birth of Jesus is located under the Cyprus tree.
The cathedral is missing a front and a roof. Many of stained glass windows have not been installed. The central tower, though designed by Gaudi nearly 100 years ago, has not been built. Once constructed it will be the second highest building in Spain, reaching more than 500 feet. Unlike most cathedrals, no flying buttresses are needed, due to its unique design.
"I knew of Gaudi before coming on this trip," said Konrad Wysocki, a junior to be and the 2001 Ivy League Rookie of the Year. "As an architecture major, I was very interested to see his work and was happy to get a chance to do so."
After stopping at La Sagrada Famila, the team was driven through the "Gothic Quarter" of the city. Originally founded by the Romans nearly 2000 years ago, Barcelona originally was small by modern standards and surrounded by a wall. Much of the expanded city was built within the last 200 years and is dominated by a certain architecture described as "new." Many of the apartments and shops that are located in the expanded area are characterized by this architecture, used 100 years ago. The buildings are usually between four and eight stories high, and large windows with ironwork surround a little landing in front of the window.
This expanded part of the city surrounds the Gothic Quarter and is where the hotel is located. Within the Gothic Quarter is Barcelona's Gothic cathedral, where Gaudi went for services while he was building La Sagrada Famila.
The tour took us along the Barcelona coast, where many of the nightlife activities are located that were visited by some of the traveling party yesterday evening. Leaving the coast, we stopped in a park that overlooked the entire city of Barcelona and the surrounding area, which is bordered by the sea on one end and mountains on the other.
The next stop was the Olympic Stadium, which seats more 60,000 fans, and the Olympic torch, that though extinguished is still an impressive site. The team also saw the indoor stadium and the diving pool. The Olympic arenas and sites from the 1992 Summer Games are primarily located in the park that over looks the city.
Just as in Madrid or Valencia, there is plenty of shopping to be done and sites to visit, but it is also the Spanish culture to simply relax at a cafe down the street and watch the city traffic go by.
by Ben Solomon, Princeton Athletic Communications