Palau Güell

Why go

Palau Güell is the town mansion on Carrer Nou de la Rambla, in Barcelona's Ciutat Vella, that Antoni Gaudí built for the entrepreneur Eusebi Güell. The Park Güell website, part of Barcelona City Council's web, says Güell entrusted Gaudí with building this new house in 1886, and Barcelona Provincial Council (the Diputació de Barcelona) calls it an urban palace built in only four years. The Diputació says it has owned the palace since 1945, when Güell's youngest daughter, Mercè Güell López, donated it on condition that the building be preserved and given a cultural use, and that it restored the palace and later opened it to the public. Its news service says UNESCO inscribed Palau Güell on the World Heritage List in 1984, together with Park Güell and Casa Milà; that listing is a designation, not this record. Opening days, hours and visit rules are set by the palace, so check its own website before you go.