Casa Milà

Casa Milà is a building designed by the Catalan architect Antoni Gaudí and built in the years 1905 to 1907. It is located at 92, Passeig de Gràcia ('passeig' is Catalan for promenade or avenue) in the Eixample district of Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. It was built for Roger Segimon de Milà. It is one of the UNESCO World Heritage Sites.

The building was given the informal name of La Pedrera (Catalan for 'The Quarry') by locals.

The building does not have any straight lines. Most people consider it magnificent and overwhelming -- some say it is like waves of lava or a sand-dune. This building seems to break our understanding of conventional architecture. The most astonishing part is the roof with an almost lunar appearance and dreamlike landscape.

The building can be considered more of a sculpture than a regular building. Critics remark on its detachment from usefulness, but others consider it to be art.

Casa Milà was a predecessor of some buildings in a similar style:

• Einstein Tower in Potsdam
• Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York
• Chapelle Notre Dame du Haut, Ronchamp, France, designed by Le Corbusier
• Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles

Free exhibitions are often held on the first floor, which also provides some opportunity to see the interior design. There is a charge of several Euro for visiting the roof.

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