World Monuments Fund has included the Güell Pavilions on the 2014 World Monuments Watch

The Güell Pavilions in Barcelona.
The Güell Pavilions in Barcelona.
Culture
(10/10/2013)

The Güell Pavilions in Barcelona have been selected for the Watch 2014, a programme of World Monuments Fund (WMF) as one of the worldwide architectural and cultural heritage sites at risk. To be included in Watch list means to receive special international attention to promote the conservation and safekeeping of heritage monuments. Currently, the Urban Landscape Institute of Barcelona City Council and the UB are working together in a project to restore the Güell Pavilions. The Pavilions were Antoni Gaudíʼs first work in Barcelona.

The Güell Pavilions in Barcelona.
The Güell Pavilions in Barcelona.
Culture
10/10/2013

The Güell Pavilions in Barcelona have been selected for the Watch 2014, a programme of World Monuments Fund (WMF) as one of the worldwide architectural and cultural heritage sites at risk. To be included in Watch list means to receive special international attention to promote the conservation and safekeeping of heritage monuments. Currently, the Urban Landscape Institute of Barcelona City Council and the UB are working together in a project to restore the Güell Pavilions. The Pavilions were Antoni Gaudíʼs first work in Barcelona.

Thanks to the proposal coordinated by the UB professor Mireia Freixa, supported by the office of the Vice-Rector for Institutional Relations and Culture, the pavilions are included in the 2014 Watch. The present Management Plan of the University and the Barcelona City Council includes the restoration of the architectural elements of the pavilions, the adjacent garden and the perimeter walls of the ancient estate. The main objectives of the preservation work are to return Gaudíʼs architecture to its original state and aspect, to regenerate the garden, and to substitute 1960ʼs opaque perimeter wall for a fence which allows seeing the ensemble from the street. Guided tours to the pavilions can be scheduled thanks to an agreement between the UB and Ruta del Modernisme. Resources obtained by the Barcelona Knowledge Campus (BKC) enabled to carry out the first restoration works.

 
In 1883, Eusebi Güell commissioned Gaudí to build the gatehouses of the Güell Estate, located at todayʼs Carrer Manuel Girona. Fantasy and technical innovation came together in Gaudíʼs design. When you set your foot inside the estate, you find a garden; it is not a typical French garden in which Gaudí promoted the introduction of native species. The structure of both pavilions (intended to be the caretakerʼs house and the stables) is composed by traditional architectural elements that Gaudí stylized. The magnificent wrought-iron gate in the shape of a dragon, which connects both gatehouses, represents the giant mythological dragon from the Garden of the Hesperides. When Eusebio Güell died, his family ceded the house and one part of the estate to build the Palau Reial de Pedralbes, so the pavilions were then out of the enclosure. In 1950, the UB purchased the lot where both pavilions are located. From 1968 to 2010, the pavilion built to be the stables hosted the Gaudí Chair.
 
World Monuments Fund is the leading independent organization devoted to saving important cultural heritage sites around the world. The Watch began in 1996 with the support of founding sponsor American Express and is published every two years. Since its inception, the program has included over 740 sites in 133 countries and territories. In addition to WMF support, many sites have successfully leveraged donations from other organizations thanks to the interest that the Watch list awakes.