The National Museum of Science and Technology of Catalonia (MNACTEC) has opened the exhibition "Gaudí's Invisible Garden", presenting an unknown architectural complex by the Catalan architect Antoni Gaudí (Reus or Riudoms, 1852 - Barcelona, 1926) within the gardens of the former Sant Boi de Llobregat Mental Asylum. The exhibition is open to visitors until 1 December 2024 at the MNACTEC Arts Space.
Built between 1903 and 1912, the modernist garden features grottos, lakes and benches with mosaic tiling. It comprises three architectural units: the Cave-waterfall (1906), a rockery construction in the form of a cave and mountain topped with a canopy; the Chapel of Our Lady (1911), a rockery construction in the form of a dragon, containing a sculpture of the Virgin Mary, and the Bench Square (1912), its perimeter marked by benches made from solid brickwork clad in mosaic tiling and pebbles.
The garden was recently attributed to the Catalan architect Antoni Gaudí, seen as one of the supreme figures of the Modernist movement. The modernist complex contains architectural elements with formal characteristics and symbolic content –connected with the text of the Book of Revelation– linking it to some of the most important works that Gaudí was building during the same period, or went on to erect straight after: the ceilings of the naves of the Sagrada Família (1915-1921); the compositional structure of the layout of the crypt of the Colònia Güell (1908-1915); formal aspects of the Casa Milà (1906-1912), and the cross-section and mosaic tiling of the serpentine bench in the Park Güell (1910-1914).
13 June 2024
