Instead of Gaudi, what?

Today we went to the Palau de Musica Catalan, built by another Modernist, Domenech i Montaner, a hundred years ago. Every inch decorated! The film that was shown as part of the tour had some marvellous juxtapositions of decoration, showing how tiles, glass, metal were used to give the variations of the same patterns. It´s a World Heritage Site and the official website takes an age to load (impatient people should try this one). No photographs are permitted as the Palau is owned by the Catalan Orpheus choir. Interesting to hear how important music was in developing a nationalistic spirit, and to think of how music has done this in other countries at other time - for instance, in Estonia under the Russians.

Another alternative to Gaudi is Romanesque art at MNAC. The museum´s website has only a few images, but it does have to be experienced in person. The frescos were taken from 11th century churches in the Pyrenees, and the shapes of the walls rebuilt in the museum.