Archive for 'Architectural Gems in Spain'

The Prado Museum in Madrid is one of the city's top cultural attractions and one of the most incredible galleries and collections in the world, certainly in Spain. In fact, the whole experience of the gallery was so rich and overwhelming that it made this writer well up embarrassingly in public while wandering around. Truly, it is an extraordinary place. Housed in a vast, beautiful and grand 18th century Neoclassical building, it was opened as a museum in 1819 and is home to works by great masters such as Rembrandt, Titian, Goya, Raphael, Rubens, and Bosch, among many others. For one of the best art experiences in all of Europe, just find a vacation rental in Spain and come explore the stunning Prado Museum.

Named for the district where it is located, the area around the museum was formerly a market garden known as the "prado" or meadow. Impressed by the Louvre, the Spanish queen, Isabella of Braganza, decided she also wanted a space in which to display her own remarkable collection. The building had been originally designed by Juan de Villanueva to house the Natural History Cabinet but eventually became home to the royal collections.

One of the most talked about and striking buildings in the world has to be Barcelona's Sagrada Familia. It is certainly one of the most famous landmarks in the city and is a truly massive building. Often referred to as a “cathedral” it is not actually the city's cathedral and is not home to a bishop's seat. Instead, it is a large and iconic church that was officially raised to a basilica and inaugurated in 2002 by Pope Benedict XVI. Work began on the building in 1882 and will supposedly be completed around 2026. As one of Gaudí's most iconic works in the city so entangled with his life, it really is a must-see for anyone who has found a vacation rental in Barcelona and is planning to explore the beautiful city.

In the middle of the 19th century, bookseller José María Boca Bella, founder of the Asociación Espiritual de Devotos de San José (Spiritual Association of Devotees of St. Joseph), planned to build a church in Barcelona and to devote it to the Holy Family – the "Sagrada Familia.

The Plaza de España, in Seville, was built for the Ibero-American Exhibition in 1929, as were many of the pavilions that you can still see in the area around the Parque Maria Luisa. A semi-circular brick building executed in a combination of Renaissance and Neo-Moorish styles, it is a vast and beautiful building. 50,000 square metres in size, as large as five football pitches, it was designed by architect Anibal Gonzalez to wow the exhibitors and visitors from around the world, as well as showcase Seville's excellent craftsmanship and one can imagine that its sheer scale and incredible beauty did just that.

Situated in Maria Luisa Park, it is now home to various government offices, including the offices that issue IDs and the NIE (Numero de Identificacion de Extranjero) to those who have moved to Spain from abroad. However, while the interior is for official purposes, the picturesque exterior has ensured that this lovely building remains a tourist attraction and a particularly photogenic one, at that.