The back of Gaudí’s House Batlló Fazde has been restored – History

The rear facade and courtyard of Antonio Gaudí in Barcelona’s iconic Casa Batlló has been restored to the original glory of 1906. Now visitors to the building will have the opportunity to see the way Gaudí created it for the first time in more than a century.

The building was originally built in the late 19th century and was conventional and completely inconspicuous before the remodeling of textile tycoons Josep Batlló and Gaudí. Between 1904 and 1906, he turned the Victorian monotony into an iridescent, curved structure inspired by nature (coral reefs, marine animals, bones, mushrooms), St. George killed the dragon, the roof represented the dragon’s curved back, and the ceramic tiles represented its scales.

While the front facade is a fantastic performance of Catalan modernism (the Art nouveau version of Barcelona), the back is a private space. The Batlló family’s dining room on the noble floor opens to the courtyard. It is considered a vertical garden, an architectural version of flowering rock climbing vines like vines, whose branches are spread over the surface and are connected to each other in the explosion of colorful flowers. The rolling balconies evoke the vine pattern, while the courtyard’s custom jardinières are filled with plants and unique parabola sheepskin pergola to create a soft, shaded backyard for the family to enjoy.

Gaudí survived without even a decade of unscathing in the original design of the back of the building. Major revisions began in 1915 when seeders and pergolas were removed, but later additions obscured the original features of the rear facade, even as the frontline became Barcelona’s idol, a top tourist destination and UNESCO World Heritage Site. Part of the restorations from the 1950s and 1990s failed to restore the lost stuff, and the balcony and patio required emergency repairs.

The one-year €3.5 million project is the first comprehensive approach to restoring the original vision of Gaudí’s back. Trencadís, mosaics made of broken ceramic tiles, glass and stucco, are one of Gaudi’s most recognizable signatures, the sides and crowns of the facade are washed and repaired, and crowns on the courtyard walls. The pergola covering the garden center was recreated and the mosaic paving was copied by artisans using traditional techniques. Intricate wrought iron railings, mosaic floors, carved wooden windows and French doors to the balcony have all been restored.

These interventions seem to promote dialogue between the past and present of the building through a special focus on importance. More than 85,000 Nolla Mosaics were originally laid in the courtyard in the early 19th century, manually restored or replicated, using enhanced materials to ensure outdoor durability. Trencadís Mosaics, Antoni Gaudí’s signature ceramic and glass patchwork is preserved in situ where possible, or carefully replicated using 3D scans and high-resolution archival images to keep their original pattern intact.

The steel mill, including railings and pergola structures, has been restored by the workshop of Enric Pla Montferrer in the Alps. Where welds were introduced in previous repairs, the team restored Gaudi’s original bolt modular system, thanks to the original construction markings found on site. During the restoration process, the team found that even hidden structures supporting the balcony would find surprises, such as spiral bricks and reinforcement libraries, radical periods until recent interventions.

From the original Montin team to the balcony door, the wood elements are restored or recreated by heritage carpenter Josep Bartolí. Crucially, the original tones (long buried under decades of repainting) were discovered through formation analysis, revealing the palette that echoes the main facade of Casa Batlló. The stucco also reveals the transition from faded bold black to warm cream, reshaping the feeling of the entire rear facade, and the building’s prevalence is celebrated in contrast to the dramatic boom.

During the recovery process, the work of traditional craftsmen has been recorded and documented to give visitors a glimpse of the complex restoration and Gaudi’s original technology.