Arcadia Spain

We went together to a flamenco concert in a unique venue: El Palau de la Música Catalana!

At the show, the students were able to discover the intensity of the passion in gipsies life through times, moving through the different “palos” of flamenco (rhythmic patterns such as “bulería”, festive and happy).

But the concert would not be the same if it wasn’t for the Palau de la Musica Catalana, designed by the architect Lluís Domènech i Montaner and built between 1905 and 1908.

The concert hall of the Palau, which seats about 2,200 people, is the only auditorium in Europe that is illuminated during daylight hours entirely by natural light. It has an enormous skylight of stained glass designed by Antoni Rigalt whose centerpiece is an inverted dome in shades of gold surrounded by blue that suggests the sun and the sky.

The architectural decoration in the concert hall is a masterpiece of creativity and imagination, yet everything has been carefully considered for its utility in the presentation of music. The hall is not a theater, because the massive sculptures flanking the stage make the use of scenery nearly impossible. Likewise, even though a noble pipe organ graces the apse-like area above and behind the stage, the hall is not a church.