Casa Batlló, also known as Casa del Ossos, is a residential building located at Passeig de Gràcia 43, near the center Barcelona. It was designed by a genius Catalan architect Antoni Gaudi, whose life's work is also another famous building in Barcelona - Sagrada Familia.
Casa Batlló is located on UNESCO World Heritage Site.
General information
The tenement house was erected in the years 1875–1877. The textile manufacturer Josep Batlló i Casanovas, who owned it from 1900, initially planned to demolish the house and erect a new building on this site, but finally in 1904 he decided only to commission the reconstruction of the building. Antoni Gaudí and Josep Bayó and Font were supposed to take care of it. Gaudí personally supervised the work in progress. The house was rebuilt in 1904–1906, and Gaudí also designed interior details - furniture, lighting, chandeliers and more.
Description of the building
The building is richly decorated, and its facade consists of numerous elements referring to animal motifs, such as: bones (the form of balconies), scales (roof), fish scales (tiles covering the walls). In addition, the shelled roof resembles a dragon, which perhaps refers to the legend of St. George and the Dragon, which is part of the Catalan national identity. Gaudí used unusual materials to decorate the exterior walls of the building - pieces of different colored ceramics and broken tiles.
The undulating structure, decorated with blue and green mosaics, stands in contrast to the subdued architecture of the surroundings. It looks a bit like a huge sea creature trapped in the street. The most interesting is the roof, whose shape resembles a fantastic dragon.
The facade of Casa Batlló is made of sandstone covered with a colorful mosaic (trencadis - Catalan type of mosaic). Typical of Gaudi's work, all straight lines were avoided.
The first floor features irregularly carved oval windows. The balconies on the lower floors have bone-like pillars, while those on the upper floors look like fragments of the skull.
These features gave the building the nickname "The House of Bones". The enlarged windows on the first floor meant that it was also called "House Yawning".
 Balconies on the lower floors |  Balconies on the upper floors |
The colorful roof resembles reptile skin - it is made in the manner of scales. The roof represents the dragon, while the small turret with a cross protruding from it symbolizes the sword of St. George, stuck in the dragon's body. The bones and skulls on the facade are meant to signify all the victims of the dragon.
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The interior of the house looks fascinating, as does the entire building when viewed from the outside. Here, too, Gaudí avoided straight lines. He paid great attention to every detail when designing, such as wooden doors, stained glass or colorful tiles.