|Previous Slide||Next Slide| The city of Barcelona is a
sprawling compendium of 2,000 years of European architectural
styles -- impressive Roman, Gothic, Baroque, Victorian and Art
Nouveau (just to name a few) structures sprout from the streets
of Barcelona. The city's most famous form of architecture is Art
Nouveau (or Modernisme), a style characterized by whimsical
curves, unexpected asymmetry and flamboyant colors. Antoni Gaudi
is a Barcelona architect whose turn-of-the-20th-century
structures, like the Casa Batllo and Casa Mila, are some of
Barcelona's best works of Art Nouveau. Gaudi died before
completing his final building, the Sagrada Familia. The
cathedral, rife with religious symbolism, is a mess of
mesmerizing, spindly towers with a geometric interior and a
sculpted, frothy facade (Salvador Dali once referred to the
Sagrada Familia as "very creative bad taste"). Gaudi's fanciful
creations add a bright and modern element to Barcelona's
historic architectural landscape, which also includes ancient si