Issue date: 24 Mar, 2014
WORLD HERITAGE
Park Güell-Gaudí
Few artists have had the same fortune as Antonio Gaudí, who has had eight of his works declared World Heritage Sites by UNESCO. This architect from Reus has had the same fortune in the attention he has received from Spanish philately: three issues and fifteen stamps, which have been appearing from 1960, motivated by the I International Congress of Philately in Barcelona, up until the two released this year. The first was put into circulation on the second of January and dedicated to the Miralles Estate Entrance, forming part of the Monumental Arches and Doors series. The second, which concerns us now, is dedicated to Park Güell, the most well-known and the most visited of the great Catalan artist’s many creations.
The work took place from 1900 to 1914, a period in which only one plot was sold to a lawyer from Barcelona, a friend of Gaudís. The architect himself moved into the model house, planned by his collaborator Francesc Berenguer, and one year later Güell used the stately country house, Casa Larrard, as a family home. The purchase conditions did not seduce the Catalan bourgeoisie of the era and the project failed. However, there are failures that turn into success; Güell began to offer the large private garden for public events and in 1922, four years after his death, the Barcelona City Council bought the enclosure, opening it to the public in 1926.
The stamp, circular in shape, reproduces the head of a commemorative two-euro coin dedicated to Park Güell. Both on the stamp and on the miniature sheet a dragon appears, which has become the most popular image from the park, located on the staircase that joins the entry terrace with the Hypostyle Hall. The trencadís technique, mosaics created with ceramic fragments and joined with mortar, was a creation of Gaudí’s, adopted by Catalan modernism and used by prominent architects today.
Rate A - €0.75. For a “standard” letter or postcard within Spain, up to 20 g.
Rate A2 - €0.85. For a “standard” letter or postcard within Spain, between 20 g and 50 g.
Rate B - €1.65. For a “standard” Ordinary International letter or postcard addressed to Europe (including Greenland), up to 20 g.
Rate C - €1.75. For a “standard” Ordinary International letter or postcard addressed to the rest of the world (except USA, Canada, Japan, Australia and New Zealand), up to 20 g.
Rate D - €2.10. For a “standard” Ordinary International letter or postcard addressed to the USA, Canada, Japan, Australia and New Zealand, up to 20 g.