Week 1: Architecture

Barcelona’s Universal Exposition of 1888 did not feature a unified architectural scheme, as the World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago would five years later. As The New York Times noted of the 1888 Barcelona fair shortly before its opening, “the Moorish style…with the Neo-Greek style, predominates in all the buildings.” [1] One would be hard-pressed to find a unified architectural scheme that involves both Moorish and Neo-Greek styles; Barcelona was not an exception.

Indeed, many of the structures were built in the Neoclassical style so ubiquitous in western Europe at the end of the nineteenth century, while other prominent architects chose to build in the “Moorish” — or, more accurately, Mudéjar — style. The former adhered to the European architectural zeitgeist; the latter were in search of a new regional Catalan and national Spanish architectural style. However, the Arc de Triomf (Triumphal Arch), which was the primary entrance to the fairground, serves as a perfect example for architectural study of the exposition because it manages to stand with a foot in each architectural tradition, uniting Spain’s heterogeneous architectonic past in one structure: as the City of Barcelona’s website describes, it is a “triumphal arch built according to Classical proportions but with some materials and some ornamental elements that allow it to be called Neo-Mudéjar.” [2]

Josep Vilaseca i Casanovas, Arc de Triomf, 1888. Photograph by author.

The arch, designed by Josep Vilaseca i Casanovas and built in 1888 for the fair, has clear roots in Classical antiquity and the subsequent architectural tradition. Obvious examples of precedents include the Arches of Titus and Constantine in Rome, and the Arc de Triomphe in Paris, completed some fifty years earlier. In her catalogue raisonné of Vilaseca, Rosemarie Bletter points to a more local example, the Arc de Berà near Tarragona: “The proportions come closer to those of the Roman arch of Berà, Tarragona. The placement of the shafts and the extension in turret-like forms are quite reminiscent of the pilasters of the Arc de Berà.” [3]

Arc de Berà, Tarragona. Source.

The form of Vilaseca’s Arc de Triomf and its purpose as a grand entrance and monument are unquestionably Classical in nature; that, however, is the extent of Classical influence in the structure. The materials and ornamentation are not reminiscent of Greece, Rome, or Beaux-Arts Paris, but rather of the architecture of Iberia in centuries past. In Classical architecture, it would have been proper to cover the brick of the structure with plaster or stucco; the decision to keep the brick exposed and visible is a direct reaction to this. [4]

Josep Vilaseca i Casanovas, Arc de Triomf, 1888. Source: Exposició Universal 1888: Diari Oficial de l'Exposició, volume I, via Arxiu Municipal Contemporani de Barcelona, Ajuntament de Barcelona.

According to Bletter, the Arc de Triomf is the first time Vilaseca used visible brick in his architecture; he would only once again, in a much less prominent capacity. For the architects who chose to build in brick for the 1888 exposition, this was undoubtedly a bold move. Brick was placed on a low rung in the hierarchy of architectural materials and construction in nineteenth-century Europe, and due to its cheapness relative to stone, it was most often employed in the construction of factories and other utilitarian buildings — almost never for important public buildings. These architects did not choose to work in brick out of economic consideration: the purpose of the fair was to showcase the region’s and the city’s prosperity to the world, and the expense of stone over brick would almost certainly have been allowed, with Barcelona’s and Spain’s prestige and international standing on the line. [5]

Josep Vilaseca i Casanovas, Arc de Triomf, 1888. Detail. Photograph by author.

Vilaseca’s risk paid off, however. His Neo-Mudéjar/Neoclassical arch was featured on the cover of the April 30, 1888 cover of the magazine La Ilustración Artística, and described quite favorably: “The impression of the Triumphal Arch of Mr. Vilaseca is pleasant and reveals that the author has attempted—not without success—to harmonize the great examples of Classical antiquity with certain of his own ideas of Spanish art.” [6] Vilaseca’s arch and the works of his colleagues, particularly Lluís Domènech i Montaner, fueled a surge in Neo-Mudéjar and polychrome architecture which would eventually become a celebrated hallmark of the city of Barcelona. Bletter notes, “The International Exposition [sic], with its many mudéjar buildings, especially those that, like Vilaseca’s Entrance Arch [sic], were constructed in richly structured, visible brick, combined with glazed tile work, greatly facilitated the acceptance of polychrome and ornamental architecture.” [7] As Catalan architect Joan Busquets has written, “Among the permanent buildings [of the Exposition] Josep Vilaseca’s Triumphal Arch stands out, without a doubt, signaling the entrance from the new city; a masterly work in the use of masses of brick…[In 1888] architecture, like other arts, participates in the general illusion of change in Catalan society, and in this case expresses itself by recovering images from the past, from the Arab or Oriental world, from the Gothic or from vernacular architecture, which, along with new construction techniques, will give rise to an image of modernity and of the cosmopolitan society that industrialized Catalonia wants.” [8]

View of Universal Exposition with Arc de Triomf in background. In center of background is Lluís Domènech i Montaner's restaurant building, also of brick. Source: Exposició Universal 1888: Diari Oficial de l'Exposició, volume I, via Arxiu Municipal Contemporani de Barcelona, Ajuntament de Barcelona.

[1] “Barcelona’s Big Fair.” The New York Times. 14 Jan 1888.

[2] “Arc de Triomf.” Ajuntament de Barcelona. w10.bcn.es. Accessed 15 Sep 2011. Translation mine: “Arc triomfal segons les proporcions clàssiques però amb alguns materials i alguns elements ornamentals que permeten parlar de neomudèjar.”

[3] Bletter, Rosemarie. El arquitecto Josep Vilaseca i Casanovas: sus obras y dibujos. Trans. Justo G. Beramendi (Barcelona: Editorial La Gaya Ciencia, 1977). 55. Translation mine: “Las proporciones se acercan más a las del arco romano de Bará, Tarragona. El emplazamiento de los fustes y su prolongación en formas tipo torreta recuerdan mucho las pilastras del Arco de Bará.”

[4] Vidal, Mei M. and Aisa, Ferran. Camins utòpics (Barcelona: Edicions de 1984, 2004). 198. “L’Arc de Triomf, que era l’accés principal a l’Exposició, va ser construït per l’arquitecte Josep Vilaseca, que va utilizar formes mudèjars amb maó vist, com a reacció contraria al sistema clàssic de recobrir l’obra amb estucs.”

[5] Bletter, 25-26. “El arco…es de ladrillo visto, de disposición compacta, y con azulejos polícromos que dan una nota de color al conjunto. Es la primera vez que Vilaseca emplea ladrillo visto; no lo volvería a hacer, con la excepción de la Casa Enrique Batlló, donde emplearía ladrillos dispuestos en entrepaños lisos de una forma mucho menos estructurada. En el siglo XIX el ladrillo había descendido, por lo general, en la jerarquía de los materiales de construcción. Era más barato que la piedra y normalmente se utilizaba en fábricas y edificios igualmente utilitarios por razones económicas, pero casi nunca en estructuras públicas de cierta importancia. Por esto es doblemente curioso encontrar otros muchos edificios de ladrillo en la Exposición Universal, como el Pabellón Agrícola de Pedro Falqués, el Pabellón de Instalaciones Navales de Cayetano Buhigas, el «Umbráculo» de Joseph Fontseré, el Pabellón de Sevilla de José Corteza y el Restaurante de la Exposición, de Domènech. La cuestión económica no pudo ser un factor importante a la hora de decidir los materiales a emplear en esta importante exhibición internacional en la que estaba en juego el prestigio de Cataluña.”

[6] “Arco de Triunfo.” La Ilustración Artística, vol. VII, no. 331 (30 Apr 1888). Translation mine: “A pesar de lo cual, la impresión del Arco de Triunfo del Sr. Vilaseca es agradable y revela que el autor ha pretendido, no sin éxito, armonizar los grandes ejemplos de la antigüedad clásica, con ciertas ideas propias del arte español.” Quoted in Bletter, 25-26.

[7] Bletter, 25-26. Translation mine: “La Exposición Internacional, con sus numerosos edificios mudéjares, especialmente aquellos que, como el Arco de Entrada de Vilaseca, estaban construidos en ladrillo visto ricamente estructurado, en combinación con obra de azulejo, facilitó mucho la aceptación de la arquitectura polícroma y detallista…”

[8] Busquets, Joan. Barcelona: la construcción urbanística de una ciudad compacta (Barcelona: Ediciones del Serbal, 2004). 162-6. Translations mine: “Entre los edificios permanentes destaca sin duda el Arco de Triunfo de Josep Vilaseca, señalando la entrada desde la nueva ciudad; una obra magistral en el uso de las masas de ladrillo.” “La arquitectura como otras artes participa de la ilusión general de cambio de la sociedad catalana y en este caso se expresa con la recuperación de imágenes del pasado, del mundo árabe u oriental, del gótico o de la arquitectura popular, que van a dar, junto con las nuevas técnicas de construcción, una imagen de modernidad y de sociedad cosmopolita que la nueva Cataluña industrializada desea…”