Barcelona has a lot of history! A thousand-year-old city which are kept in its streets, avenues and squares; thousands of anecdotes that we should not be forgetten with the the time. In order to enjoy its history and its adventures, we recommend that when leaving our hotel in Barcelona city center, you walk peacefully and with your eyes opened.

Today we want to explain you what this “trencadis” in our history.

In case you do not know, trencadís means «chopped», «brittle» and is a type of ornamental application very typical of Catalan modernist architecture. Basically they are fragments of tiles, joined with mortar, that create ornamental mosaics for facades, sculptures, …

Although the modernist architects already used ceramic tiles as ornamentation, it was Antoni Gaudí who proposed «trencadís», which was considered as a system unprecedented to date.

To recreate this technique was used disposable material, fragments of plates, cups of coffee, …

Is it said that that when Gaudi saw the pieces where Lluís Brú was working on them(ceramist and scenographer of that time), he grabbed a tile and breaking it, he said: «they need to be put in a handful manner, otherwise it is the never ending «.

With this technique, Gaudí achieved that his works seemed to be alive or in movement thanks to the optical effect when projecting the reflection of the sun on the tiles. In addition, the vivid colors managed to create a more cheerful image of the city.

Many are the works in which this technique was applied, but the first time it was used was in the Güell house, in the avenue of Pedralbes of Barcelona.. If you want to see all the works of Gaudí, click here.

Gaudí is one of the most representative figures of the modernist movement and very important person in the city. Our streets are full of modernist buildings and details created with this technique, so if you want to see this creative style live, you just have to come to Barcelona.

Book in our hotel in the center of Barcelona, ​​from our official website and get the best price.

We have already told you many times that booking from our website has many advantages. If you want to make a hotel reservation in Barcelona center and you want to get the best price, on the website of the Barcelona Century you will get the best price guaranteed.

Choose the one that best suits you:

The members of our Club Barcelona Century have the best discount (up to 32%). If you want to get this discount, you just have to become our Club, registering at the bar that you will find at the top of our website.

• Use our promotional code BESTOFFER2018 and get a 10% discount if you book from our official website.
• If you book 20 days in advance, you can have a 20% discount with our Early booking rate. Besides, this promotion can be used with any of those mentioned above.
  Looking forward to having you at Barcelona Century Hotel.