Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain

Conical Trencadís Chimney Stack with Geometric Interlocking Bands at the Palau Güell

2055

Early Catalan Modernisme, 1886–1888

A chimney stack from the rooftop terrace of the Palau Güell, designed by Antoni Gaudí and constructed 1886–1888. The chimney rises from a cylindrical lower shaft with mixed ceramic fragments, steps through a corbelled collar of projecting dressed stone blocks, and terminates in a long tapering conical cap. The conical cap is organized by interlocking vertical and horizontal strips of yellow tiles with blue dot patterns, which divide the surface into alternating fields of plain white trencadís and multicolored ceramic shard. The striping creates a rigorous geometric lattice across the cone's curved surface while the shard fields within each cell vary in color, size, and orientation, producing a surface that reads as orderly from a distance and chaotic at close range.