History – Colonia Güell

History of Colonia Güell

The development of Colonia Güell began in 1.890 at the initiative of the businessman Eusebi Güell on his Can Soler de la Torre estate, located in the municipality of Santa Coloma de Cervelló, in the current Baix Llobregat region.

The interest in getting away from the social conflicts that existed in the city led to the new industry being planned within the framework of an industrial colony; with the workers' houses next to the factory, integrated into the same property, constituting an urban nucleus with its own personality and with its social and economic life supervised by the company. Unlike the great majority of industrial colonies in Catalonia, Eusebi Güell sought social improvements for the workers and applied his status as a patron of culture. Thus, he provided the Colonia Güell with cultural and religious facilities and incorporated the modernist movement into the new constructions, commissioning projects to various architects, and particularly to Antoni Gaudí for the construction of the church.

The master builders also left evidence of their talent in many of the buildings, as is especially visible in the variety of cornices and details on the facades.

The industrial colonies were conceived as a socio-economic organization whose primary purpose was industrial production. The factory occupied most of the time of the men and women of the Colony, for them it was the guarantee of having a regular salary in times of economic precariousness.

However, the trade union movement and workers' demands reached the Colonia over the years. At the beginning of the civil war, the factory was collectivised and managed by its workers. After the war, it was returned to the Güell family, who sold it to the Bertrand and Serra family in 1.945. During the following years, the Colonia continued its industrial production and maintained the personality of the town centre, different from the town of Santa Coloma de Cervelló. The latter continued to grow in population, surpassing that of the Colonia in the 60s.

Colonia Güell remained outside the exorbitant urban growth of the 60s and 70s by being preserved as an almost compact property with industrial production as its main objective. In the context of the crisis in the textile sector, in 1.973 the factory ceased its activity, producing a great social impact in the Colonia. During the following years the property was sold: the factory in fractions to various companies, the houses to their inhabitants, and the equipment and land in the surroundings to public institutions.

In 1990, the Colonia Güell complex was declared a Site of Cultural Interest-Historic Complex and protection was established for the most important buildings, as well as the general characteristics of the building.

At the turn of the century, from the 2002th to the XNUMXst century, the renovation of the factory buildings, the church, the old consumer cooperative and the Plaça Joan Güell began, as well as the improvement of the surrounding pine forests and the Gaudí path. In XNUMX, on the occasion of the international Gaudí year, the new car park for visitors was built and the organisation of the service of visits to the whole of the Colony was implemented.

History of the Gaudí Crypt

When Eusebi Güell commissioned his good friend Antoni Gaudí to build the church of the colony, literally, he made it easy for anyone to see. There are no limits, neither in the presupposition, nor in the type of work to be carried out, and, as is clear with the time, nor in the term for the completion of this

In 1.898 Eusebi Güell entrusted the architect Antoni Gaudí with the project of a church for the Colònia Güell. During the following years Gaudí will carry out various planned studies that will culminate in a model of the church, installed in his own workshop, located in the basement of the building.

In 1908 the construction of the Temple began. However, the ambitious project, which provided for a church with both sides, lower and upper, topped by different side towers and a central dome 40 meters high, would remain unfinished. In 1914 Eusebi Güell's fillers informed Gaudí that he would not continue to finance the ongoing works and that he would abandon the project. On November 1915, 1917, the bishop of Barcelona benefited from the lower ship, the only one that would be built, which would cause the church to be popularly named as a crypt. Between XNUMX and XNUMX, a new builder built the ship.

Unfortunate to remain unfinished, the church represented a culminating point in Gaudí's work. This building includes, for the first time in a unitary form, the total practice of the six architectural innovations

The Crypt was declared World Heritage Site by UNESCO in July 2005.

Factory history

The factory was the central nucleus and the reason for being of the Colonia Güell. Dedicated to the production of velvets and corduroys, its main difference with the textile factories of the time is that it used coal instead of hydraulic energy.

The factory began construction in 1890. Just one year later the first building was finished and the spinning steam engine was put into operation. Later, the other buildings for dyes, dryers, looms, etc. were completed. that completed the cotton transformation process.

Each of the buildings that made up the factory was used for a specific job within this process of transforming cotton into fabrics. All the transportation of materials between the different buildings was carried out using a network of rails and wagons that ran throughout the premises.

The union movement and workers' demands also reached the Colony. At the beginning of the Civil War in 1936, the factory was collectivized and managed by the workers. After the war, the property was returned to the Güell family, who in 1945 sold it to the Bertrand Serra family.

Factory history

The factory was the central nucleus and the reason for the existence of the colony.

Dedicated to the production of velvet and corduroy, its main difference with the textile factories of the time is that it uses coal instead of hydraulic energy.

Construction of the factory began in 1890. Just a year later, the first building was finished and the steam engine for spinning was put into operation. Later, the other buildings for dyeing, drying, looms, etc., which completed the cotton transformation process, were completed.

Each of the buildings that make up the factory was used for a specific job within the process of transforming cotton into fabric. Thus there was the spinning building, the looms, the dyeing plant, the dryer, the cutter, the building for the sizing machine, the carpentry workshop and the locksmith's shop. All the transport of material between the different buildings was carried out by means of a network of rails and wagons that ran throughout the factory.

The trade union movement and workers' demands also reached the Colonia. With the start of the Civil War in 1936, the factory was collectivised and managed by its workers. After the war, it was returned to the Güell family, who sold it to the Bertrand Serra family in 1945.