This magnificent music hall is known to Barcelonians as Palau de la Música Catalana.  I walked here late one afternoon in search of tour tickets, only to find the ticket office had closed hours earlier.  The walk here took me down some of the many narrow streets which are common in the older sections of the city.

It was a particularly drab and gray day due to the sprinkling of rain.  The only visible color in this scene was the Catalan Nationalist Flag which hangs so prominently throughout Barcelona.  You see this flag so often you could think it is the official flag of Spain or Barcelona. You will see many signs posted in two languages, Spanish and Catalan.  That is the way it is when lands have been conquered, lost and conquered over the years, some never give up their roots.

 

After walking down numerous narrow dark alleys in the section of Barcelona named Eixample, the Palau de la Música Catalana comes into view with its richly decorated and colorful facade.  Apparently, I should have returned here in the evening to capture some photographs with it illuminated.

 

In the open courtyard is a temporary modern sculpture which rests just outside of the Palau de la Musica. This iron sculpture by Jaume Plensa named “Carmela” will be displayed until mid-September 2016. Carmela is not crying, she has just been rained on.

Finally on the tour inside the music hall you are told the unique characteristic of this privately owned 2,100 seat music hall is the skylight in the center of the theater seating area.  It is the only music hall illuminated with natural light.  Indeed, even on this, another cloudy day in Barcelona, the stained glass was brightly lit.  From a photographic point of view, the cloudy weather might actually be better so the camera does not have to deal with such extremes of brightness and dark.  This view is looking up from the bottom floor.

I was also able to get concert tickets to a group of four flamenco guitarists at this music hall.  If one ever wants to hear flamenco music, Barcelona would be the place, and this famous music hall should be the venue.

Once on the second floor the shape of the prized stain glass window is much more evident.  The rest of the glass in the music hall is less ornate, but still as impressive as that seen in many of the cathedrals around Europe.

 

The walls of the music hall are also richly decorated.

 

In the surrounding area of the music hall, no surprise, there is a violin store,  This is an old, well established place where there are true craftsmen in the back making and working on violins.  The owner, who buzzed me in, made it very clear I was not to take any “photographiques” of the back area where they were working.  I was so enthralled with the shapes and lighting of the instruments I kept clicking away.  He eventually told me my time was up and he did not intend for me to make an entire portfolio in his workshop.  A guy from New Mexico just is not accustomed to seeing such a store, it was all so very interesting to me.