Palau de la Música Catalana

The Palau de la Música Catalana is a working concert hall in the Sant Pere quarter, a few streets east of Plaça de Catalunya, and it is the only Art Nouveau concert venue on the UNESCO World Heritage List, inscribed on 4 December 1997. Lluis Domènech i Montaner built it between 1905 and 1908 as a home for the Orfeó Català, the choral society that commissioned it, and the money came from popular subscription rather than from a state or a patron. Daily, 09:00–15:30 for self-guided visits.

The route runs through the ground-floor Foyer, up the staircase, and into the concert hall, with the Sala Lluís Millet and the Orfeó Català rehearsal hall in between. The concert auditorium is the reason to come. It is lit by daylight through a central stained-glass skylight that portrays the sun, the organ stands above the stage, and the walls carry a bust of Anselm Clavé on one side and Beethoven on the other. There is no fixed weekly closure day. As the Palau is an active concert hall, tours may be altered or cancelled and individual areas may occasionally close.

The operator gives the same duration for all three standard visits: the guided tour, the audio-guided tour and the self-guided tour each last 50 minutes. That is the time inside the route, not the time the visit takes out of a day. Budget about an hour and a quarter in total. For a day plan, treat the Palau as a fixed 75-minute block that has to be placed before 15.30 and cannot be moved once booked. Self-guided general admission costs €20 online. The box-office price is €2 more per ticket. Children under 10 enter free.

Tours run from 9.00 to 15.30, which makes the Palau a morning stop whether or not that suits the rest of a day. Light is the argument for going early rather than late. If the choice is between a grey morning slot and a clear one two days later, take the clear one. Daily, 09:00–15:30 for self-guided visits. Elevators provide access to every floor; they are in the Petit Palau lobby, reached from the Carrer Sant Pere Més Alt entrance. A stairlift enables wheelchair access to the Foyer balconies. A ramp provides access to the column balcony in the Lluís Millet Hall.

Three standard visits share the same 9.00 to 15.30 window and the same 50 minutes. The guided tour, led by a member of staff, is 24 euros. The audio-guided tour, which uses a guide downloaded to a phone, is also 24 euros and requires the visitor to bring their own headphones. Tickets are not exchangeable or refundable. Self-guided general admission costs €20 online. The box-office price is €2 more per ticket. Children under 10 enter free. Elevators provide access to every floor; they are in the Petit Palau lobby, reached from the Carrer Sant Pere Més Alt entrance.

The address is Carrer del Palau de la Música 4-6, in the 08003 postcode, and no car is needed or wanted: this is a corner of narrow streets in Sant Pere, five minutes on foot from Plaça de Catalunya. Two practical warnings from the operator. The address is Carrer del Palau de la Música, 4–6, about a five-minute walk from Plaça Catalunya. Urquinaona station serves metro lines L1 and L4; nearby Jaume I station on L4 has an elevator. RENFE and FGC trains serve Catalunya station. Bus routes V15, V17, 47, 19, H16 and D50 stop nearby. The operator currently warns that Via Laietana construction may affect local access and some bus routes.

The single most important thing the operator says is that the Palau is a busy working concert hall, and that tours may be altered or parts of the route closed because of it. A closed area gives no right to a discount or a refund. Elevators provide access to every floor; they are in the Petit Palau lobby, reached from the Carrer Sant Pere Més Alt entrance. A ramp provides access to the column balcony in the Lluís Millet Hall. Adapted toilets are available at Reception and in the Petit Palau lobby.

The hall is a hard room to photograph well and an easy one to photograph badly. Its light comes from the stained glass and from the great skylight overhead, which means enormous contrast between the coloured glass and everything under it. A phone left to its own devices exposes for the glass and leaves the muses and the organ as silhouettes, or exposes for the room and blows the skylight into a white disc. Adapted toilets are available at Reception and in the Petit Palau lobby. Wheelchairs can be borrowed on request from Reception.