The village

The urban core was built between the time when the factory was erected and the 1930s. A few structures were built afterwards but they did not substantially modify the Colony’s urban structure.

It should be kept in mind that Eusebi Güell, the industrialist who founded the Colònia Güell, sought to create an industrial colony where the workers would have access to education, culture and recreation, and where they would live in single-family homes as opposed to the dense apartment blocks that were common in other such colonies.

As a patron of culture, Güell built the school, the teacher’s house, the Athenaeum, the Fontova theatre, the church and the parish centre, all of which were conceived as buildings at the service of the people of the Colony. Architects belonging to the Art Nouveau, or “Modernista” movement as it was called in Catalonia, some of whom were collaborators of Gaudí, took part in the construction of these buildings. This favoured the construction of unique buildings of great beauty as well as other structures for the workers which show how the master builders were influenced by the forms and techniques of the architects, offering a broad display of the various ways of using brick in walls, façades, windows and, above all, cornices.

From the start of its construction, the ensemble of the Colonia Güell’s urban core adopted the shape of a letter “L”, with the school and the church at either end and the factory at its bend. This structure may be considered the expression of an ideology that sought to create a model of society under an umbrella of paternalism, with an unquestionably productivist intention.

In addition to the unique buildings and other more modest structures, dwellings of a more humble and simpler type also came to be built in time, even as late as the 1950s and 60s, some of which are clearly dissonant with the Colony as a whole.

In the centre of the Plaça de Joan Güell, where the Athenaeum and the Fontova theatre are found, stands a statue of Eusebi Güell, the Colony’s founder. This square is still the centre of the Colony’s social life today.

The visitor who arrives at the Colony immediately perceives its village atmosphere and the peace and harmony of its streets, in clear contrast to the neighbouring towns in greater Barcelona.

Addresses of interest

Visitor Reception Centre: Carrer Claudi Güell s/n Tel. 93 630 58 07
Restaurant: El Capritx, Carrer Reixach, 16
Bar-Restaurant: Ateneu, Plaça Joan Güell, 5 / Sport, Carrer Barrau, 4
Pharmacy: Carrer Reixach, 17 - ground floor
Medical Consultation Centre: Plaça Anselm Clavé, 6
Tobacconist: Carrer Reixach, 4
Bakery: Plaça Joan Güell, 1
Automatic Teller Machine. Savings bank: Carrer Barrau, 13
Grocery shop: Carrer Reixach, 10 (also wines)
Carrer Barrau, 22
Sagrat Cor parish church: The building behind the church. Tel. 93 640 29 36
Joaquim Folguera Library: Carrer Arañó, 14
City Council - Colònia Güell Office: Carrer Claudi Güell,1
City Council of Santa Coloma de Cervelló: Tel. 93 645 07 00

Local Police: Tel. 669 40 47 29
Civil Guard (Sant Vicenç dels Horts): Tel. 93 656 67 61
Traffic Police. Mossos d’esquadra: Tel. 088
Fire Squadron: Tel. 085
Emergencies: Tel. 112