The Palau de la Música Catalana is located in Barcelona, Spain.
The concert hall stands in Barcelona’s Sant Pere neighborhood, in the historic Ciutat Vella district. It was designed by the Catalan architect Lluís Domènech i Montaner and constructed between 1905 and 1908 for Orfeó Català, a major Catalan choral society founded in 1891.
The building is a masterpiece of Catalan Modernisme, the regional expression of Art Nouveau. Its design unites architecture with stained glass, mosaic, sculpture, glazed tiles, and wrought iron. The concert hall’s central skylight is shaped like an inverted glass dome, helping fill the interior with natural light.
A frequent mix-up is to attribute the Palau to Antoni Gaudí because both architects created famous Modernista landmarks in Barcelona. Gaudí designed Casa Milà and the Sagrada Família, while Domènech i Montaner designed the Palau and the nearby Hospital de Sant Pau. UNESCO recognized the Palau as part of the World Heritage site “Palau de la Música Catalana and Hospital de Sant Pau” in 1997.