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COMILLAS, TOWN OF THE PICTURESQUE AND THE MODERN | Town
of the Picturesque The Marquises of Comillas Sobrellano Pontificial University Capricho de Gaudí Further works Town Map |
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| The Sobrellano Architectural Ensemble. | |||||||||||||
| Sobrellano Chapel-Pantheon | Later,
the Ocejo family's architectural ensemble was completed
with the building of Sobrellano palace and
chapel-pantheon, which the Marquis adapted to his new
social status. The ensemble was designed by Juan
Martorell about 1878, constituting a clear example of the
"picturesque" reaction to the classicism. To
build a chapel-pantheon, the architect was inspired by the
Perpendicular Gothic models in England and Central
Europe, producing a miniature cathedral according to the
deep religious spirit of the architect and Don Claudio
López Bru, second Marquis of Comillas. Inside the chapel
were built the pantheons of the first Marquis, his brother
Claudio, and the second Marquis,
the three of them being made by outstanding Modernist
Catalonian sculptors such as José Llimona y Barbany and
Agapito Vallmitjana. The presbytery of the chapel was
magnificently decorated with the burnished bronze altar
and table, the symbols of the Evangelists and Agnus Dei
and the image of the Holy Spirit of Jesus. The religious
furniture designed by the young Antonio Gaudí, was also
added still in a Gothic style but foreshadowing
Modernism. Sobrellano chapel-pantheon was inaugurated in 1881 coinciding with the visit of Alfonso XII to Comillas. The stay of the Royal Family brought about the transformation of the town where many buildings were raised and an exotic and fantastic atmosphere created. The houses of Ocejo and Portilla were equipped as royal residences, being luxuriously ornamented and furnished with items designed in the workshops of Barcelona. Many kiosks were built (kiosk in Ocejo gardens, designed by the young Gaudí) together with ephemeral architectural works such as commemorative arches to welcome the royal party, characterised by the Oriental lines (neo-Arabic or neo-Mudejar), to produce an exotic atmosphere adequate for summer and pleasure. The marvellous Sobrellano palace was inaugurated in 1888 and it involved many trends ranging from the British lay Gothic to the style of the Venetian palaces, as well as a treatment of the reliefs similar to Muslim loop-shaped ornaments. This palace is actually a place to be shown, a place loaded with objects and pieces reflecting the Marquises of Comillas's personality. The great hall was regarded as the symbolic centre of the palace, decorated with eight panels painted by Eduardo Llorens, which showed the contributions of the Marquis' family to recent Spanish history. |
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