Sala hipòstila, Modernist hall in La Salut, Barcelona, Spain
The Hypostyle Room is a covered hall within Park Güell featuring 86 fluted columns supporting a vast space beneath a mosaic-decorated ceiling. The columns slope outward in a unique way, creating the impression of a forest of stone where your eye naturally moves upward to the decorated overhead surface.
The room was built around 1900 as part of Gaudí's vision for Park Güell, originally intended to serve a practical purpose as a marketplace for residents. This combination of function and beauty defined how the space was designed from its conception.
This room was originally meant to serve as a marketplace for residents of the planned community, showing how Gaudi merged practical needs with artistic vision. Today, visitors can experience how the columns and decorated ceiling create a space that feels both useful and beautiful.
The room is easily accessible from the main entrance stairway and provides plenty of space for visitors to move around and observe the details without feeling crowded. You can take your time walking through to fully appreciate the ceiling mosaics and the column arrangement.
Hidden beneath the floor is a clever water system where rainwater flows through the columns into underground tanks and exits through a dragon sculpture at ground level. This buried network was Gaudí's solution for drainage and water collection that also served as artistic expression.
The community of curious travelers
AroundUs brings together thousands of curated places, local tips, and hidden gems, enriched daily by 60,000 contributors worldwide.
