World Culture Mosaic

Barcelona (AFP) – Barcelona's UNESCO-listed Casa Batllo, a modernist architectural masterpiece by Sagrada Familia designer Antoni Gaudi, unveiled a multimillion-euro restoration Thursday that brings its rear facade and courtyard back to life.

Previous refurbishments, changes of owner and the turbulent period marked by Spain's 1936-1939 civil war had taken their toll on the unique building completed in 1906.

A team of architects, historians and artisans spent more than a year repairing the bright mosaics and restoring the original cream-coloured hue to the blackened curvy balcony bars.

The result is "the most similar to 1906 that we have been able to achieve with today's technology", Xavier Villanueva, the chief architect and official in charge of the works, told AFP.

In the courtyard, the pergola replicates a parabola shape and more than 85,000 pieces make up the paving, "hand made one by one, as it was originally", Villanueva said.

The painstaking task meant the team "carried out a lot of analyses in several university laboratories, many prospections, we have lots of documentary information", he said.

The restoration cost 3.5 million euros ($4 million), according to Casa Batllo, which is in a fashionable neighbourhood of Barcelona frequented by the city's bourgeoisie and wealthy industrialists in the early 20th century.

A UNESCO-listed site since 2005, Casa Batllo welcomed 1.9 million visitors last year, making it one of the most popular attractions in a city known as a global tourism magnet.