Barcelona’s famous Park Güell was originally a failed luxury housing project where only two of the 60 planned homes were built.

The Park Güell project was inspired by the British 'Garden City' movement, which aimed to combine the benefits of the city and the countryside. Between 1900 and 1914, Antoni Gaudí worked on the 15-hectare site located on Carmel Hill. Despite the artistic brilliance of the infrastructure, the development was a financial disaster because the steep terrain made construction difficult and the area lacked a carriage road from the city center.Of the 60 intended triangular plots, only two houses were constructed: one by architect Francesc Berenguer and another by Juli Batllevell. Gaudí moved into the Berenguer-designed house in 1906 with his father and niece, living there for nearly 20 years. This building now serves as the Gaudí House Museum, showcasing furniture and objects designed by the architect himself.The park is world-renowned for its 'trencadís' technique, which involves using shards of broken ceramic tiles to create colorful mosaics. The centerpiece is the 'Nature Square' and its serpentine bench, which Gaudí designed to match the curvature of the human body. After Eusebi Güell passed away in 1918, his heirs offered the site to the Barcelona City Council, which officially inaugurated it as a municipal park in 1926. It was later designated a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1984.