El Capricho is a villa in

Comillas Comillas is a small township and municipality in the northern reaches of Spain, in the autonomous community of Cantabria. The Marquessate of Comillas, a fiefdom of Spanish nobility, holds ceremonial office in the seat of power at a small ca ...

(

Cantabria Cantabria (, also , , Cantabrian: ) is an autonomous community in northern Spain with Santander as its capital city. It is called a ''comunidad histórica'', a historic community, in its current Statute of Autonomy. It is bordered on the ea ...

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = '' Plus ultra'' ( Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , ...

, designed by

Antoni Gaudí Antoni Gaudí i Cornet (; ; 25 June 1852 – 10 June 1926) was a Catalan architect from Spain known as the greatest exponent of Catalan Modernism. Gaudí's works have a highly individualized, '' sui generis'' style. Most are located in Barc ...

. It was built in 1883–1885 for the summer use of a wealthy client, Máximo Díaz de Quijano. Unfortunately the client died a year before the house was completed. Gaudí, who designed only a small number of buildings outside Catalonia, was involved with other projects at Comillas. He was the assistant of

Joan Martorell Joan Martorell i Montells () (born 1833 in Barcelona, died 5 July 1906 in Barcelona) was a Catalan architect and designer. He was an uncle of the architect Bernardí Martorell i Puig. Martorell worked in the styles of historicism and Gothic Rev ...

on another summer residence, the palacio de Sobrellano. El Capricho belongs to the architect's orientalist period, during the beginnings of Gaudi's artwork. El Capricho allows to see all the foundations on which

Modernisme ''Modernisme'' (, Catalan for "modernism"), also known as Catalan modernism and Catalan art nouveau, is the historiographic denomination given to an art and literature movement associated with the search of a new entitlement of Catalan cultur ...

is based, anticipating Europe's avant-garde

Art Nouveau Art Nouveau (; ) is an international style of art, architecture, and applied art, especially the decorative arts. The style is known by different names in different languages: in German, in Italian, in Catalan, and also known as the Moder ...

. The tower has been compared to a

minaret A minaret (; ar, منارة, translit=manāra, or ar, مِئْذَنة, translit=miʾḏana, links=no; tr, minare; fa, گل‌دسته, translit=goldaste) is a type of tower typically built into or adjacent to mosques. Minarets are generally ...

. After the death of Máximo Díaz de Quijano, this building was used such as a summer house for the most economically and politically powerful people. The building fell into disrepair after the

Spanish Civil War The Spanish Civil War ( es, Guerra Civil Española)) or The Revolution ( es, La Revolución, link=no) among Nationalists, the Fourth Carlist War ( es, Cuarta Guerra Carlista, link=no) among Carlism, Carlists, and The Rebellion ( es, La Rebeli ...

, a state in which it continued despite being declared a National Monument in 1969. In 1977, the last descendant of the López-Díaz de Quijano family sold the property and it was restored and turned into a restaurant in 1988. Finally, in 2009, the building became a museum.

References

External links

* {{coord, 43.3837, -4.2927, format=dms, type:landmark_region:ES, display=title Folly buildings Houses completed in 1885 Antoni Gaudí buildings Bien de Interés Cultural landmarks in Cantabria Houses in Spain Museums in Cantabria