Did you know that Gaudí's Casa Botines in León is a dragon?
César García Álvarez, professor of Art History at the University of León, reveals in the magazine of the Gaudí Museum of León, that the house booties that occupies this museum institution dependent on the Fundación Obra Social de Castilla y León (Fundos) it's a dragon.
A fourth symbolic level that this expert in Gaudinian symbolism adds to his other significant readings on the Leonese building, also explained in Gaudí's book, symbols of ecstasy: that It's a winter palace a fairy castle closer to the French Renaissance architecture of the Château d'Azay-le-Rideau, in Touraine, than to the neo-Gothic style attributed to it; that Antonio Gaudí chose the unique architectural forms of an ice cube melting towards the sky to 'hide' part of the neighboring palace of the Guzmanes of Rodrigo Gil de Hontañón and that the choice of the statue of Saint George (Sant Jordi) presiding over Casa Botines corresponds to a symbolic association between the Leonese house and Silca, the city in which, according to the golden legend, the patron saint of Catalonia would have sacrificed the dragon.
The roof of Casa Botines is covered with scale-shaped tiles and appears to have the backbone of a dragon.
IN THE MOUTH OF THE DRAGON
"The roof is covered with tiles in the form of scales and seems to have the spine of a dragon, the fence would be the claws and the door represents the open jaws of the animal devouring a lion with its sharp teeth, in a clear reference to the Mayan architecture so popular at the time”, corroborates Noemí Martínez Murciego, director of the Gaudí Casa Botines Museum, who days before the pandemic discovered, while taking some photos to check the state of the exterior carpentry, dozens of dragon heads with half-open mouths camouflaged under the spiers that top the four towers of the building.
The sky of Botines, in a room of the Casa Botines de León.
All these details, which only reinforce the overlapping of architectural metaphors practiced by Gaudí, According to César García Álvarez, they can be seen on the second floor during the free visit with an audio guide offered by the Botines Museum, since in one of its rooms – under the title The dream of architecture – Explanatory panels have been installed that reveal the keys to Botines.
Nature, geometry, spirituality... but also the cosmos, if we look at the explanation that relates the trapezoidal shape of the floor plan of the building with that of the Big Dipper, constellation that on April 23, the day of Sant Jordi, crowns La Casa Botines in the sky together with the Little Bear, Hydra (serpent) or Draco (the dragon), among others. Do not forget that Gaudí never did (or built) anything by chance.
Los Caprichos de Goya, in the gallery of the Casa Botines Gaudí Museum in León.
This free tour includes the access to the noble silver – where you can learn about the history of the building, first as the 19th-century Fernández y Andrés fabric store and, later, as a bank office in the 1930s–; also to the area where recreates what one of the original houses designed by the architect in the 19th century looked like and the art gallery, made up of works from the Funds Collection as important as Los Caprichos de Goya, The Divine Comedy illustrated by Dalí or small jewels like a Sorolla or Vanguard paintings.
“We even have a Fernando Zóbel, so valued today”, explains Noemí Martínez Murciego, who feels proud, and with good reason, of also being able to show the work Niño torero / Harlequín by the Zamora-born artist Delhy Tejero.
Statue of Sant Jordi, in the Casa Botines de León.
THE NEW EXHIBITIONS
It is precisely in the noble part of the building where it is being prepared a new exhibition, which will be called History of the construction of Casa Botines, in which the constructive and architectural aspects carried out by Antonio Gaudí in the house will be addressed –in a more detailed and interactive way–: from the continuous air circulation system of the funnel-shaped light wells to the peculiar and portentous way that the Catalan architect designed to evacuate rainwater and melting ice by (and through) the building structure.
This sample will also be included in the ticket for the general visit, however, if what we want is discover the innovative musealization that has been carried out in the Sotabanco plant (low deck), we must choose the guided tour with an art expert, which also includes the privileged access to the tower, where the spiral that Gaudí forms with the pine planks is striking. Why? because it will be the first time that the Gaudí Museum shows the public the original plans drawn and signed by Gaudí in 1891 , found by chance in 1951 inside the arm of the sculpture of Saint George that presides over the entrance to the building when it was removed for restoration.
Original plans of Gaudí's Casa Botines in León.
"In this exhibition on the Fundos Historical Documentary Fund, together with the plans and other information related to the building (such as the construction permit), an interactive touch monitor that will allow you to enlarge the plans in detail, as well as a series of documentation relating to the Counts of Luna from the 12th to the 19th century, including a privilege of the Catholic Monarchs. Do not forget that the County of Luna was the most important noble group in León and one of the most relevant at a national level", concludes the director of the Gaudí Casa Botines Museum.
Address: Plaza de San Marcelo, 5, 24002 León See map
Telephone: 987 353 247
Half price: Self-guided visit: from €5 / Guided: from €8.