The Mosaic Salamander
Wears every colour at once · Keeper of Park Güell
A salamander covered in pieces of glazed tile lies on the main stairs of Gaudí's Park Güell. Barcelonans often call it el drac, the dragon.
The legend
A mosaic salamander lies on the main stairs of Park Güell, which Antoni Gaudí built between 1900 and 1914. It is covered in trencadís, pieces of glazed tile set into bright patterns. Barcelonans often call it el drac, the dragon, and it may be the most photographed animal in the city.
“I'd sit next to it on the warm steps.”
Where it comes from
Park Güell was not meant to be a park. The industrialist Eusebi Güell asked Gaudí to plan a garden estate on the hill, with 60 plots for grand houses, but only two houses were built, and neither by Gaudí. The grounds opened as a public park in 1926.
The salamander is part of a water system. Rain that soaks through the large square above is gathered by a channel inside the long curving bench and sent to a tank under the Hypostyle Room, a hall of 86 columns in the Doric style meant as the estate's market. When the tank is full, the overflow runs out through the creature's mouth. On the same stairway it sits above the emblem of Catalonia.
Nobody knows for sure what Gaudí meant it to be. Some link it to the dragon killed by Saint George, the patron saint of Catalonia, but there is no proof.
Where to see it
The salamander stands on the Dragon Stairway, which climbs from the entrance square into the park's Monumental Zone. Entry to that zone is by ticket with a timed slot, so it is best booked ahead. Since 1984 the park has been part of UNESCO's "Works of Antoni Gaudí" World Heritage Site.
In the game
The salamander lifts its head from the warm steps, flicks its tongue and grins at the plane. The salamander hisses, and its tiles flash in the sun. The salamander curls its tail, bows its crowned head and goes back to sunbathing.
