A cyclist on the Makaya house
Casa Macaya is one of the masterpieces of the modernist architect Josep Puig i Cadafalch.
In 1899, Catalan industrialist Ramon Macaya Gibert (who produced chocolate and sweets and also traded cotton from India) commissioned him to design a house for his family. The architect was assisted in the design of Casa Macaya by sculptor Eusebi Arnau, who depicted a cyclist right by the front door.
THE MYSTERY LOCATION ON THE MAP
At the time of his work on Casa Macaya, Josep Puig i Cadafalch was building another house for another magnate, Señor Amatller, on Passeig de Gràcia. The distance between the two construction sites (approximately 1.5 km) required frequent travel. So the architect would hop on his bike and reach his second project in minutes. He would cycle back and forth between Casa Macaya and Casa Amatller.
Wanting to give the architect a pleasant surprise, sculptor Eusebi Arnau depicted a racing cyclist to the left of the portal. This story was told for many years by local guides and historians as a local joke. Everyone was convinced that the cyclist was indeed Josep Puig i Cadafalch. However, in 2015, it emerged that there is another version of the origin of this stone cyclist.
In April 2015, descendants of this great family gathered at the Macaya House. More than 100 people attended. One of them was Danielle Bodo, who revealed that the cyclist on the house was her grandmother.
Ramon Macaya met the beautiful 18-year-old Armandine in Paris and fell in love. He was over sixty at the time and married. He couldn't legally bring a mistress into his home. Ramon's children were older than her. So, to justify the young Frenchwoman's presence in his home, he hired her as a governess. The young governess loved to ride her bicycle.
Eusebi Arnau knew about the client's passion for the house and deliberately placed this sculpture at the entrance.
When Ramon Macaya became a widower in 1904, he immediately married Armandina. This unequal marriage became the talk of the town. But their marriage lasted 18 years, until Ramon's death.
In 1914, Macaya sold the house to another Catalan businessman, oil refinery owner Juan Vilella.
In 1936, revolutionaries expropriated the house from the Vilella family. It became a school for blind children. After the Civil War, La Caixa Bank purchased the building.
The Casa Macaya housed the CaixaForum exhibition center for a long time, then the CosmoCaixa science museum. It now houses the LaCaixa Cultural Center.
