Apartment for rent in Castelldefels, Barcelona

“It is beautiful to live on a raft. We had the sky up there, all speckled with stars, and we used to lie on our backs and look up, and argue about whether it was created or just happened.” — Mark Twain

We welcome you to the Lucretia Herschel penthouse. With 111 m² built, it invites us to contemplate the great light show of Castelldefels in the Muntanyeta neighbourhood under the dark sky. Let the show begin.

Lucretia was the daughter of an amateur musician and astronomer. It is said that, on nights when the sky allowed it, she sat next to her father to see the most remote stars while they sang songs like “Der Mond ist aufgegangen”.

As we enter the community, we can glimpse the gardens along with their swimming pools. Perfect, tidy, designed to play and have fun; conceived to share and laugh. With areas that invite us to make our own, a happy family in the pool or on the wide natural lawns.

Like Lucretia, her brother William also developed a curiosity about the stars, and together they helped each other in their work as astronomers, including grinding, polishing mirrors and copying their records.

We enter the penthouse through the hall and realise that everything has been completely renovated, where the fresh style contrasts wonderfully with new vintage touches. It was then that they both discovered Uranus, the fruit of their passion for the universe. The same passion that is exerted when passing through the windows and, with a single glance, glimpsing the green of the Muntanyeta.

Spacious living room as well as kitchen. All of it new, gleaming, white and bright, with touches of wood colour that further highlight the light that enters. The discovery was so important that their passion for the night sky led them to see what no one had achieved.

We go to the bedrooms. There are four, where the sun enters without measure. Where the brazen light snuggles you up, wakes you in the mornings and accompanies you for the rest of the day. The main room has its own bathroom, and the rest share a second bathroom.

We go up to the solarium through our internal staircase. Before arriving, we glimpse an office. This is the moment: we go through the curtains, and a terrace with colossal surfaces opens up before us. Ninety diaphanous square metres where you can do what you want. Without views that can bother us, we have 180 degrees open to the sky and infinity.

Perhaps this is the place where she could, like Lucretia, see with her own eyes the next Andromeda or Cetus nebulae, which were first perceived through her retina.